Remember Me: A Lively Tour of the New American Way of Death, by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, guides readers on a fascinating walk through one of the most personal rites in the world. Since it is still impossible to avoid life's cessation, people often look for ways to make it meaningful. Since each person is a unique individual, Cullen walks readers through various methods of making the last rite more personal.
Start with the coffin. Nowadays, there are more options than a plain wooden box. For example, certain companies will customize one in the colors of one's favorite NASCAR racer, or if someone chooses, with the insignia of a beloved college football team.
In Ghana, artisans over generations have created caskets that represent the way of life of one who passed on. A gardener might choose to be entombed in a giant tomato. Someone who tends bar might opt for a bottle of his or her most cherished liquor. A fire engine may serve as the final resting place for a battalion chief.
Assuming one has some time on their hands, an Internet search may prove to be a goldmine of information. Caskets may be discovered at lower prices than what funeral homes charge. Who knows? One site could sell people caskets that can also be used as furniture.
In Nederland, Colorado, there is a celebration each year in honor of Bredo Morstoel, who died while napping. While that is hardly worth mentioning, the police had to be called after a request was made at the Town Hall for dry ice, presumably to help preserve the body. Needless to say, the press was thrilled at the opportunity for a few twisted, catchy headlines. Townspeople made the best of things, however, by creating Frozen Dead Guy Days. (I am not making this up).
In South Carolina, Ramsey Creek Preserve accommodates those who choose to forego the casket, preferring to be buried in the earth so as to give back to the environment once their soul has long since left the earth. There is not any embalming or a tombstone. A simple shroud will suffice.
Article comments
1 - Sam Paul
I wasn’t exactly sure what I was reading. This was definitely not a novel, but smelled something like an autobiography. It is in fact a blend of a form of journalism with biographical accounts to make an interesting book.
More interesting than the genre was the point of the book. My immediate reaction is to call it out on being a form of subliminal advertising. In most cases in the book it would not be hard at all to track down the businesses that were talked about and write a check. The table of contents even narrows it down for you if you are looking to gain some knowledge about a specific burial option. Another reason it screamed advertisement is because it not a continuous piece. You can read the chapters as separate ads.
This may not have been the idea of the author or publishers at all. I think that it is an interesting and useful book even though it came off as an advertisement. Takeuchi Cullen shows us many different ways for people to honor themselves or loved ones after death. I think the question of why people are doing this is an important one to ask. As Cullen took me on her journey to different funerals of all different types, I saw that people were doing this to express individuality. There are funerals that appeal to every type of person. With some of the prices she lists in the book it looks like it is driven more by capitalism than by individualism â€" maybe a healthy balance of the two.
As a whole I think the book has mass appeal and shows a side of America that is not easy to talk about. She does this in an almost sarcastic way that is anything but morbid. I would recommend that everyone who is going to die pick up the book and read a few chapters to get an idea about some interesting options that might make you more comfortable with the idea of death. This has opened up my mind to think of different ways to dispose of myself once I bid the world my final farewell - nothing in the book - something more original.
2 - Pat Delaney
Remember Me, written by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen is an interesting commentary on the way in which society has changed its views and practices concerning death. The reason for the author writing this book is of interest to me, because it was quite confusing at first. It was mentioned in our class discussions how there seems to be too much documentation in this book, with very little follow up analysis. Cullen does a great job of presenting the multitude of ways in which Americans, more specifically baby-boomers, are changing the traditional notions of how funerals and their related ceremonies should progress. However I feel as though she does not go much further than this. This can be explained by the fact that she is a journalist, and her goal was not to critically analyze the questions that arise from noting these drastic changes.
Cullen definitely avoids the issue of religion in relation to death. I do not believe this is because this was an oversight of the author, but simply beyond the scope of the book. To include religion in this text would have dramatically changed the tone and focus of the book. As it is, the book is very positive, bright, and easy to digest, but with the addition of the topic of religion it would have weighed the text down and made it a much less pleasant read. The authors objective seems to be do examine and uncover the various different funeral practices that have become popular in American culture.
As far as the objectives of the book, I think the author accomplished these without a doubt. Like I mentioned before, the focus of the book seems to be to simply examine the strange new ways in which the baby-boomer population has chosen to memorialize and honor their deceased friends and family. Despite the scope of the book and the author’s objectives, I believe that more analysis would have helped the reader gain more from the text. Why are Americans changing the funerary practices that have been established for so long, and what does this mean? What affect does this have on the grieving process, if any? Questions like this I wish were addressed by the author. After reading this book, I now feel as though I have to go out “with a bang” like the people cited in this book have done. After all, traditional funerals are really just boring.
3 - NancyGail
May I point out something? Nowhere in the book is contact information for the places listed. Yes, there are some links so people can understand what Cullen is talking about. I took them as "if you're interested".