The Funny Thing about Death: Changing Our No Tears, Please Culture

Death is among the most natural, and most confusing, parts of being human. Its inevitability and universality do nothing to alleviate our messy feelings about the subject. It's why you have no idea what to say when your friend loses a beloved family member. You are not alone. Somehow, our privileged North American ethos has taught us that we need not suffer, that a quick fix to pain and sadness is always available. But this "no-tears please" approach has created a culture of loss avoidance and stifled the natural human need to grieve and mourn losses. With The Funny Thing About Death, find an alternative course of action for a society that's decided an absence of emotion around death's unavoidability is the best way to deal with it. In its pages, readers-including adult children watching parents recede and die-will find comfort and counsel on how to lean into the discomfort of grief and allow natural mourning to occur. By sharing stories about death-both her own and those with which she's come into contact through her bereavement work-Donna Lynne Erickson shows that healing is possible and that there are safe places in which to do so. Ultimately, she looks to challenge the way society regards bereavement, grief, and mourning, and to inspire a revolution that offers a fresh reception of the subject. We all face loss, eventually-let's do it together.