Title: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory
Author: Caitlin Doughty
Narrator: Caitlin Doughty
Publisher: W.W. Norton Company
Release Date: September 28, 2015
Genre: Non-Fiction/Memoir
Length: 7 hours and 44 mintues
Source: Purchased
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Find it Here: Amazon // Audible // Goodreads

Most people want to avoid thinking about death, but Caitlin Doughty—a twenty-something with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre—took a job at a crematory, turning morbid curiosity into her life’s work. Thrown into a profession of gallows humor and vivid characters (both living and very dead), Caitlin learned to navigate the secretive culture of those who care for the deceased.

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes tells an unusual coming-of-age story full of bizarre encounters and unforgettable scenes. Caring for dead bodies of every color, shape, and affliction, Caitlin soon becomes an intrepid explorer in the world of the dead. She describes how she swept ashes from the machines (and sometimes onto her clothes) and reveals the strange history of cremation and undertaking, marveling at bizarre and wonderful funeral practices from different cultures.

Her eye-opening, candid, and often hilarious story is like going on a journey with your bravest friend to the cemetery at midnight. She demystifies death, leading us behind the black curtain of her unique profession. And she answers questions you didn’t know you had: Can you catch a disease from a corpse? How many dead bodies can you fit in a Dodge van? What exactly does a flaming skull look like?

Honest and heartfelt, self-deprecating and ironic, Caitlin's engaging style makes this otherwise taboo topic both approachable and engrossing. Now a licensed mortician with an alternative funeral practice, Caitlin argues that our fear of dying warps our culture and society, and she calls for better ways of dealing with death (and our dead).

My Review:

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty is one of the most interesting and unique memoirs I've ever read. I'm actually not all that into memoirs because the ones that I usually come across are celebrity memoirs and they just don't hold any interest for me. I believe I first heard about Smoke Gets in Your Eyes on the My Favorite Murder podcast and they only had good things to say about it.

Do you ever wonder why we do the things we do with our dead? Why do we preserve them and keep them looking as life like as possible? Why are we so afraid of letting them go? As Caitlin begins her career in the death industry, these are the questions she begins to ask not only herself but America.

Caitlin begins her career in death at a crematory to fulfill her somewhat morbid curiosity with death. As she goes deeper into the industry and learns more about the business, she comes face to face with other cultures and only just begins to scratch the surface of this aversion that Americans and the modern world have to death. As I continued listening to this memoir, the history nerd in me was hoping that she would go deeper into the way various cultures differ in how they deal with their dead. Luckily for me, her new book that's coming out soon is about just that!

If you're a bit of a nerd like me and you've always wondered what happens behind the closed doors of the crematories or funeral homes, I highly recommend Caitlin Doughty memoir. The audio book is just great and I guarantee you will learn more than you think! **Side note** If you like true crime and murder especially, I highly, highly recommend the My Favorite Murder podcast. You won't be disappointed! 

Audio Book Review: The Witness Wore Red by Rebecca Musser

Title: The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice

Author: Rebecca Musser
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Release Date: June 17, 2014
Genre: Non-Fiction
Length: 14hrs and 10min
Source: Purchased (Audible)
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Find it Here: Amazon // Goodreads

Rebecca Musser grew up in fear, concealing her family's polygamous lifestyle from the "dangerous" outside world. Covered head-to-toe in strict, modest clothing, she received a rigorous education at Alta Academy, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' school headed by Warren Jeffs. Always seeking to be an obedient Priesthood girl, in her teens she became the nineteenth wife of her people's prophet: 85-year-old Rulon Jeffs, Warren's father. Finally sickened by the abuse she suffered and saw around her, she pulled off a daring escape and sought to build a new life and family.
The church, however, had a way of pulling her back in-and by 2007, Rebecca had no choice but to take the witness stand against the new prophet of the FLDS in order to protect her little sisters and other young girls from being forced to marry at shockingly young ages. The following year, Rebecca and the rest of the world watched as a team of Texas Rangers raided the Yearning for Zion Ranch, a stronghold of the FLDS. Rebecca's subsequent testimony would reveal the horrific secrets taking place behind closed doors of the temple, sending their leaders to prison for years, and Warren Jeffs for life.
THE WITNESS WORE RED is a gripping account of one woman's struggle to escape the perverse embrace of religious fanaticism and sexual slavery, and a courageous story of hope and transformation.

Review:

I've always been fascinated with religious cults especially the FLDS Mormons and their polygamous ways. After reading The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner I knew that I would pretty much want to read anything that had to do with women escaping this harmful and dangerous cult.

I listened to The Witness Wore Red on audio book and I actually think that was a disservice to the book. It's read by it's author, Rebecca Musser, and she's not exactly a trained voice actor. While I know that all audio book narrators read the book off the page, most of the time it doesn't sound like they're just reading it off the page because they're pretty good a voice acting. Rebecca Musser sounded like she was just reading the book off the page and it made the narration sound forced.

As far as the validity of this book, I have no doubt that all of the horrors and atrocities actually took place just like Rebecca Musser says they did. But as far as remembering all the details from many years ago and which dresses each of her sister wives wore and the exact words from all the conversations she had with Warren Jeffs and the other various leader of the FLDS church, there was probably a lot of filling in the blanks. I can't remember what I had for lunch last week much less a word for word conversation that I had with my mom over ten years ago.

Rebecca Musser is so brave and courageous for being able to just escape the church and lie low much less to go public to testify against Warren Jeffs and then write about book about her experiences in the church. There are a lot of personal details and her personal experiences of being married to a man who was more than fifty years older than her. She truly is an inspiration to those who are in a bad place and want to change their life.

If you interested in more information on the FLDS Mormon Church I highly recommend both The Witness Wore Red by Rebecca Musser and The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner. Both are great and encouraging stories of women who would not all themselves to be oppressed or held back any longer!