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Grand Central Publishing

Curtains: Adventures of an Undertaker-in-Training

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Description

At forty-four, Tom Jokinen decided to quit his job in order to become an apprentice undertaker, setting out to ask the questions: What is the right thing to do when someone dies? With the marketplace offering new options (go green, go anti-corporate, go Disney, be packed into an artificial reef and dropped in the Atlantic...), is there still room for tradition? In a year of adventures both hair-raising and hilarious, Jokinen finds a world that is radically changed since Jessica Mitford revised The American Way of Death, more surprising than Six Feet Under, and even funnier and more illuminating than Stiff.If Bill Bryson were to apprentice at a funeral home, searching for the meaning of life and death, you'd have Curtains. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grand Central Publishing


Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more


Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 23, 2010


Language ‏ : ‎ English


File size ‏ : ‎ 2.3 MB


Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported


Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled


X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled


Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled


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If you place your order now, the estimated arrival date for this product is: Sunday, Feb 22

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Top Amazon Reviews

    • Fascinating Read
Format: Paperback
Like the tv show "Dirty Jobs", there are some jobs only a select few can do. The funeral industry is one of them. Imagine you (a regular person) are suddenly dropped into a funeral home to be an apprentice. "Curtains: Adventures of an Undertaker-in-Training" is that book. It's one of those "I want to know/I don't want to know" situations but the book is fascinating. It will get you thinking about death, life and the meaning of it all. Tom Jokinen's observations are right on the money and reflect what, I think, I would feel if placed in the same situation. An unusual topic but a page turner nevertheless. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2010 by Kindle Customer
    • Great read!
Format: Paperback
Coming from someone who has always been interested in being in the funeral industry... I recently decided to look into the career and attending school. I found this book to have a lot of the behind the scenes details of what really goes on behind the silver doors! There were many times I laughed and couldn't stop reading. I would recommend this book to anyone who is considering the funeral industry or anyone who is curious or fascinated by it!!! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2022 by Adam Bennett
    • Accurate and honest
Format: Paperback
I work in the industry and must say that Jokinen did a fabulous job with the details! A little wordy at times, but I enjoyed it very much! There is a lot of information to cover when writing about the Death Care industry and he covered a lot of ground in a short amount of pages. Awesome job! I've passed the book on at work to see what my co-workers thought and I haven't seen the book since! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2010 by C. N. Erickson
    • Literate, humorous, touching and prophetic
Format: Kindle
Takes the reader through the past, present and possible future shapes of what has become the "death care industry" by focusing on a specific Icelandic-Canadian funeral home dynasty's ups and downs; ins and outs. Includes "removal" and "disposal" anecdotes, time spent in the "prep room" and at a providers' convention, along with countless interviews, and tours of renowned state of the art funeral home/cemetery/crematory/banquet hall/new age (neo-pagan) memorial center combos. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2014 by DAV
    • Interesting Look Into The World of The Undertaker
Format: Paperback
If you interested in the ins and outs of the funeral industry, this would be a great read. It has a lot of "insider" information and insights on the industry that I found fascinating. What kept the book from being really good is that Jokinen doesn't have the sense of humor that would have elevated this book from "interesting read" to "kept me glued to the book from page one." (In other words, he's no Mary Roach.) Still, it is worth reading if you enjoy books of this type. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2013 by Jennifer
    • I loved it!
Format: Paperback
I can't stop reading this! I was a bit suspicious of this book, as some of the 'death books' out there are a little on the creepy side, somewhat exploitative. They're badly written, and feel like they've just been cranked out to fill a voyeuristic need. But this author, Tom Jokinen, is a guy who is curious about a lot of the same things I am. And he can write! I find myself laughing every other page. He presents individual people in the funeral industry sympathetically for the most part, while at the same time is pretty cynical about the business as a whole. Jesssica Mitford would get a kick out of it! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2011 by myfunnyvalentine
    • The book was great!
Format: Paperback
The book content was amazing. The only issue I had was chapter one was in the middle of the book and chapter 11 was at the beginning was kind of weird to start at the middle then have to flip back to the front. otherwise the story was engaging and incredibly interesting.
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2021 by Elizabeth Hench
    • Light-hearted, yes. Lightweight? No way.
Format: Paperback
Kudos to Tom Jokinen. (I'm sooo envious of his writerly chops.) As founding prez of Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve, now research director with the Green Burial Council of North America (and no, neither was on my bucket list), I gotta say -- Tom's nailed it. I took Curtains out of a university library that lets you keep a book for a year (unless someone recalls it), yet a half hour into it had ordered my Kindle edition because I needed to mark it up and wasn't about to stop reading. Even the philosophizing didn't wear me down. I recommend it highly. (Don't know about that reviewer who said he's no Mary Roach. Mary Roach is Mary Roach -- amazing. Tom Jokinen is Tom Jokinen -- equally amazing.) ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2013 by MaryW

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