Mary Roach's Stiff
A Review of Stiff by Mary Roach Upon opening Stiff, the first thing that greets you is author Mary Roach’s biting wit. She starts the long journey of cadaver history by comparing death to a cruise, and it sets the tone for the book wonderfully.
This book is one of the best nonfiction books I have read in a long time. Roach uses dry humor and wit to accurately present facts and anecdotes about her research. Personal stories and her opinions thoughtfully intertwine with the research she has carefully conducted. I felt like I was having a dark, but hilarious conversation with an intimate friend. The last chapter, “Remains of the Author”, solidifies the connection between author and reader. Furthermore, Roach treats the dead with the utmost respect
while dabbling in topics that some deem disrespectful, making this ‘conversation’ comfortable and not at all awkward. At the beginning of the book, she says “Cadavers are our superheroes:..” (10). She asks questions fearlessly like “Do you like the smell (of dead bodies)?” and she upholds the dignity of the dead while doing so. Roach gives each cadaver she encounters a name, and never forgets that these cadavers once housed the soul of a person. These cadavers are credited with “science’s boldest strides and weirdest undertakings.” Additionally, Roach talks about the mental stress that comes with working with dead bodies and how different people deal with it. In “A Head is a Terrible Thing to Waste”, she talks about how medical students hold memorial services.
This book is one of the best nonfiction books I have read in a long time. Roach uses dry humor and wit to accurately present facts and anecdotes about her research. Personal stories and her opinions thoughtfully intertwine with the research she has carefully conducted. I felt like I was having a dark, but hilarious conversation with an intimate friend. The last chapter, “Remains of the Author”, solidifies the connection between author and reader. Furthermore, Roach treats the dead with the utmost respect
while dabbling in topics that some deem disrespectful, making this ‘conversation’ comfortable and not at all awkward. At the beginning of the book, she says “Cadavers are our superheroes:..” (10). She asks questions fearlessly like “Do you like the smell (of dead bodies)?” and she upholds the dignity of the dead while doing so. Roach gives each cadaver she encounters a name, and never forgets that these cadavers once housed the soul of a person. These cadavers are credited with “science’s boldest strides and weirdest undertakings.” Additionally, Roach talks about the mental stress that comes with working with dead bodies and how different people deal with it. In “A Head is a Terrible Thing to Waste”, she talks about how medical students hold memorial services.