By BRAD WEISMANN
Mortuary Confidential: Undertakers
Spill the Dirt
Kenneth McKenzie and Todd Harra
2010
Citadel Press
New York
“ . . . the dead don’t complain,
but their families sure can.”
We are fascinated by the
forbidden. Sex, graphic violence, personal secrets and indiscretions revealed all
put us off . . . but draw us in as well.
This is no truer than about the
subject of death – how we die, what happens to us, the repercussions for the
living – and all the possible misadventures our abandoned bodies can suffer. This
compulsion to slow down and gawk at tragedy, known to rush-hour commuters as
the “lookee-loo” syndrome, is part of the reason for this blog, and part of the
reason for the writing of “Mortuary Confidential.”
“Mortuary Confidential” is a book
of funerary anecdotes. It is an illuminating compendium, and it does go far
beyond what a reader might expect. It is not merely a grotesquely comic
retailing of death-ritual mishaps and bungles, although there are heavy handfuls
of them listed among the 50 stories given here. Wisely, the authors go over
many aspects of the profession, including dealing with the idiosyncratic
bereaved and uncomprehending officiants. There are also stories about patient
spouses who deal with the 24/7 demands of the trade, and poignant,
life-changing moments that funeral directors experience in the presence of
mourners, and much more.
If there is a flaw here, it is
that all the anecdotes have been written in one authorial voice. It’s as though
the authors compiled the raw data and then pressed out each story from the same
mold – the tone becomes monotonous after a while. And the most interesting
observations come in Harra’s introduction, when he notes that his profession is
a “hidden” one, not lauded or even thought of until necessity intervenes, that
it represents “a failure to our scientific/medical-oriented society.”
That we fixate on the morbid
details of life at times is indicative of our voyeuristic impulses. However,
our peering over the gates of the funeral home also demonstrates the seriousness
with which we invest it. Per Harra, “ . . . we, as a society, must uphold a
basic principle of humanity, the sanctity of life, through reverence for the
dead.” Well said.