Caitlin Doughty is a practicing mortician in Los Angeles, California, a YouTube personality (see "Ask a Mortician" which posts weekly on Fridays), a death enthusiast, and a fantastic storyteller. On the surface, From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death is a collection of death travel anecdotes. She visits several countries and shares with the reader descriptions of how particular cultures care for their dead. The stories are told with respect, empathy, wit, and Caitlin's own particular brand of humor. Beyond just recitation of facts and observations of cultural rituals, Ms. Doughty gently provokes the reader to consider deeper topics relating to death such as fear, love, mourning, environmental responsibility, capitalism, and feminism. I laughed in parts, and teared up in others. This book taught me some things I didn't know, and also gave me several topics to ponder regarding my own relationship with death.
As far as writing style, there was no particular connection that I could discern between the places visited in this book. I imagine the choices were driven by personal interest and to where permission was granted for the author to be a witness/occasional participant. There were a couple of instances where the narrative jumped from one story to another, related story, then back to the original (e.g. the narrative began in Bolivia, a tangential anecdote that took place in Italy occurred, then it was back to Bolivia). I found it a little jarring until I grasped the point the author was trying to make with the shift.
This is not a particularly long or difficult read, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in after life care and/or learning a little more about cultures that might be outside your realm of experience. Also the illustrations and cover art are beautiful. A+, Landis Blair.
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