Review: The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster

The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster by Sarah Krasnostein
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I expected this to be a book about someone who cleans up murder scenes and hoarders' houses, but it really is more about the personal life of the cleaner. Sure, you'll hear some stories about feces and too many cats and people with mental illness, but Sandra is the real hit of the book. Sandra was born into a boy's body, was adopted, and had a horrible childhood. Her adult life is full of ups and downs, but this is a real "pull-your-britches-up" kind of story, full of persistence and goodness. With some cussing. Sarah, the author, obviously loves getting to know Sandra, and I'm glad she chose to give her her tale. I appreciated the researched moments, since Sandra often mis-remembered parts of her past, and, ew, the hoarders. The author really focused on how fine the line is between different types of mental illness, comparing her own grief and depression to one of the hoarders. The line that hit me was "the difference is how strong we are when we are loved."

It surprised me how much I liked this one--the listening went quick. On disk 3, track 8, swathes was pronounced "sway-ths" so is that an Australian thing? The Australian accents weren't TOO Australian (no Outback here) which was good. The narrator really demonstrated strong emotion during Sandra's assault and the aftermath--made me start the waterworks.

View all my reviews