Both ends of the spectrum: Death.

I enjoyed the hell out of Tom Jokinen's Curtains: Adventures of an Undertaker-in-Training.

This is weird, I know, but I ALWAYS seem to enjoy books about death and funerals. I really liked Lisa Takeuchi Cullens's Remember Me: A Lively Tour of the New American Way of Death, and I loved Jessica Mitford's classic The American Way of Death. I know three books does not a whole lot of experience make, but I have this feeling I've read other books on the subject and am just not remembering them right now.

Jokinen is a Canadian author who takes some time off from his job in order to become an undertaker's apprentice; basically, helping out at a local funeral home business with such tasks as transporting bodies, assisting at embalmings, and just being a general all-around helper. I know, it sounds morbid, doesn't it? But it's really not. His personal reaction to the jobs he's given is interesting, his insight into his employer's funeral home business is fascinating, and his wider look at current trends in funeral services (including "green" burials and cremation, of course), especially as they become ever more separated from tradition and religion, is also really well done.*

I liked it for its non-sentimentality. Consider this job tip: "Summer at the Factory [Jokinen's name for the funeral home] means the smell of freshly turned earth from Brookside cemetery, and Zep bug spray, which Shannon uses to fog the dressing room to keep flies off the customers. 'The last thing you want is to open the casket and have a fly come out of someone's nose,' she says. Shannon's full of helpful hints. When threading a needle in the prep room, she says, resist the urge to put it in your mouth. Moisten the end with water from the sink. 'Never lick anything in a funeral home.'" (p. 75.)

Now that's good advice. It's a great book--give it a try if you can handle the subject matter.

*Plus, he's Canadian, which means I love him by default. At one point he references the band Blue Rodeo, which is a great Canadian band, and one of my favorites, which made me feel very Canadian myself. Please, Canada, just adopt me already?

Comments

[Jo]

I hadn't heard of this book, and now I want to read it!!! I liked Stiff by Mary Roach, so I'm anticipating I'll like this one, too.

[Citizen Reader]

Jo,
Oh, of course, I forgot about "Stiff"! I enjoyed Stiff too--thank you for the reminder. Did you know Mary Roach has a new book out this fall? I think it's called "Packing for Mars" or something.

I think there's another book out now too--another memoir about the "dismal trade"--okay, I just went and looked it up, Thomas Lynch's "The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade." I may have to wait a while before tackling that one, though.

Let me know what you think of "Curtains" if you get it!

[Melissa]

I nearly picked this up at the library this very afternoon ... but didn't. Damn. Definitely going to look for this again.

Another one that's on my TBR pile: The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasure of Obituaries by Marilyn Johnson. Just bought this last week and can't wait to read it.

[Angelique]

I'm #12 on the holds list. Thanks for the recommendation, CR! And thanks to Melissa for The Dead Beat. I've read too much crappy fiction this summer, I'm back to more NF. Wait. Crappy is too harsh a word. More like uninspiring. Regardless, thanks again.

[Citizen Reader]

Melissa,
I enjoyed "The Dead Beat" too, but it's been AGES since I read it. Let us know what you think of it, okay?

Angelique,
I know just what you mean. I enjoyed my foray into fiction but give me a good quality piece of nonfiction any time. I hope you like "Curtains"--let me know what you think. I can see it not being for everyone but I really liked it, for whatever reason.

[bybee]

I've just got to read this book or I'll simply die!

[Amy]

Why of course we'll adopt you! Come on up! :) Curtains sounds like a really fun book!

[Jennifer]

If you like Canadians and death, you should take a look at "In the Land of the Long Fingernails" by Charles Wilkins. As a college student, he spent the summer of '69 as a gravedigger. Irreverent and funny - and you learn a few things about cemeteries you may wish you didn't...

[Citizen Reader]

Bybee!
Now THAT's the spirit!

Amy,
Really? Say you mean it? Now I just have to convince the several other members of my immediate family to pull up roots and move just a few hours north with me....

Jennifer,
I love how that makes me sound. "I love Canadians and death." The book you reference sounds awesome--but my library doesn't own it! I may have to ILL that bad boy. Thanks so much for the suggestion!

[Sarah]

Hi. This is my first visit to your blog and I was thrilled to see the words, "I ALWAYS seem to enjoy books about death and funerals." Me too!

You might also enjoy Driving With Dead People: A Memoir by Monica Holloway. Fair warning: it's depressing, but good.

[Tom]

Glad you liked CURTAINS. Canada is always open to new readers, tell them at the border I said so. Wilkins' is a great book, but the classic of the genre is Evelyn Waugh's THE LOVED ONE. Hilarious and grim.

Thanks for the blog, keep up the important work.

Tom Jokinen.

[Citizen Reader]

Sarah,
Always glad to have another reader around who loves reading about death and funerals! And thank you so much for the Holloway suggestion--I'm going to take a bit of a break from these books and then get that one later! (I never mind depressing books. Actually, stupidly upbeat books make me a lot more depressed.)

Tom Jokinen!
Thanks for stopping in, and thanks for writing such a great book. Please write another--I'll read it. And thanks for the Waugh suggestion. I do like Waugh, although I haven't read much of his. But "Brideshead Revisited" always seemed to me to have the proper balance of "damned if you do, damned if you don't."

[Rachael]

Oh, this looks good. Added to my list.

This subject is so oddly fascinating. I always worry a bit when I enjoy a book on the subject, but good writing is good writing is...