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Remember Me: A Lively Tour of the New American Way of Death
Cullen has created a humorous and poignant chronicle of her travels around the country to discover how Americans -- baby boomers, in particular -- are reinventing the rites of dying. What she discovered is that the people who reinvented youth, redefined careers, and reconceived middle age have created a new attitude toward the afterlife. They no longer want to take death lying down; instead, they're taking their demise into their own hands and planning the after-party. Cullen begins her journey at a national undertakers' convention in Nashville, where she checks out the latest in death merchandise. Traveling with her newborn infant on her back, she hears stories of modern-day lobster-shaped caskets and other unconventional containers for corpses; the booming cremation industry that has spawned a slew of "end-trepreneurs," including a company that turns cremated remains into diamonds; and even mishaps like dove releases gone horribly wrong. Cullen tours the country's first "green" cemetery in South Carolina, meets a mummification advocate at his pyramid in Utah, and visits the Frozen Dead Guy Days festival in Colorado. She crashes a Hmong funeral in Minneapolis and a tango funeral in Washington, D.C. Eye-opening, funny, and unforgettable, Remember Me gives an account of the ways in which Americans are designing new occasions to mark death -- by celebrating life.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
39 people are currently reading
370 people want to read
About the author
Lisa Takeuchi Cullen
2 books14 followersI'm Lisa Takeuchi Cullen. I used to be a journalist. Now I make stuff up.
In both fact and fiction I'm drawn to worlds I once knew little about. My debut novel, "Pastors' Wives" (Plume/Penguin 2013), is about three very different women married to pastors at a Southern evangelical megachurch--the kind with the Jumbotrons and the power band. It was inspired by an article I wrote while I was a staff writer for Time magazine. It's a People.com 2013 summer reading pick! Also, Gretchen Rubin, bestselling author of "The Happiness Project," calls it "riveting, perceptive, and funny. Once you pick up this novel, you won't be able to put it down."
My first book, "Remember Me: A Lively Tour of the New American Way of Death" (HarperCollins 2006), is about weird and wonderful funerals and burials. To report it, I crashed funerals for a year with my newborn on my back. It was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection. Also? Mary Roach ("Stiff") called it "a must-read for anyone who plans on dying."
I write TV pilots too. In 2013 I wrote and produced a drama for CBS called "The Ordained," about a priest who quits when he hears a confession about a deadly plot against his politician sister. It starred Sam Neill, Hope Davis, Audra McDonald, Jorge Garcia and Charlie Cox, and it was awesome. Really, it was. But it didn't make CBS's fall line-up. I blog about this and other humiliating episodes from the life of a writer at www.lisacullen.com.
Before, I was a staff writer at Time, and before that, its Tokyo correspondent. I have degrees from Columbia and Rutgers. I was born and raised in Kobe, Japan, home of the overpriced beef and apparent namesake of a basketball star. Now I live in New Jersey with my family. I love my adoptive home state, and if you insult it I will fight you. Please visit my website at www.lisacullen.com, my Facebook author page at www.facebook.com/LisaTakeuchiCullen, and/or follow me on Twitter @lisacullen.com. I'd be delighted to meet you.
In both fact and fiction I'm drawn to worlds I once knew little about. My debut novel, "Pastors' Wives" (Plume/Penguin 2013), is about three very different women married to pastors at a Southern evangelical megachurch--the kind with the Jumbotrons and the power band. It was inspired by an article I wrote while I was a staff writer for Time magazine. It's a People.com 2013 summer reading pick! Also, Gretchen Rubin, bestselling author of "The Happiness Project," calls it "riveting, perceptive, and funny. Once you pick up this novel, you won't be able to put it down."
My first book, "Remember Me: A Lively Tour of the New American Way of Death" (HarperCollins 2006), is about weird and wonderful funerals and burials. To report it, I crashed funerals for a year with my newborn on my back. It was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection. Also? Mary Roach ("Stiff") called it "a must-read for anyone who plans on dying."
I write TV pilots too. In 2013 I wrote and produced a drama for CBS called "The Ordained," about a priest who quits when he hears a confession about a deadly plot against his politician sister. It starred Sam Neill, Hope Davis, Audra McDonald, Jorge Garcia and Charlie Cox, and it was awesome. Really, it was. But it didn't make CBS's fall line-up. I blog about this and other humiliating episodes from the life of a writer at www.lisacullen.com.
Before, I was a staff writer at Time, and before that, its Tokyo correspondent. I have degrees from Columbia and Rutgers. I was born and raised in Kobe, Japan, home of the overpriced beef and apparent namesake of a basketball star. Now I live in New Jersey with my family. I love my adoptive home state, and if you insult it I will fight you. Please visit my website at www.lisacullen.com, my Facebook author page at www.facebook.com/LisaTakeuchiCullen, and/or follow me on Twitter @lisacullen.com. I'd be delighted to meet you.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
June 15, 2023
The book starts off well enough with an interesting concept of a biodegradeable body-in-a-pod burial in a wood of deciduous trees. It has some other nice ideas - having your ashes cast in concrete with a brass plaque attached and dumped on a reef for the fishes to carouse around. But in between these and one or two other nice ideas the writing is tedious and has TMI on the author and her child, and finally, and tragically on a situation in her own family.
Not too long after I read this book my mother died. Three days after she died, we held a traditional Jewish burial (it is usually next day, but they allowed me time to get back to the UK). Her body was wrapped in a shroud of white cotton sewn with no knots and placed in a plain wooden coffin with holes drilled in the bottom so that it would be 'earth to earth'. At the conclusion of the prayers all the men put a shovelful of earth onto my mother's coffin until it was covered. To hear the first clod of earth was very hard. There were no floral tributes, that isn't a Jewish tradition. Later, at the house, for seven days, were prayers and food brought in and people visiting at all hours. Eleven months later, her gravestone was dedicated and laid.
A year later my niece died of cancer of the womb, leaving a son who was four the following week. A week after her death, she was buried in her favourite dress in a wicker basket under an oak tree in a cemetery after a humanist ceremony. Donations to charity were requested, in lieu of flowers. Afterwards, there was a small and sad party, food, drink and remembrances of our dear girl.
Shortly afterwards, they say things come in threes, don't they, one of my several-generations-older brothers-in-law died.
He was a West Indian of some note, so it was a huge funeral with tv cameras and photographers and a marquee to shade those who couldn't get into the Church. My brother-in-law's body had been embalmed ten days ago just after he died. He was made-up to look just asleep and was dressed in his best suit and put on show in a sateen-lined casket in the Church where we all filed past with our floral tributes. At the graveyard, the coffin was placed into the ground and we dropped onto the casket the purple ribbons we had tied around our upper arms. There was much singing of joyful hymns of 'going home', swinging and swaying and trying not to cry.
Then one by one, all of the men, and some of the women took the spade to fill the hole and more, to pile it high with the dirt covered with the funeral flowers. When the earth sinks to nearly the level of the ground, a gravestone will be laid. Later, there were refreshments for all, and later still a buffet for the family, with take-home boxes for those that couldn't attend. A West Indian funeral is an all-day affair.
Three different traditions. The book only covered the bare bones of the death industry when it could have explored far more. It was adequate, but contrasting it to Jessica Mitford's ground-breaking The American Way of Death it was just too flimsy. A good popculture read for those that like non-fiction, I enjoyed it, but it wasn't anything special.
Not too long after I read this book my mother died. Three days after she died, we held a traditional Jewish burial (it is usually next day, but they allowed me time to get back to the UK). Her body was wrapped in a shroud of white cotton sewn with no knots and placed in a plain wooden coffin with holes drilled in the bottom so that it would be 'earth to earth'. At the conclusion of the prayers all the men put a shovelful of earth onto my mother's coffin until it was covered. To hear the first clod of earth was very hard. There were no floral tributes, that isn't a Jewish tradition. Later, at the house, for seven days, were prayers and food brought in and people visiting at all hours. Eleven months later, her gravestone was dedicated and laid.
A year later my niece died of cancer of the womb, leaving a son who was four the following week. A week after her death, she was buried in her favourite dress in a wicker basket under an oak tree in a cemetery after a humanist ceremony. Donations to charity were requested, in lieu of flowers. Afterwards, there was a small and sad party, food, drink and remembrances of our dear girl.
Shortly afterwards, they say things come in threes, don't they, one of my several-generations-older brothers-in-law died.
He was a West Indian of some note, so it was a huge funeral with tv cameras and photographers and a marquee to shade those who couldn't get into the Church. My brother-in-law's body had been embalmed ten days ago just after he died. He was made-up to look just asleep and was dressed in his best suit and put on show in a sateen-lined casket in the Church where we all filed past with our floral tributes. At the graveyard, the coffin was placed into the ground and we dropped onto the casket the purple ribbons we had tied around our upper arms. There was much singing of joyful hymns of 'going home', swinging and swaying and trying not to cry.
Then one by one, all of the men, and some of the women took the spade to fill the hole and more, to pile it high with the dirt covered with the funeral flowers. When the earth sinks to nearly the level of the ground, a gravestone will be laid. Later, there were refreshments for all, and later still a buffet for the family, with take-home boxes for those that couldn't attend. A West Indian funeral is an all-day affair.
Three different traditions. The book only covered the bare bones of the death industry when it could have explored far more. It was adequate, but contrasting it to Jessica Mitford's ground-breaking The American Way of Death it was just too flimsy. A good popculture read for those that like non-fiction, I enjoyed it, but it wasn't anything special.
August 7, 2008
Sensitively written, I am moved to tears while reading about the families of 9/11 victims who had no remains to bury. "One couple...having waited two years, resorted to burying a vial of blood their son had donated."
Other chapters talk about "Green" burials, turning your loved ones into diamonds, "Fantastic Afterlife Vehicles" , cryogenics, plastination, mummification.
In the final chapter, the author loses her own grandfather and describes a very beautiful Buddhist funeral in Japan. Eye opening book. Who knew that a sealed coffin can cause a body to explode? Or that Japan has marketed eyeglasses designed specifically to wear during funerals.
I think the thing that bothered me the most was the haggling over coffins as if they were used cars. I'll be happy with a pine box thank you.
Other chapters talk about "Green" burials, turning your loved ones into diamonds, "Fantastic Afterlife Vehicles" , cryogenics, plastination, mummification.
In the final chapter, the author loses her own grandfather and describes a very beautiful Buddhist funeral in Japan. Eye opening book. Who knew that a sealed coffin can cause a body to explode? Or that Japan has marketed eyeglasses designed specifically to wear during funerals.
I think the thing that bothered me the most was the haggling over coffins as if they were used cars. I'll be happy with a pine box thank you.
February 7, 2022
A fascinating and well-researched overview of how funerals are evolving in the United States, with some spectacularly interesting examples of less common ways that some people celebrate the lives of deceased loved ones. I also appreciated the inside peek at the funeral industry and the people who work in it. This book is witty, engaging and touching.
December 8, 2008
As kids, we used to sign autograph books with the rhyme "Remember Grant. Remember Lee. But best of all, remember me." Lisa Takeuchi Cullen takes the reader on a wonderful tour of how America prepares for that final send-off. Not so much about the spiritual traditions that abound in our nation (though there is a little) but more about how we dress up for our final party. I had heard of a fair number of the new alternatives to six feet under, particularly with "cremains". (When my priest friend first used that term, for remains after cremation, I thought he was kidding): everything from becoming a permanent part of a living reef, ashes scattered by airplane, or even turning them into diamonds. My favorite, though, even more than the Frozen Dead Guy Festival, is the Green burial-- a decided attempt to help nurture and renourish the earth, and follow the simple thought of ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Funny as Frozen Dead Guy or Lobster shaped coffins may seem, this trend at ecologically sound burials is something we've been talking about in this household of aging baby boomers and one fiesty 85 year old. And it's centered here in South Carolina (typo alert-- on page38. Westminster is in South Carolina, not North Carolina. I know this for a fact as I drove through there three days ago and got stopped for speeding.)
Anyhow, this was an interesting, informative and well-paced book. Those of us who can actually call ourselves Boomers, have watched as we've moved from babies, to hippies, to yuppies...now we're heading for our final frontier, and Lisa Takeuchi Cullen has documented some of our pathways.
The only down thing was that occasionally I felt the author intrude with her own personal objectives and need to interject her beliefs, but hey! It's her book! Oddly enough, my least favorite chapter was the one on her Grandfather's death. Had she not already been involved in the project of writing this book, I would have thought that loss of a family member was her whole reason for writing the book. But, it just appears to be an unfortunate coincidence.
Anyhow, this was an interesting, informative and well-paced book. Those of us who can actually call ourselves Boomers, have watched as we've moved from babies, to hippies, to yuppies...now we're heading for our final frontier, and Lisa Takeuchi Cullen has documented some of our pathways.
The only down thing was that occasionally I felt the author intrude with her own personal objectives and need to interject her beliefs, but hey! It's her book! Oddly enough, my least favorite chapter was the one on her Grandfather's death. Had she not already been involved in the project of writing this book, I would have thought that loss of a family member was her whole reason for writing the book. But, it just appears to be an unfortunate coincidence.
January 21, 2020
Cullen explores the changing landscape of a person's "shuffle off this mortal coil" with field trips to the more esoteric corners of the funeral industry. From attending the National Funeral Directors Association conference in Nashville to learning how to create a diamond out of cremains to spending a weekend at the Frozen Dead Guy Festival in Colorado, the author shows how the traditional American funeral is rapidly disappearing. Each chapter includes a detailed obituary for a person who chose a different way to celebrate exiting this world. The book ends with a loving obituary to her grandfather, Toshiaki Takeuchi, 1917-2004. This book is for those who like Mary Roach's approach to science, technology, and culture, black humor, and the not-so-homogeneous corners of the American experience.
March 23, 2025
I’m conflicted about this book. The subject matter was fascinating, and I agreed with many of the author’s perspectives, but I struggled to connect with her writing style. It took me forever to get through this book.
That said, the book covered some really interesting topics that sent me down several internet rabbit holes—Frozen Dead Guy Days in Nederland, Colorado?! It also made me think deeply about what I’d want at the end of my life, even prompting a conversation with my husband. I read this as part of the Read in Peace Book Club, which meets at a historic cemetery—fitting, right? While it wasn’t my favorite, I’d still recommend it to anyone interested in the topic. It definitely sparks reflection.
That said, the book covered some really interesting topics that sent me down several internet rabbit holes—Frozen Dead Guy Days in Nederland, Colorado?! It also made me think deeply about what I’d want at the end of my life, even prompting a conversation with my husband. I read this as part of the Read in Peace Book Club, which meets at a historic cemetery—fitting, right? While it wasn’t my favorite, I’d still recommend it to anyone interested in the topic. It definitely sparks reflection.
February 8, 2020
Despite some transphobic lines on page 34, I continued reafing. I'm glad because it introduced me to Ramsey Creek and the kind of green burial work I want to be doing. Otherwise written like fantastical journalism.
April 14, 2020
An insightful look at how Americans deal with death in the 21st century. Cullen writes cleanly, clearly, and concisely with a lot of humor. Some info/data a bit dated but overall the book holds up and is an enjoyable piece of reporting.
June 28, 2018
A lively tour of the new American way of death. Interesting and fun.
January 22, 2019
Good read! I really enjoyed the different experiences the author showcased of differing funerary options. It wasn’t morbid or depressing. There was humour, curiosity, skepticism... loved it.
August 8, 2020
Not well written, deep or funny like some have said. Pass.
July 31, 2020
I have read Stiff and Grave Matters both similar in material. I almost stopped short of finishing this one after the first 3 chapters because it was too similar to the other 2, but I'm glad I did finish it. This one merges the cut and dry aspects of death with the more personal stories related to each section of the book. The author's subject materials in this one resonated with me being that I'm also from NJ which is where most of her research occurred. I would suggest this book for someone who wants a more balanced human look at death vs. Grave Matters which is more cut in dry about the ways you can go about being buried, to Stiff which at times is more light-hearted and delves also into the studies related to dead bodies.
December 21, 2007
I found this book while browsing the library shelves on the general topic & saw a favorable blurb by Mary Roach, so thought I'd give it a whirl.
Written in a personal, yet light-hearted style, Cullen explores the world of "consumer shopping for after-death options". She crashes a funeral industry conference, talks to the creators of LifeGem (man-made diamonds from cremains) and Eternal Reefs (mixing cremains & concrete to make artificial coral reefs), explores mummification and plastination as body preservation options and attends a Hmong funeral in Minneapolis and the Frozen Dead Guy festival in Nederland, CO.
She wrote this book while on maternity/child-care leave & took her daughter along with her on many of her trips, which gave her a new understanding of death, as did the funeral of her grandfather in Japan. Ronald Reagan & Pope John Paul II's funerals also took place while she was writing this book, as well as the SE Asia Tsunami and Terry Schaivo's case. She comments on all these events and reflects on how funeral rites are being changed/updated by the Baby Boomer generation.
"The [funeral] celebration is an antidote to the extreme and sudden loneliness many of us envision as death. We want to gather all the people who loved us and know us and maybe even admired us to accompany us one last time."
I think this book would make excellent companion reading to Mary Roach's Stiff : The Curious Lives Of Human Cadavers and recommend both of them highly.
Written in a personal, yet light-hearted style, Cullen explores the world of "consumer shopping for after-death options". She crashes a funeral industry conference, talks to the creators of LifeGem (man-made diamonds from cremains) and Eternal Reefs (mixing cremains & concrete to make artificial coral reefs), explores mummification and plastination as body preservation options and attends a Hmong funeral in Minneapolis and the Frozen Dead Guy festival in Nederland, CO.
She wrote this book while on maternity/child-care leave & took her daughter along with her on many of her trips, which gave her a new understanding of death, as did the funeral of her grandfather in Japan. Ronald Reagan & Pope John Paul II's funerals also took place while she was writing this book, as well as the SE Asia Tsunami and Terry Schaivo's case. She comments on all these events and reflects on how funeral rites are being changed/updated by the Baby Boomer generation.
"The [funeral] celebration is an antidote to the extreme and sudden loneliness many of us envision as death. We want to gather all the people who loved us and know us and maybe even admired us to accompany us one last time."
I think this book would make excellent companion reading to Mary Roach's Stiff : The Curious Lives Of Human Cadavers and recommend both of them highly.
August 11, 2008
I found this book fascinating, and really enjoyed the way the author made a heavy topic entertaining and informative, without being overly flippant. While I was reading it I tried recommending it to several people, but no one would go for it. We're all going to die some day, and reading this book is a great way to start thinking about what you want for your body after you die, rather than leaving it up to your family or just tradition. I guess for most people, death isn't that fun to think about.
It truly amazes me that in our current culture, where everything seems individualized, that the same-old coffin, mortuary, funeral home type of memorial continues to dominate. Especially when the cost is so ridiculous, considering you're just putting a body in the ground. It doesn't surprise me that cremation is significantly on the rise, but I am surprised that you have to be shipped to Vermont (or was it West Virginia? Whatever) if you want a green burial. Personally, I'm all for a cardboard box.
It truly amazes me that in our current culture, where everything seems individualized, that the same-old coffin, mortuary, funeral home type of memorial continues to dominate. Especially when the cost is so ridiculous, considering you're just putting a body in the ground. It doesn't surprise me that cremation is significantly on the rise, but I am surprised that you have to be shipped to Vermont (or was it West Virginia? Whatever) if you want a green burial. Personally, I'm all for a cardboard box.
March 24, 2011
Interesting and informative look at the modern way of dealing with death in America.
Don't want to be buried in a coffin in a traditional cemetery? Well, you and millions of other Americans no longer have to. Forget about cremation, that's old news. How about having your ashes turned into diamonds? Or into artificial reefs to rebuild damaged coastlines?
Or if you still want to be buried, how about foregoing embalming and burial in a fancy-shmancy coffin and instead get buried 'organically' under a pretty tree in a preserved wood?
Cullen touches on these and other aspects of the funeral industry. As others have mentioned, it wasn't quite up to the level of Mary Roach's 'Stiff', but then again what is?
Overall a good read for anyone slightly morbid or who like me is interested in social history of all kinds.
Don't want to be buried in a coffin in a traditional cemetery? Well, you and millions of other Americans no longer have to. Forget about cremation, that's old news. How about having your ashes turned into diamonds? Or into artificial reefs to rebuild damaged coastlines?
Or if you still want to be buried, how about foregoing embalming and burial in a fancy-shmancy coffin and instead get buried 'organically' under a pretty tree in a preserved wood?
Cullen touches on these and other aspects of the funeral industry. As others have mentioned, it wasn't quite up to the level of Mary Roach's 'Stiff', but then again what is?
Overall a good read for anyone slightly morbid or who like me is interested in social history of all kinds.
March 8, 2012
This is yet another book collecting essays that repeat over and over, "Wow, look at the weird things people do to celebrate their loved ones!" The book is at its best when she profiles bereaved families, but whenever she makes herself a part of the story, Cullen -- a staff writer for Time magazine -- comes off as remarkably shallow.
Still, I was interested in the company that turns cremains to diamonds and another that is creating an artificial reef out of cremains mixed into cement. There *was* some fascinating material here. I'm guessing that the profiles parts of each chapter originally appeared somewhere else as stand-alone pieces. Reading those would have been preferable to this book.
The pink hearse on the cover serves as a warning. Sometimes you should judge a book by its cover.
Still, I was interested in the company that turns cremains to diamonds and another that is creating an artificial reef out of cremains mixed into cement. There *was* some fascinating material here. I'm guessing that the profiles parts of each chapter originally appeared somewhere else as stand-alone pieces. Reading those would have been preferable to this book.
The pink hearse on the cover serves as a warning. Sometimes you should judge a book by its cover.
July 18, 2007
A book about different ways Americans deal with the bodily remains of their loved ones. Everything from creating diamonds out of their carbon producing cremains to the procedure of preserving an entire body with plastique and posing the body in art exhibits. Cullen’s visits a family going through each method of *disposal* for a family member. Her narrative is sympathetic, curious and well thought out. Which method do you want? (Read during my journey to Atlanta to see REM being inducted into the Georgia Rock and Roll Hall of Fame). . Book #47 of my 2006 Book List, finished reading it on 10-3-06.
March 23, 2016
Perhaps not a fair review, as I didn't really finish the book, but about 1/2 way through just scanned and read the chapters that interested me, but that might say something about the book. I didn't think it was particularly well written. It didn't capture the attention well. The author wants to be journalistic, but at the same time interjects herself and her kid into the investigation all the time. The book offers nothing new: funerals are expensive, people have different cultural norms when it comes to death rites, cultural norms can change... Maybe I missed the interesting bits.
February 9, 2017
Journalist takes a Time article and expands into a book. Not philosophically deep, but deeply funny.
August 10, 2007
An interesting and informative read, but it fell a little flat for me because I expected it to measure up to Stiff by Mary Roach, and that wasn't fair. It also fell short of Jessica Mitford's The American Way of Death, which the author was clearly aspiring to. Not a bad read, but I preferred the other two books that managed to cover a lot of the same material between them.
September 30, 2008
I picked this up now that the paperback version is available and it balances with my philosophy/jokes book as lunch and train reading. So far I really like its implications as a cultural study, and it may inform my "american death" novel-not-yet-written. I admit it is an emotional read.
It makes me think of the line from the Big Chill, "They throw a great party the one day they know you can't make it."
It makes me think of the line from the Big Chill, "They throw a great party the one day they know you can't make it."
May 27, 2010
A fun little non-fiction book about a journey through how we chose to say goodbye in North America. Never morbid, the author gives us a humour filled cultural tour through funeral rites and convention centres.
Goes to show how ridiculous we can be but also, how we care for and commemorate each other.
Definitely a good read, watch where you read it though, I got more than a few raised eyebrows on the bus.
Goes to show how ridiculous we can be but also, how we care for and commemorate each other.
Definitely a good read, watch where you read it though, I got more than a few raised eyebrows on the bus.
January 15, 2008
Finding the "Fun" in Funeral. That's what this book is all about. from "Green" burials to making diamonds from human ashes, this book makes the traditional ways seem lame and outdated. Some stories will make you laugh, some will make you cry and some will make you think outside the box...pun intended. Life ends, but your options afterwards are entertainingly endless.
February 17, 2008
Researching how Americans die, and how we are remembered and memorialized after death, sounds morbid and gruesome. Actually, it's moving and funny, with moments of pure hilarity. I want to go to the Dead Guy Festival, just to say I've been. This was a surprisingly good read, with much to say about how we view death, and how we view life and love and the eternal circle of life.
July 7, 2008
This book talks about the various body deposition options that are available after death. You can be mummified or you can have your cremated ashes turned into diamonds. You can have your body plastinated and added to the traveling "Body Works" display or you can have a burial at sea. Personally I think I'd like a green burial. Interesting read, and not morbid at all.
December 24, 2009
I'm currently working at Parklawn Memorial Park and Menorah Gardens. It's a gorgeous cemetery in Rockville, MD. I remembered tonight that I had an advanced reader's copy that I scored at Book Expo American in 2006. I tried to locate the final copy at some local bookstores but it's out of print. Bummer
December 24, 2010
Cullen's book is a wonderful walk through the weird. From people whose cremains are turned into sealife habitat or diamonds to cryogenics and coffins that second as furniture, there's no end to the jaw-dropping, breathless: "No way." There's even a story about a man who married a corpse. Something about tradition. Yes way.
April 21, 2015
I enjoyed this book quite a lot. The author's style is very readable. I liked finding out that CSI is not the only recent victim of reality TV (morticians and CSI join doctors, lawyers and models in the fictional world of 'reality'). I especially like the last will and testament way of doing her acknowledgements.
June 16, 2008
A really cool collection of essays on how Americans are choosing to remember/be remembered after death. I wish Cullen had included more of an overarching conclusion to the book—maybe analyzed her stories in more depth to arrive at some conclusions, but it works well as an essay collection I think.
May 9, 2010
It amazes me the innovative ideas people develop. I knew the funeral industry was huge; you know the old saying about the only two sure things in life.... But to think of a way to turn cremains into diamonds or false reefs. The imagination is beyond me and makes for a very interesting read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews