In the book’s Epilogue, Doughty reflects on how people should approach deathcare. What is your key takeaway from her experiences? What do you believe is the main lesson that her travels impart?

Doughty argues that negative reactions to certain deathcare practices are socially influenced rather than objective. Reflect on a funerary practice that the book describes that was new or surprising to you. How are your emotional reactions tied in with your cultural and societal values?

This book’s subtitle is “Traveling the World to Find the Good Death.” What does the “good death” mean to Doughty? Does she find it?