Analysis Of Stiff: The Curious Lives Of Human Cadavers By Mary Roach

When people think of donating their body after death, the most common things that come to mind include providing organs to ill patients in need of transplants or becoming a specimen for human dissection for medical school students. Little do they know there are endless possibilities where a body can go and what can be done to it in the name science. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, by Mary Roach, explores a number of these experiments, in an informative, humorous, yet respectful way. This work opens with a vivid comparison between dead bodies to people vacationing on cruises, “Most of your time is spent lying on your back. The brain has shut down. The flesh begins to soften” (pg. 9). These being the first lines of the book I was not sure what to expect. I did, however, expect that the author would have a difficult time writing a
As I continued to read I decided it would be something I could tolerate and maybe even enjoy. Not only did Roach manage to uphold my expectations, she exceeded them. I found myself laughing at the book, a favorite moment of mine being when the author was describing cotton being placed in eye sockets of cadavers to make them appear fuller, then mentioning the Ancient Egyptians using pearl onions to achieve the same effect (pg. 76). When learning this information she countered by writing “If I had to have a small round martini garnish inserted under my eyelids, I would go with olives” (pg. 76). Her use of descriptive language and linking various processes and pictures to something the average person would understand was what really made the book come together in my eyes.