Curtains

March 22, 2010
A CBC journalist in Winnepeg taking "a month's leave to dabble in deathcare" reveals the changing face of the funeral industry in this informative but rote tour of duty, an update of sorts on Jessica Mitford's 1963 The American Way of Death. On his first day as an intern at the Winnepeg crematorium run by Neil Bardal, the undertaker tells him that "the traditional funeral is gone and it's never coming back"; the bereft world has embraced cremation, with specific impact on a number of industry segments, from vehicles and florists to tombstones and caskets. Jokinen is nonchalantly graphic when getting into the day-to-day of cremation ("I dump the pan of bones onto the steel table and crunch through it with the heavy magnet"), touching on juvenile at times, but makes the point in many ways that, eventually, we'll all be paying for this industry's changes. The industry's big bet is that 75 million North American baby boomers, afraid of death, will want unprecedented control over their funerals, illustrated in examples like a successful Milwaukee funeral home owner who calls Ritz-Carlton and Disney his models. Readers who understand that Joniken took on the role of apprentice undertaker for one reason (they're reading it) will find an interesting glimpse into an almost-invisible industry, and the forces pushing it in strange new directions.

January 1, 2010
An apprentice undertaker on the ins and outs of the hidden trade.

In this report on the modern funeral industry, Jokinen updates The American Way of Death, Jessica Mitford's classic 1963 treatise on the subject. The principal difference between then and now is the skyrocketing popularity of cremation among Baby Boomers, a trend that has had disastrous financial impact on traditional funeral homes. Caskets, plots and funeral services are sold at huge markups, and the relatively cheap option of cremation has hit funeral directors hard. Jokinen examines the strategies employed by the industry to generate new revenue streams, a process that calls into question the very purpose of"death care"—what functions did the old rituals serve, and how do the new ways of disposing of the dead address the spiritual and emotional needs of the living? The author explores these new options, including environmentally conscious"green" funerals, innovations in crematory urns, such as personalized sculptures and huggable teddy-bear receptacles, and chemically induced disintegration of corpses. The book abounds with sickening details about human putrefaction, embalming processes, the grim mechanics of cremation and sundry tricks of the trade—for example, the deceased's clothing is commonly cut down the back and tucked in around the body for a flattering fit. It's easy to feel outrage at the institutionalized venality that characterizes the funeral industry, as emotionally compromised survivors are cannily manipulated into spending thousands of dollars on what are, essentially, unnecessary accoutrements—a simple pine box can do the job as well as a luxurious mahogany casket—but Jokinen elicits a measure of respect for the thoughtful, dedicated funeral directors who place a premium on respect for the departed and the dignity of the final send-off.

An astute, measured look at the modern death-care industry.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

February 15, 2010
Jokinens wry observations on and revelations about mortality and the industry it has engendered evoke a youthful adventure into the unknownnot only the philosophical mystery of death but also the black hole between the last breath and the reappearance at funeral or cemetery, in casket or urn, the period that, Jokinen says, people pay us to keep to ourselves. Quitting his job at 44, Jokinen was transformed into a death fairy by apprenticing for a year with a third-generation undertaker. Fear became respect and awe for the body as he performed grunt work, took notes, and explored rituals and traditions that were morphing into Disney-themed options. Recounting his experiences, he delivers ironic dialogue with stand-up skill and smoothly integrates technical information (Formaldehyde changes the structure of the bodys protein, . . . making it inhospitable to the bacteria of decomposition) and market data (Celebration of life cremations instead of burial funerals will account for 59% of the industry by 2025) without hindering the flow of readable insights.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)