Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death

Another fun book about death from mortician Caitlin Doughty, only more of a 'trivia' edition than the genuinely interesting firsthand account of her first outing, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. Based on the quirky and refreshingly direct questions that kids ask about death, Caitlin covers topics from 'Will my cat eat my eyeballs?' (it might have a nibble at your nose if hungry enough, but probably not your eyes) and 'Can I preserve my dead body in amber like a prehistoric insect?' (not if you're thinking of Jurassic Park) to 'Will I poop when I die?' (yes) and 'Can you describe the smell of a dead body?' (sickly sweet odour mixed with a strong rotting odour, apparently). Bones, blood donation, conjoined twins, dying in space and on a plane show more (dead body or crying baby - chose your fate), Body Worlds, cannibalism, growing hair and fingernails (everyone knows that a myth by now, surely?) and shrink-wrapped corpses are also covered.

What this book really teaches - or reiterates - is that Americans approach the subject of death like children, from open caskets ('How do we know they're really dead unless we can have a last look at a tarted-up corpse?') to preservation and concrete vaults (bodies are meant to decompose, that's the idea). Also, the answer to overpopulated cemeteries is surely cremation, not high rise burials.

Funny and frank, with great illustrations from Dianne Ruz, but still one for the library shelves. show less

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? has been burning a hole in my audiobook TBR for a while now. I usually save my Audible library backlog books for vacations and was expecting to listen to it while in Greece, but A Promised Land ended up being quite long and I didn’t get to to my audiobook backlog. I’ve been thinking about it since I came back and decided, you know what? I’m going to sneak it in.

Written by mortician extraordinaire Caitlin Doughty, Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? is an honest and informative Q&A about death, dying, mortuary procedure, and other such morbidly lovely things. This particular book is composed of questions that Doughty has been asked by children. Outside of the whole “death” thing, this book is appropriate show more for children in that way – it was written around questions specifically from children. Definitely up to the parents as to whether or not this is suitable for their child, but other than the grim overall subject matter, Doughty does answer the important questions!

That said, this is not a “children’s book”. I learned something in every chapter, much to the chagrin of my husband who didn’t appreciate the text messages telling him random facts about death and dying (did you know your ashes can be turned into a vinyl record when you die? I didn’t!). I was also very nicely was informed that most people don’t appreciate random facts about death throughout the day.

So to that point I’ll say – Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? is filled with dry humor and information, I cannot emphasize enough that this book talks very directly about things like rigor mortis and the odds of being buried alive. It’s a heavy and somewhat taboo subject made very accessible, but it is certainly not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. If you want to learn more about death as we understand it from a scientific source, but softened enough that it becomes a bit amusing… Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? is perfect for you! If any of those things sound off-putting, this book is not fo you!

Personally, I really enjoyed it. I appreciated Doughty’s dark sense of humor but I also adore being filled with interesting information and Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? has it in spades. The length of the audiobook (about 4.5 hours) is perfect for the actual gravity of the topic, and Doughty did a great job reading it. This will be a niche book, but I intend to pick up more of her work. show less

Delightful! I love Doughty's open and frank explanations of the natural process of decomposing :) I learned the elaborate answers to questions I wouldn't have even thought to ask (What would happen if I eat a bunch of popcorn kernels before I get cremated? Can I be encased in amber and be born anew like in Jurrasic Park?) I was sometimes a little shocked myself at the amount of graphic detail Doughty would go into, but I'd absolutely give this to my kid

In this book, Doughty answers 34 death-related questions in some depth, and an additional five questions more briefly in a "Rapid-fire Death Questions" section. She also wraps up the book with a chapter aimed at parents who are concerned about their child's questions about death - this one features answers by Dr. Alicia Jorgenson, a child and adolescent psychologist.

Doughty's answers were direct and didn't shy away from some of the grosser aspects of death, but, at the same time, her tone was always light and oddly reassuring. The question that gave the book its title is also the first one Doughty addresses. I hadn't specifically wondered about whether my cat would eat my eyeballs after my death, but I figured that, if it took long show more enough for someone to find me, she'd probably eat some part of me, which is essentially what Doughty's answer ended up being (she also mentions dogs and a few other pets). I knew I'd appreciate the way she framed her answers, however, when she began this one by saying "For hours, even days, after your death, Snickers will expect you to rise from the dead and fill his normal food bowl with his normal food. He won't be diving straight for the human flesh. But a cat has got to eat, and you are the person who feeds him. That is the cat-human compact. Death doesn't free you from performing your contractual obligations." (1)

Doughty says that most (all?) of the questions in this book came from children, who tend to be more open about their curiosity about death. I could easily imagine some kid asking Doughty "Can we give Grandma a Viking funeral?" or "Can I be buried in the same grave as my hamster?" Even when the questions weren't things I've ever personally wondered, Doughty's answers were fascinating. I would've loved to have had her around after my maternal grandmother died when I was a kid and I was freaked out about things none of the adults around seemed to want to talk about.

I definitely plan to read more of Doughty's works.

Unrelated to the actual content of the books, I loved Dianné Ruz's creepy/funny/sweet illustrations at the start of each chapter.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

I love Caitlin Doughty. She’s engaging and hilarious, but also really empathetic and knowledgeable about the topic people usually get really weird about (i.e. the reality of our mortality).

This book is a quick and really fun read. Educational, too. There isn’t a question here I wasn’t interested in the answer to.

Lovely.

Caitlin Doughty is always happy to talk about death, because knowledge about death and the processes surrounding it reduces fear. And kids ask some of the best questions about it—they’re not shy, and they’re certainly not morbid. So Doughty takes 35 of their questions and answers them here in short, punchy chapters that are captivatingly illustrated by Dianné Ruz. (I couldn’t decide whether I thought they were beautiful or terrifying—“compelling” is the word I’d use.) I did feel very aware of my age, because I am not a tiny mortal asking these questions, and the tone may therefore strike older readers as a bit too jolly. But overall I enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it if you have young ones curious show more about death—or even if you, a grownup person, are curious yourself. I’d follow this up with Doughty’s other books, because all of them are excellent. show less

Answering questions posed to her from kids while touring, giving lectures, and living her day-to-day life, Caitlin Doughty has created another delightful book about death entitled Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?: Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death. [Yes, this is another book about death. I swear I'm going to space them out from now on.] While there is some rehashing of topics, Doughty manages to cover a wide array of interesting subjects like "What would happen if someone died with popcorn kernels in their stomach and then went into the cremator?" (I won't spoil the answer for you.) One of the best bits (in my opinion) was when she discussed different ways to dispose of remains like The Body Back which is a real thing developed show more for space travel. The premise is that if someone dies in space, this machine which is basically a giant robotic arm has the ability to shake the body (which has been freeze dried by the atmosphere of space) at such a speed that it's broken into small shards of ice. Heck yeah! Doughty also touches on burial laws and in particular those that concern pets. Are there pet cemeteries? Can you be buried with your pet? (Answer: It depends on your state and its laws.) Conclusion: A quick read that's a lot of fun to brandish on a crowded subway train during rush hour. :-P 8/10 show less