A Cemetery Should Be Forever

by John F. Llewellyn

The CEO of Southern California's Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks and Mortuaries explains why cemeteries are important and the unique management challenges faced by those responsible for them.

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Sylvia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Llewellyn is one of the more pompous and self-aggrandizing authors I have read. He is Frazier Crane on steroids. The embodiment of an ascot chocking you. He has a off-putting obsession with his great uncle, Hubert Eaton, who founded Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale, California. Uncle Eaton can do no wrong in John's eyes. While Llewellyn has wisdom of the family business to share, he often gets sidetracked airing petty grievances, old arguments, and generally debasing people who have disagreed with him about anything. He has the unpleasant habit of opening every paragraph with the premise that he is correcting some widely-held misconception. He seems incapable of neutrality. He is so unlikable on a personal level by the first chapter in, it's hard to appreciate when he knows what he is talking about. It's unfortunate no one in his inner-circle felt empowered enough to suggest a ghost writer. Sadly for Llewellyn, he fails to convince that a cemetery should be forever. If anything, I'm left thinking that all cemeteries will come to an end eventually, just like all things in life. You would think a man who runs a cemetery would have learned that.