I tend to stick to true crime when it comes to non-fiction picks, but after reading Mary Roach’s book Stiff, I’ve been seeking out non-fiction titles that focus on the complexities of death. Before you think this book sounds like too morbid of a read, know that Campbell’s book is about more than death. There is so much care and compassion throughout this book from both Campbell and those she interviews. I was touched so many times from the first-hand accounts of the interviewees and I learned far more than I ever thought possible from this book. Sure, death is macabre, but it’s also something that we’re all going to face one day, so why not take the time to learn more? I greatly appreciate all of the work that went into this book and highly recommend it!

🎧: If you’re like me and prefer your non-fiction on audio, Campbell is the narrator for her own book and hearing it told by her certainly added something special to the experience!

A huge thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my gifted copy!

I have always had a morbid curiosity about the dead, but I admit I never gave much thought to those who take care of us or our love ones after we die.
Anyone who's read horror or true crime, knows what the police do when they hve a body, and even whay happens when the Medical Examiner gets the body. But who thinks of the people who have to clean the bodies, dress them, make them look as peaceful as survivors need.
During the pandemic we all hailed the heros that worked in the hospital trying to save people, or comfort them as they die, but no one says anything about the people who step in after the worse has happened. Imagine the PTSD funeral home workers must have after having to work on hundreds, thousands of bodies without knowing if the virus was still transmittable, or knowing no one will be able to see them to say goodbye.
The audiobook hit me harder than I think reading the book would have. There was a humanity to the tale that sometimes made me cry, and surprisingly even laugh out loud a few times.
An amazing book. Highly recomended even if you think the subject matter to raw for you.
Thanks to @netgalley for this eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

The research, care, and thought that went into this book is evident. While the topic of death can be very uncomfortable, the author presented it with respect, calm, and in scientific manner.

A very interesting audio book. This was not for me! I’m sorry! I don’t believe I am the target audience and that is all I will say! Thank you.

Hayley Campbell made death simple and complicated all at once. It was a beautiful journey to follow along on. The narration was lovely. This isn't just for people fascinated by death, it's for everyone that is interested in journalism, life and learning. It's truly a must read.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Really awesome book! i loved reading this, it's emotional but funny at times as well and has lots of facts/things i didn't know. will reread, buy and recommend.

An absolutely fascinating look at life after death — the lives of all those who deal with the aftermath of death. The author speaks to all sorts of people in the “death industry,” from morticians to crime scene cleaners, and also learns a lot about her own response to death.

The audiobook is read by the author, who does an excellent job. It makes her personal journey hit just that little bit harder, I think.

I would recommend this to fans of pop-science like “Stiff” by Mary Roach and year-in-the-life bios like “The Year of Living Biblically” by A.J. Jacobs.

This book must have been a hell of an endeavor. Campbell not only around the UK and internationally to interview people, but makes arrangements when possible to observe and work with them. The range of professions is stunning, and it's written about with compassion. She writes not only about the people she meets, but also the experience of finding them,m getting to them, what she expected and what defies those expectations. It's neither dripping with sentimentality nor overly clinical. It is, more than anything, deeply honest. Highly recommend the audiobook narrated by Campbell herself.

You watch true crime documentaries, see images from crime scenes, read books that address death, and even watch the movie magic in horror movies. You start to feel like you understand death, but you're most likely wrong. This book took what I thought and shifted it completely to give me a unique perspective. The people who truly know about death are the ones who work closely to it every single day. Campbell would talk about death or decomposition, and the facts made complete sense, but I had never truly considered some of it before.

This book was brilliantly haunting and entrancing. She had me questioning what I knew, and left me in deep thought. I listened to this on audiobook, and it was gripping, challenging, and I highly recommend this read.

Thank you for this incredible book, Campbell!

This was such a fascinating book! I felt like I learned so much, but it definitely didn't feel like a textbook. I liked her working with various experts in the field. I listened to the audio book and really liked it. The pacing and voice was great!

Author Haley Campbell shadows various workers in death as they perform their work, describing the finer details of the processes and her own emotional reactions to them. Campbell argues that our society is too far removed from death, and that the taboo against visual or tactile contact with our dead does us harm. I read this book shortly after Anil Press’ Dirty Work, where he writes about jobs that we pretend don’t exist in order to avoid our own moral culpability. Here, Campbell reveals a world from which we remove ourselves in order insulate us from the reality of our own fragility.. By turns nauseating, poetic, heartbreaking, and strangely uplifting, All the Living and the Dead is written with bravery and vulnerability. Highly recommended.

I received this Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Conversations surrounding death are, unfortunately, largely taboo in the United States. It leaves people with a lot of questions, fears, and uncertainty. In a culture obsessed with true crime and plenty of depiction of gruesome, albeit fictitious, death, it was very refreshing to have factual conversations regarding what truly goes on behind the scenes once someone dies.

Having accounts from people who are, by trade, morticians, crime scene cleaners, embalmers, detectives, even some executioners, was incredibly unique. I am in agreement with the reviews that state that this book is not for the faint of heart, however. There are some pretty graphic details and accounts given.

More than just a passing, morbid curiosity, I think Hayley is able to provide insight into some of deaths biggest questions. I would highly recommend "All the Living and the Dead."

4.5/5 Stars

Hayley Campbell did a fantastic job of providing an insightful look into the careers that surround death. She offered a peek into jobs that we don't normally think about or have never heard of before. From the midwives that are there to help mother through the most difficult time in their lives to the executioners that have to somehow separate their job from their every day life and the crime scene cleaners who are often forgotten about.

This book delves into not only what a lot of these jobs entail, but also the emotional, psychological and physical impact these jobs have on the individuals who perform them. We get to hear about the grave diggers that have already dug their own graves and the embalmers that have worked on their own family members or coworkers after the have passed.

We get to see the different options there are after we die, such as a traditional burial, cremation or even a cryonics facility that can preserve an individual in hopes that one day technology will advance enough for them to be brought back. Each individual offers their own take on not only death, but life and how they choose to live it. Death isn't always about morning, it can also be about enjoying the time we have before the inevitable happens.

I really enjoyed Haley's take on the aspects of death that she witnessed and how they affected her. There was a nice contrast between the technical side or everything and the emotional impact that can also have on you. Definitely worth the read, but be forewarned that the author holds nothing back in this novel and it can come across as slightly cold at times. Apart from that, it was a very informational read and she really lets the interviewees speak for themselves and tell their stories.

A deep dive into the death industry, akin to Mary Roach’s Stiff, but less cheeky and more emotionally sincere. The author, Hayley Campbell, takes you on a journey where you meet funeral directors, grave diggers, a death mask maker and others who co-work with death. If this subject interests you, you enjoy this book!

An excellent book with a nicely narrated audio. A recommended purchase in all formats for most collections.

Death is something that is everyday life. It's on the TV, news, on the radio, and even in the workplace or school. It's part of the inevitable. Death makes most people uncomfortable or frightened. Campbell fueled by her own curiosities takes the reader into the depths of death that most never get the sight of. She goes on the search for those who work with death on a daily basis and asks the questions that most people were told were impolite or something not to be asked by our elders.
I really appreciated the people she interviewed and the line “The first person you see dead should not be one you love” Death nowadays is something that is feared and people do not want to expose anyone to that, because when death usually comes around its someone you love and there is pain associated with that loss.
This is a book that is really great for people who are genuinely curious about death and the people who work with the dead. It contains all the information on what goes on behind the curtains that we do not really think about or information that is not usually readily available such as what happens when someone donates their body in the name of science and such. Not going to lie but this is gruesome, eye-opening and definitely, something that if you are not ready or curious about then you probably should not read.
“If the reason we’re outsourcing this burden is that it’s too much for us, how do they deal with it?”
Campbell takes a thorough approach and documents accordingly. Definitely a book I am putting on my list to purchase for myself.
While nothing I write will bring justice to her work, I did receive the audiobook to listen to from NetGalley and Macmillan Audio. Campbell was the narrator for her book and it was great! I never lost interest! This is a great listen that is something to open your eyes to!

I listened to this straight through two work days. It’s informative as well as entertaining. I have already emphatically recommended it to my followers.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press / Macmillan Audio for access to the audiobook of All the Living and the Dead: From Embalmers to Executioners, an Exploration of the People Who Have Made Death Their Life's Work by Haley Campbell in exchange for an honest review.

CW: death, dying, terminal illness, mental illness, body horror, medical content, blood, grief, see growing list on StoryGraph

The title is pretty explanatory about what this book is, so I'll just let that speak for itself.

I enjoyed this. It's always interesting to hear the perspective of those that are so constantly surrounded by death. To hold the realities that death is inevitable, and also that it can be beautiful in the ways that it brings healing and hope to the living is such a weight to bear. I am humbled by the sincerity of the death workers interviewed for this book. They handle their jobs with grace, and in so doing honor the dead that they serve.

5 fascinating stars
“I didn’t fear death, I was captivated by it.”

“We are surrounded by death. It is in our news, our novels, our video games…It is in our nursery rhymes, our museums, our movies about beautiful murdered women… Death is everywhere, but it’s veiled, or it’s fiction. Just like in video games, the bodies disappear. But the bodies have to go somewhere.”

Hayley Campbell was interested in the details of death at a very young age. Trained as a journalist, she delves into people who work in the ‘death industry’ and make our lives easier. All the Living and the Dead is very readable (limited medical terms) and well organized. Her writing is clear and vivid (but not too vivid! ; - ) Chapters cover the jobs of Funeral Director, Crime Scene Cleaner, Disaster Victim Identifiers, Embalmers, Executioners, Grave diggers, Crematorium Operators, Pathologists and more. A bit gruesome in a few spots like the autopsy section, (skim or skip over if you need to, the book is very worth your time), it is tastefully written, always respectful of the dead and the people who work with them, helping us manage our minds and hearts.

Campbell’s thoroughly researched stories are both unique and interesting. She always brings personal elements into the narrative. This talented writer pleads for families to have choices in viewing victim’s remains and in how they grieve loved ones. The end of the book contains notes and sources, including further reading broken down into helpful categories. An index is included.

Hayley Campbell narrates her own book. Her excellent pacing and clear voice create a warm listening experience. Her Australian/ English(?) accent add charm. I particularly enjoyed being able to listen while I was walking.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

It is great to see so much new content coming out surrounding the topic of death, dying, and the industry of death in particular. I found the audiobook to be entertaining as well as informative in a way that was unique and perspective driven. You do have to be in the right headspace to want to explore these sorts of things to even pick up a book on this topic. Given the option between the audiobook and the physical book, I would highly recommend the audiobook as the author does an amazing job of telling her own firsthand account of what she has seen and learned.