All That Remains: A Life in Death

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Reading this book is like watching your favorite crime series only much more down to earth and more realistic. Just as thrilling, because Sue has experienced a fair share of ghastly situations, but shows you the relevance of her work, and why respectful treatment is important. In All That Remains she reveals the many faces of death she has come to know, using key cases to explore how forensic science has developed, and examining what her life and work has taught her.

Could not finish. I honestly can’t discourage reading any of her work enough. Even basic facts are wrong, and written with such conviction that I can’t believe anything else. The one that bothered me particularly is that she says that the surgeon Henry Gray, the author of Gray’s anatomy, was from Aberdeen. He is from/worked in London. There’s another surgeon named Henry Gray, from Aberdeen, who was also well-known, though mainly for his wound excision during the First World War, some 50 years after the other one died. She begins the book with her medical training in university, what happens in a dissecting lab and how she felt standing before her first body. She also describes her childhood, her family, and the deaths of beloved family members, her first funerals. It took time, but as she became more skillful, her reputation began to grow and she began to be involved in more prestigious and important investigations, such as in gathering evidence of war crimes through forensic examinations of mass graves in war zones. She is an excellent writer, too. If she ever decides to write a literary novel, she won’t need much assistance from an editor or ghost writer! Interestingly, a lot of American and British mystery writers know her or of her, and some of them call her for advice in writing their fictional books of murderous antagonists. Readers who expect a precise in-depth recitation of her work on bodies will be disappointed. She details only the essential science, with edited descriptions of her examinations of bodies. I believe she edits the autopsies because they are of real people with living relatives. Besides, many of us ordinary general readers probably couldn’t handle too much of graphic medical narratives, although she does get into general descriptions of rotting bodies, and of bodies having been torn apart or damaged, and the smells and appearances of a dead body. She mixes quite a lot into her autobiography her feelings and thoughts - perhaps too often and over-the-top, imho. She really wants to put across to readers her concern for the proper respectful handling of the bodies. She never loses sight of the fact that the bodies were people.The book has the feel of the author having referred to an exacting diary because it is so well-written, coherent, and put together. It could be mistaken for a first-person literary novel, actually, if it wasn’t labeled as a memoir. The last two thirds make for a solid, but not outstanding, addition to a shelf about death. Just know that you can gloss over the aforementioned sections and you won't miss a thing. Part memoir, part science, part meditation on death, her book is compassionate, surprisingly funny, and it will make you think about death in a new light. I suppose I was less taken with the small sections near the beginning of the book that seemed to be more like a familial memoir or history rather than delivering facts and experiences. Although there was always a reason for them, such as a device to further expand the readers understanding of various biological processes etc., I just wasn’t that taken with them in comparison to the later chapters.

A model of how to write about the effect of human evil without losing either objectivity or sensitivity ... Heartening and anything but morbid... Leaves you thinking about what kind of human qualities you value, what kinds of people you actually want to be with." (Rowan Williams New Statesman) Having read 8 chapters, the majority of it is a glorified memoir of her work and serves solely to inflate her ego. It’s certainly not what it says on the tin. All That Remains provides a fascinating look at death - its causes, our attitudes toward it, the forensic scientist's way of analyzing it. A unique and thoroughly engaging book. Kathy Reichs, author of TWO NIGHTS and the Temperance Brennan series Poignant and thoughtprovoking… it is the book’s humanity which will connect with readers. Scottish Daily MailOne might expect [this book] to be a grim read but it absolutely isn’t. I found it invigorating!" (Andrew Marr BBC Radio 4 'Start the Week') An engrossing memoir ... an affecting mix of the personal and professional. Erica Wagner, Financial Times An engrossing memoir . . . an affecting mix of personal and professional' ( Erica Wagner , Financial Times) I truly loved all the different parts of the telling of her stories, her opining, what she knows, what she doesn’t know, frustrations, joys, and her passion for the work, her deeply felt calling for it and satisfaction at the opportunities and obligations it has provided her. I like the way she thinks, love her humor and am amazed at her tolerance for incredibly trying situations. Unpleasantness I would run from. Horrors that would slay my every ability to respond at all, and she breathes deeply and reaches for her gloves. I could no more think of this kind of work than I could read it straight through. There were times I had to stop and do something else. The other aspect of her book that I vehemently disagreed with and, in my opinion, had no place in such a book was her mini-dissertation on why she believes people should be able to decide their own life spans. She uses chilling terms like when someone "no longer has value" "and "doesn't want to be a burden" or really just doesn't want to live anymore. Shouldn't they have the right to decide to end their life legally and safely? Hmmm...legal and safe...where have we heard those terms before?

Briefly - fascinating, powerful and very well written. Without question this will be one of my best books of the year.

A beautifully written memoir full of reflections on the deaths of strangers and family members. Oliver Thring, Sunday Times Reading memoirs by people I have never heard of before is something I very much enjoy. The thought that each and every human being on this planet is leading their own life which is unique and distinct from all others is an unfathomable idea and yet so fascinating. An engrossing memoir ... an affecting mix of the personal and professional." (Erica Wagner Financial Times)

Ideal reading if you're a cheerful soul who likes to think about death. And think how it'll brighten your conversation on holiday. The TimesI think a good subtitle for this book would be something along he lines of "How to Read a Dead Body Like a History Book about the Life of That Specific Person." One might expect [this book] to be a grim read but it absolutely isn’t. I found it invigorating! Andrew Marr, BBC Radio 4 'Start the Week' An engrossing memoir . . . an affecting mix of personal and professional' (Erica Wagner , Financial Times) A model of how to write about the effect of human evil without losing either objectivity or sensitivity ... Heartening and anything but morbid... Leaves you thinking about what kind of human qualities you value, what kinds of people you actually want to be with. Rowan Williams, New Statesman For fans of Caitlin Doughty, Mary Roach, and CSI shows, a renowned forensic scientist on death and mortality.