shereadytoread's Reviews (806)

This book sheds such a respectful light on death rituals from around the world. For a practitioner obviously educated in one manner to be so open to other cultures and practices is sadly a rarity. 

Caitlin discusses a wide variety of practices with accompanying trips and even involvement in death rituals of others. She contrasts western and American ideologies and practices of death to expose the reader to new possibilities and concepts. 

My two favorite parts were her connection of how we handle grief and loss with how we treat corpses. In addition she includes a guide to respectful thanotourism (tourism related to death/funerals) that I think is lacking in so many similar blogs, books, etc. 

 I have always heard that Queenie such a "relatable" protagonist and that you root for her, but I just couldn't deal with her! I've never read about such a trainwreck of decisions. Every chapter, I was just hoping that she would make a better decision but it was like watching a car accident in slow motion. I think the only time I felt bad for her was in one argument with a friend, but overall, I basically kept reading to find out what mess she got into next.

Queenie follows the title character as she tries to navigate "a break" with her boyfriend and ends up living out a series of unfortunate events. This is where I typically do a list of pros and cons but it would basically be "positive female friendship" and "accepting help with mental health" then a long list of cons. But if you like drama then this might be for you. I enjoyed reading it in the same way that I like watching messy reality TV.