This is my review for Amazon:
I found this book to be very enjoyable. It was easy to read - no dryness, gory details that tripped up the narrative, or terminology that most people can't pronounce let alone know the meaning of. Although, I think that some knowledge of the death industry might be helpful in understanding this fictionalized memoir.
As with most of my other reviews, the plot has been synopsised so I'll just go over my personal reaction: I loved Louise's boundless optimism for the first several chapters of the book; instead of letting hurtles trip her, she just jumped higher. I'm sure that her personal experience has everything to do with it, but I admired the way she sympathetically wrote about her colleagues "burn out."
Maybe I'm just dense, but I didn't see any "spiritual awakening" (which is what the blurb on the back of the book mentioned). What I read into this journey is that she was managing to find a way to handle the emotional aspects of dealing with death and being around grieving people constantly. In the beginning, Lenore struck me as what might be considered a "typical mortician" - very clinical and not very caring. But towards the end, I found her to be more humanized.
This might not matter to most people, but I must say I was pleasantly surprised when I received the book (new, through Amazon - this won't apply if you buy it used), and saw that it was printed the day I ordered it. I'm sure this is purely fiscal in nature, but it's kind of nice knowing that they are printed on an as-needed basis.
I am really looking forward to reading her other books: Into the Hands of Strangers and The Distribution of Fluids
I found this book to be very enjoyable. It was easy to read - no dryness, gory details that tripped up the narrative, or terminology that most people can't pronounce let alone know the meaning of. Although, I think that some knowledge of the death industry might be helpful in understanding this fictionalized memoir.
As with most of my other reviews, the plot has been synopsised so I'll just go over my personal reaction: I loved Louise's boundless optimism for the first several chapters of the book; instead of letting hurtles trip her, she just jumped higher. I'm sure that her personal experience has everything to do with it, but I admired the way she sympathetically wrote about her colleagues "burn out."
Maybe I'm just dense, but I didn't see any "spiritual awakening" (which is what the blurb on the back of the book mentioned). What I read into this journey is that she was managing to find a way to handle the emotional aspects of dealing with death and being around grieving people constantly. In the beginning, Lenore struck me as what might be considered a "typical mortician" - very clinical and not very caring. But towards the end, I found her to be more humanized.
This might not matter to most people, but I must say I was pleasantly surprised when I received the book (new, through Amazon - this won't apply if you buy it used), and saw that it was printed the day I ordered it. I'm sure this is purely fiscal in nature, but it's kind of nice knowing that they are printed on an as-needed basis.
I am really looking forward to reading her other books: Into the Hands of Strangers and The Distribution of Fluids
