Death becomes her in a riveting analysis of mortality

NON-FICTION: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematorium. By Caitlin Doughty. Canongate, €16.35. Reviewed by Kevin Power

Caitlin Doughty: ‘A girl always remembers the first corpse she shaves’ Picture: Ryan Orange
Caitlin Doughty: ‘A girl always remembers the first corpse she shaves’ Picture: Ryan Orange

What tragic drama was to the ancient Athenians, superhero movies are to us. And this says something about our attitudes to death. The great Greek tragedies were all about the inescapability of death. But the story we tell ourselves, over and over again, is about a man with magical superpowers who cannot die. We don’t want to think about losing what ...