WAIST-DEEP IN DUNG

What’s the worst possible job you can imagine?

The team that brought you Dung for Dinner (2020) follows up with a similarly gross look at unpleasant but often necessary occupations. Throughout history, some have been tasked with dealing with blood, sickness, death, vomit, pee, and poop, not just as parents or family members but as lifelong jobs. In this roundup, Virnig addresses readers directly; her playful prose centers on the gritty and gross details. Each of the 16 chapters covers a different specialty, including ancient Egyptian mummy makers, leech collectors, barber-surgeons, forensic entomologists, modern-day medical caretakers, and people who excavate, dissect, and watch over bodies to confirm that death has occurred. She describes an ancient Roman banquet as a “puke party” that someone has to clean up, which gives her the opportunity to talk about slavery in that society. Her chatty narrative is especially sympathetic to the people who collect poop: gongfermors in the Middle Ages, saltpeter men who extracted a vital ingredient for gunpowder from outhouses in the 17th century, toshers who roamed Victorian London sewers, Chinese laborers who harvested guano in Peru in the 19th century, and Dalit scavengers in present-day India. Briggs’ humorous sepia cartoon illustrations, often of people doing their jobs, add to the appeal. Full of the eww factor, the selection and presentation here are sure to engage readers.

Appealingly and disgustingly informative.