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Title: All the Living and the Dead
Author: Hayley Campbell
Narrator: Hayley Campbell
Published: Macmillan Audio, 2022
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 290
Total Page Count: 524,300
Text Number: 1906
Read Because: personal enjoyment, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: I'm of two minds on this one. I read a lot about death work, as one does. Campbell's pool of subjects is broad, but the category is broader; some of her picks feel chosen for novelty more than representation, but some (specifically bereavement midwives) were genuinely new to me and captivating. Campbell structures the book chronologically in order to explore her own changing relationship with death through the course of her research; and she turns an open mind to a diversity of experiences and, fundamentally, coping mechanisms. All good. And all flawed, as the personal anecdotes are overbearing but sympathetic, and the human interest focus is unreliably applied, hypercritical one moment, complacent the next (the section on the Mayo Clinic filled me with concern and then rage, as Campbell blithely agrees, yes, fatphobia is probably a good and necessary training tool for medical professionals!). I read about death work for much the same reason Campbell was compelled to write about it, so of course I enjoyed this: many morbid curiosities answered, complicated relationships with death given compassionate room, good stuff, my jam; but, occasionally, frustrating.
( Memorable quote, CW cancer, death, dead dad talk. )
Author: Hayley Campbell
Narrator: Hayley Campbell
Published: Macmillan Audio, 2022
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 290
Total Page Count: 524,300
Text Number: 1906
Read Because: personal enjoyment, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: I'm of two minds on this one. I read a lot about death work, as one does. Campbell's pool of subjects is broad, but the category is broader; some of her picks feel chosen for novelty more than representation, but some (specifically bereavement midwives) were genuinely new to me and captivating. Campbell structures the book chronologically in order to explore her own changing relationship with death through the course of her research; and she turns an open mind to a diversity of experiences and, fundamentally, coping mechanisms. All good. And all flawed, as the personal anecdotes are overbearing but sympathetic, and the human interest focus is unreliably applied, hypercritical one moment, complacent the next (the section on the Mayo Clinic filled me with concern and then rage, as Campbell blithely agrees, yes, fatphobia is probably a good and necessary training tool for medical professionals!). I read about death work for much the same reason Campbell was compelled to write about it, so of course I enjoyed this: many morbid curiosities answered, complicated relationships with death given compassionate room, good stuff, my jam; but, occasionally, frustrating.
( Memorable quote, CW cancer, death, dead dad talk. )
