Curtains
Ratings1
Average rating4
15
Ratings1
Average rating4
Tom Jokinen began to seriously question the secular funeral rites that are taking over the industry. The question had such a hard grip on his Finnish soul that he decided to become an apprentice undertaker. This book is about what he found, from the mundane to the macabre. For anyone who's secretly wondered why they paid $2000 for a 5-lb bag of dust--or questioned whether that dust was really the person they loved--Curtains lifts the veil on the funeral industry in the 21st century.--From publisher description.
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This was a really interesting, often funny look at the modern North American funeral industry from someone who didn't grow up around the business. Jokinen has a raw, dry humour that works well with the subject and I found myself laughing more than once, which really made this book all the more enjoyable. I also learned a lot about the ins and outs of the business side of death and it made me think about what I would want for my own (hopefully not in the near future) funeral and burial.
While the writer does visit the west coast of the US and looks at some of the cemeteries there, the majority of the book takes place in Canada so some of the terms and the culture varies from what I'm familiar with. If you're looking for an in-detail look at the American funeral industry, this isn't for you, though I'd recommend you read it anyway. This book is definitely for anyone even remotely interested in the trade of death and the dying.
