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Tom Jokinen

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Curtains: Adventures of an Undertaker-in-Training Paperback – March 23, 2010

by Tom Jokinsen (Author)

4.4 290 ratings

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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.

Print length

279 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Da Capo Press
Publication date

March 23, 2010
Dimensions

6.25 x 1 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0306818914
ISBN-13

978-0306818912
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Jokinen’s wry observations on and revelations about mortality and the industry it has engendered evoke a youthful adventure into the unknown—not 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 body’s 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. --Whitney Scott

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Da Capo Press (March 23, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 279 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0306818914
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0306818912
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,511,093 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,805 in Grief & Bereavement
- #4,026 in Love & Loss
- #44,408 in Memoirs (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.4 290 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

290 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book very informative and well-written. They also say the content is interesting and well laid out.

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Content Writing style

19 customers mention "Content"19 positive0 negative

Customers find the book very informative, well-laid out, and interesting. They also say it tells a good story and provides a deep inside look at the business.

"Very interesting and well written !! Would love more !!! A good look at sad and funny at the same time" Read more

"...otherwise the story was engaging and incredibly interesting." Read more

"This book is informative, well-written, and in a sense inspiring as it aided me in finishing my "final instructions" I also made some revisions to..." Read more

"A bit wordy, but I learned a few good bits of information. Author has the tendency to ramble a bit, but overall it was a decent read." Read more

12 customers mention "Writing style"12 positive0 negative

Customers find the writing style interesting and well written.

"Very interesting and well written !! Would love more !!! A good look at sad and funny at the same time" Read more

"This book is informative, well-written, and in a sense inspiring as it aided me in finishing my "final instructions" I also made some revisions to..." Read more

"This was not a bad book at all. It was an easy read with just enough humor to keep the interest going...." Read more

"This was an easy read...." Read more

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BLAKHARTZZ

Love it !!!

Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2021

Verified Purchase

Very interesting and well written !! Would love more !!! A good look at sad and funny at the same time

Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2021

Verified Purchase

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.

Helpful

Ganser Macher

Informative and well-written

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2023

Verified Purchase

This book is informative, well-written, and in a sense inspiring as it aided me in finishing my "final instructions" I also made some revisions to them based upon questions the author inspired me to ask myself.

Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2022

Verified Purchase

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!!!

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2022

Verified Purchase

A bit wordy, but I learned a few good bits of information. Author has the tendency to ramble a bit, but overall it was a decent read.

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MaryW

Light-hearted, yes. Lightweight? No way.

Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2013

Verified Purchase

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.)

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

DAV

Literate, humorous, touching and prophetic

Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2014

Verified Purchase

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.

One person found this helpful

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Phil A.

Let the fun begin

Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2020

Verified Purchase

Good insight for what lays ahead. It is good to know, I won't be aware of any if this. Just don't stand me in a corner and throw darts at me.

Let the fun begin

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Amazon Customer

Hilarious

Reviewed in Canada on February 14, 2023

Verified Purchase

This book is great. I read it years ago, and I don’t often read books more than once but I knew I’d enjoy this one a second time (and that I’ll be able to pass it to someone who will enjoy it when I’m done!)

Very funny, and touching. Excellently written.