Book Review: Will My Cat Eat my Eyeballs?

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?
​Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death

by Caitlin Doughty

Review by Roy Peak 

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Caitlin Doughty is a mortician living in California, known for her charming YouTube videos in which she answers questions about death. In this, her third book, she tackles questions from kids about that same morbid subject. And you just know that kids are going to come up with the best questions—right? Questions such as "Can I keep my parents' skull after they die?" and "If I died making a stupid face, would it be stuck like that forever?" and of course the always fun to think about "Will I poop when I die?" These are the kind of questions that when kids ask their parents, the parents hardly ever have the real answer and just make something up: "Um, no Uncle Ken gets to keep daddy's skull. Your father did lose that bet to him all those years ago," and "Of course, it would. Now stick your tongue back in your mouth,, and eat your asparagus," and "Duh. Doesn't everyone?"

Doughty's answers are well researched, unswervingly candid, tasteful, often funny, and not just for the kiddies. Any adult reading this book is going to learn things they didn't know, while reveling in Doughty's witty remarks and intelligent, thoughtful answers.

The black and white illustrations throughout by Dianné Ruz are superbly enchanting and tasteful. Several actually made me laugh, they were so well thought out.

This book is a fun read, light enough to do in one sitting, or take a chapter a day.

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​Roy Peak is Sacred Chickens' Music Editor. He has played electric bass in more bands than he cares to remember for more years than he can remember. He wrote the theme song for the Utica, New York radio show "Hey You Kids, Get Off My Lawn" on WPNR-FM. His solo debut album, All Is Well, has been called "Loud, cacophonous, and beautiful by a truly unique artist." His short fiction has been published in The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature and he writes music reviews for the King Tut Vintage Album Museum of Jacksonville.  Roy writes music reviews for the Rocking Magpie among others.

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