Close look at death offers wise revelations

By Kurt Armstrong and ChristianWeek | May 19, 2010

I was worried that Tom Jokinen's Curtains might simply be derivative of that other undertaker/writer named Tom (Thomas Lynch, whose book, The Undertaking is one of the best books I've ever read.) Not so. Beyond the subject matter and matching name, the only real similarity is that both Toms are excellent writers. Curtains is a thoughtful, rich, entertaining book about the business of dying.

It's funny too, not with morbid humour that makes fun of other people's genuine sorrow, but with the strangeness of death, funerals and especially the strange ways people grasp for transcendence in a secular age. There's a persistent "yuck" factor to his stories, especially the gory details of his first embalming, but that's part of what makes this book really good: it's real and visceral. Clearly there is some basic wisdom to be found in looking this closely at death. All of us will die. When Jokinen faces that fact directly, it feels like quite a revelation, even though it's one of life's absolute certainties.

It's interesting to read how, like nearly every other market these days, big corporations are increasingly dominating the funeral market. Funeral homes used to be largely family businesses, passed down through generations, but big funeral chains are buying up the little guys. Jokinen takes a job with a Winnipeg funeral home that's still family-run, and he details a lot of the challenges the family-run business faces.

Interesting, too, is the changing nature of funerals themselves. From what Jokinen observes, there seems to be an existential void in the increasingly secular nature of most funerals. We can try to take God out of one of the most spiritual facts of human existence, but it doesn't make the deep questions about death any easier to handle. The sentimental, post-religious ways people try to add a sense of meaning to death—teddy bear urns, pre-recorded tribute videos, trendy green-friendly funerals—seem ad-hoc and thin, flimsy substitutes for the gravity and clarity of religious meaning. Of the many funerals he attends, the simple, traditional Mennonite funeral seems to make the greatest impression on Jokinen.

Apprenticing with an undertaker seems like a pretty weird way to spend a year away from your regular job. It wouldn't be my choice for a sabbatical. But I'm sure glad Tom Jokinen was weird enough to try it.