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A review by luluwoohoo
The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster by Sarah Krasnostein
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein
☀️☀️☀️☀️
This biography examines the complex and varied life of a transgender woman who spends her time giving people the sort of help she was never offered.
The book features two narratives side by side - Sandra's life story, told mostly chronologically, interspersed with the real life homes she visits to clean and help people. The service she provides cannot be overstated: for both the living and the dead Sandra offers compassion, dedication and perfectionist tendencies to endure their possessions and homes are returned to a pleasant and comfortable state for them or their loved ones.
Sandra is a complicated, ever-changing person and a self-reported unreliable narrator. She was born a boy, shunned and abused by her family as a child, married and had children prior to transitioning, and has lived several lives since then. Her determination to be her true self and to survive is brilliant to read about. One of my closest family members is so alike that reading this feels particularly important.
Krasnostein employs an easy to read writing style which makes the dual narratives simple to follow along with. Her lyrical similes and metaphors elevate the quality and make this a more emotionally engaged piece, which is vital for the subject matter.
I was really taken by this book. The backdrop of regional Australia was already a big drawcard, but Sandra's story was one I connected with regardless of its unreliability. The exploration of her life, as well as the realities of her current job, both gelled to form a fascinating book.
☀️☀️☀️☀️
This biography examines the complex and varied life of a transgender woman who spends her time giving people the sort of help she was never offered.
The book features two narratives side by side - Sandra's life story, told mostly chronologically, interspersed with the real life homes she visits to clean and help people. The service she provides cannot be overstated: for both the living and the dead Sandra offers compassion, dedication and perfectionist tendencies to endure their possessions and homes are returned to a pleasant and comfortable state for them or their loved ones.
Sandra is a complicated, ever-changing person and a self-reported unreliable narrator. She was born a boy, shunned and abused by her family as a child, married and had children prior to transitioning, and has lived several lives since then. Her determination to be her true self and to survive is brilliant to read about. One of my closest family members is so alike that reading this feels particularly important.
Krasnostein employs an easy to read writing style which makes the dual narratives simple to follow along with. Her lyrical similes and metaphors elevate the quality and make this a more emotionally engaged piece, which is vital for the subject matter.
I was really taken by this book. The backdrop of regional Australia was already a big drawcard, but Sandra's story was one I connected with regardless of its unreliability. The exploration of her life, as well as the realities of her current job, both gelled to form a fascinating book.
"Though it must feel like a catacomb in that dark hour, and though every hour behind these blinds has been dark, the house is spinning with movement: mould is travelling up and down the walls, food is rotting, cans are rusting, water is dripping, insects are being born and they are living and dying, Janice's hair is growing, her heart is beating, she is breathing. Which is to say that this, too, is life. Like the creatures that swim in the perfect blackness of the ocean floor, the ecosystem here would be unrecognisable to most people but this, too, is our world. The Order of Things includes those who are excluded."