For someone who never realized how far removed she was from death and how that unknown has likely only contributed to her life long anxieties surrounding her own inevitable death and the deaths of the people around her, this book was a huge wake up call. Loved the authors insights, her frankness, her boldness. In a way this book gave me the tools to start having these important conversations about death and ritual (or lack there of), and search for what I believe where I never really had any firm beliefs before. I never gave much thought to why we have the death practices we do in the U.S. and how exceptionally horrific embalming actually is, and being able to think critically about it all now is liberating. Instead of feeling more anxious about my impending death, I feel more ready to acknowledge it for its eventual inevitability. Death doesn’t have to be seen as some terrible, unnatural thing, it can be beautiful too.