Status
Available
Genres
Collection
Publication
New York ; London : W.W. Norton, c1997.
Description
"Every year I bury a couple hundred of my townspeople." So opens this singular and wise testimony. Like all poets, inspired by death, Thomas Lynch is, unlike others, also hired to bury the dead or to cremate them and to tend to their families in a small Michigan town where he serves as the funeral director. In the conduct of these duties he has kept his eyes open, his ear tuned to the indispensable vernaculars of love and grief. In these twelve pieces his is the voice of both witness and functionary. Here, Lynch, poet to the dying, names the hurts and whispers the condolences and shapes the questions posed by this familiar mystery. So here is homage to parents who have died and to children who shouldn't have. Here are golfers tripping over grave markers, gourmands and hypochondriacs, lovers and suicides. These are the lessons for life our mortality teaches us.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member dickmanikowski
Thomas Lunch is, to my knowledge, America's undisputed premier mortician poet. Judging from this book, he's also the undisputed mortician essayist. This finalist for the 1997 National Book Award amply displays his talent, As someone who works with death on a daily basis, his thoughts about both
It's funny that I happened across this book at this time. One of my goals for this summer is to finally make my own funeral pre-arrangements. The establishment I'm considering using is Lynch & Son's Funeral Home. Not the one that Thomas runs (that's over in the small town of Milford) but the one that his brother (or perhaps nephew) Paddy runs just a mile north of my apartment.
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morality and mortality are carefully measured.It's funny that I happened across this book at this time. One of my goals for this summer is to finally make my own funeral pre-arrangements. The establishment I'm considering using is Lynch & Son's Funeral Home. Not the one that Thomas runs (that's over in the small town of Milford) but the one that his brother (or perhaps nephew) Paddy runs just a mile north of my apartment.
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LibraryThing member marysargent
Essays by a poet/undertaker. All about death, love and loss. Would be REALLY good if he didn't get too cute at times. But very good.
LibraryThing member 912greens
The author is a poet in addition to being an undertaker, so his prose is lovely, and his take on life and death is compassionate and thoughtful. There is a near-perfect (as I see perfection!) essay called "Words made flesh"- about love in its inception, death, and rebirth, sex, and the
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transformative emotional powers of poetry. Show Less
LibraryThing member juliayoung
This turned out to be better than I thought it would be. It does not, contrary to the title, contain solely information about the author's profession; it is more a series of essays about his life. His job features prominently, but it is not the only thing that makes up the man. Good reading for
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those who are interested in a poet-mortician's musings on life. Show Less
LibraryThing member endersreads
In a highschool assessment test it was noted that Funeral Home Director would be an advised vocation for myself. Some bastard has a sense of humor. Mr. Lynch here makes me wish I had pursued that path. You may have heard of him through his poetry. He also was Alan Ball's (creator of Six Feet Under)
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main source for inspiration. I found Lynch's sharpest wit to be held within the chapter entitled "Uncle Eddie, Inc.". Lynch's logic shines like a beacon of light in this abysmal plain of doting degenerates. I'm sure he will piss-off many of the pro-choice, the neo-con warmongers, and those for "Kevorking". The wise will recognize what he says as simple and absolute truth, though few can recognize that these grey days. I came away from reading this a bit changed, as all good books will leave you. Mr. Lynch's profession--death--has left him with a unique and clear perspective on life and the living. And if you want to know, I choose an oaken casket depicting a scene of resurrection and an earthen burial. No fire, thanks. Also, I think for music I should pick Beethoven's 7th Symphony, Handel's Sarabande, Zephyrus' Surge Illuminare, and when I am being lowered into the hole, The 79ths Farewell to Gibraltor. Show Less
LibraryThing member rslynch
Perhaps my fascination with this book says a little something of my darker side, but when it's a book this good, I don't mind letting the skeleton out of the closet for a nice jaunt. The essays are eloquent as only the words of a poet can be (yes, he is a poet as well as an undertaker!) with a
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sprinkling of profanity and such to keep Lynch human. The points of his poignant essays hit home with their well-made arguments and other sides of the story. I can only wish when my time comes I have someone like Lynch to help me along on my final journey. Show Less
LibraryThing member mjspear
Superbly-written essays on life as seen through the eyes of a small-town funeral director. While it seems that the book would be depressing, it is, in the final analysis, life-affirming. There is a Michigan connection (author lives in Milford) as well as a PBS special on these writings.
LibraryThing member cougargirl1967
An almost poetic book about the undertakings of the human experience.
LibraryThing member phredfrancis
I had hoped for much more from this book. It received good notices and won the American Book Award. But there were a few aspects of the book and the writing that put me off, and I quit at the halfway point.
First, I would very much like publishers to stop putting out essay collections that appear to
Second, I'm afraid I found Thomas Lynch's style overly adorned and florid. This is probably in part because, in addition to being an undertaker, he is also a poet. His poetic tendency leads him, ironically, to say more when it would do to say less. I enjoyed some parts of some of his stories, but I knew I would have enjoyed them more if many of his descriptions, asides, and opinions had been trimmed away. This is a matter of taste, I suppose, but I was less able to enjoy the stories, because I was rarely allowed to forget that it was Thomas Lynch telling them. He seemed very concerned that his voice be prominent, and I guess I just don't like that voice.
(I don't mean to suggest that contemporary nonfiction be devoid of personality and idiosyncrasy, but writers who are enamored of their own voices can often in the reader's way, of being too intrusive a mediator of the message.)
Third, there are too many single-sentence paragraphs.
Fourth: puns.
And, finally, fifth, I honestly never got what I came for. The conceit of the book, at least in part, is that Lynch will conduct us through a world that he is well-prepared to share with us: that of the funeral business. But far too often he drifts far afield, and the straightforward details I would expect from such a book are imparted only partially, and often in passing. Clearly he has a viewpoint that he would like to share, and that viewpoint sometimes stands in opposition to earlier books published about his trade. But he does not marshal the facts as often as necessary, and he sometimes falls back on generalizations and wry opinion when the truly convincing evidence one needs is old-fashioned example.
First, I would very much like publishers to stop putting out essay collections that appear to
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be continuous narratives. Such a form can be done well (Atul Gawande's BETTER achieved a continuity with a consistent theme and editing that reinforced it, despite the fact that it was clearly a collection), but more often it seems a cheat to readers who are hoping to pick up a book on a single subject. Instead they get a loose collection of short pieces that may or may not relate to the subject in which they were interested. That is the case here.Second, I'm afraid I found Thomas Lynch's style overly adorned and florid. This is probably in part because, in addition to being an undertaker, he is also a poet. His poetic tendency leads him, ironically, to say more when it would do to say less. I enjoyed some parts of some of his stories, but I knew I would have enjoyed them more if many of his descriptions, asides, and opinions had been trimmed away. This is a matter of taste, I suppose, but I was less able to enjoy the stories, because I was rarely allowed to forget that it was Thomas Lynch telling them. He seemed very concerned that his voice be prominent, and I guess I just don't like that voice.
(I don't mean to suggest that contemporary nonfiction be devoid of personality and idiosyncrasy, but writers who are enamored of their own voices can often in the reader's way, of being too intrusive a mediator of the message.)
Third, there are too many single-sentence paragraphs.
Fourth: puns.
And, finally, fifth, I honestly never got what I came for. The conceit of the book, at least in part, is that Lynch will conduct us through a world that he is well-prepared to share with us: that of the funeral business. But far too often he drifts far afield, and the straightforward details I would expect from such a book are imparted only partially, and often in passing. Clearly he has a viewpoint that he would like to share, and that viewpoint sometimes stands in opposition to earlier books published about his trade. But he does not marshal the facts as often as necessary, and he sometimes falls back on generalizations and wry opinion when the truly convincing evidence one needs is old-fashioned example.
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LibraryThing member hemlokgang
I enjoyed this essay collection. Lynch blends a combination of wit, sensitivity, and insight about the culture of death from a variety of perspectives. I laughed out loud a few times and read while slowly nodding a few times as well. It is not that he brings something new to light, rather that he
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faces the familiar head on. I like that. Show Less
LibraryThing member daleaz
Having trouble getting into this book. Past the first 50 pages about 125 to go. I was hoping the book be more about the Undertaking trade. It is more about the life of a man who is an undertaker and his view of the world.
LibraryThing member vlcraven
A collection of essays from poet and undertaker Lynch concerning life and death and the ways people handle the latter. Lynch has a gift with language—it’s obvious he’s a poet—and though I disagree with some of his later thoughts on abortion and the death penalty (I’m logical in his book
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since I believe in both) I cannot fault his logic. His descriptions of life in a small town, as well as life in a village in Ireland, are delicately done. The last book that rendered so well human relationships was Kathleen Finneran’s The Tender Land. Show Less
LibraryThing member unclebob53703
What it's like to be a funeral director, written by a poet. Much better than I'm making it sound
LibraryThing member cookierooks
County Clare while in County Clare.
LibraryThing member brittaniethekid
Thomas Lynch is a second-generation Irish Catholic that grew up in the midwest into the family tradition of undertaking. He has quite a way with words, being a published poet, and these short biographical stories infused with lessons and ideals have a beautiful poignancy that made even a common
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story seem somewhat profound. However, I found that he focused a lot more on his personal life and religion rather than his career in the funeral business than I expected and since the main reason I wanted to read this book was to get a personal view of the funeral trade, I was a bit disappointed. I did like his stories about Ireland and the differences between how people view death and the dying between the two countries, but I'm not Catholic or at all religious so the strong religious overtones were sometimes too much for me. Overall, a very interesting read but not quite what I hoped for. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
National Book Award (Finalist — Nonfiction — 1997)
American Book Award (1998)
Society of Midland Authors Award (Winner — Adult Nonfiction — 1998)
Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize (Non-Fiction — 1997)