precis: A traditional funeral includes many hidden fees, at ridiculous rates, that the typical American family will often not think twice about due to a lack of explaination in complete and total laments terms from the funeral director. Additionally, certain procedures during the embalming process will be preformed (for the safety of the embalmer) that families may object to should they have known.
Interesting Quotes:
- Show me the manner in which a nation cares for its dead, and I will measure with mathematical exactness the tender mercies of its people... (William Gladstone. Page 7)
- The average funeral in America runs to $10,000, accounting for one of the single most expensive purchases a family will make in its lifetime. (page 10)
- So before bending and flexing her limbs stiffening with rigor mortis, Fielding takes a pair of packing forceps and pushes wads of cotton soaked inphenol into Jenny's anus and vagina.
While I can’t prove that I read the text, I can certainly speak for patterns I noticed out of it. Overall, it read as very reattached when it described Mr. Fielding, funeral director, and his procedure for embalming Jenny. There was no mention of a third party witnessing this, which I found odd. Usually there’s mention of who was there as the outsider, their background and their personal opinions of what a shock they were seeing was. Often, I consider a good paragraph to be devoted to bragging about credentials that made no sense in the new setting. This is completely absent in the first story of Grave Matters. Later, in a book talk, Jay brought up the possible reason (I haven’t looked it up to confirm it) the scenario is entirely fake. There is no Jenny. No Mr. Fielding. The scenario is merely what can be expected to be observed, based off “extensive research”, as noted in the preface I admittedly skipped. To me, this bring up a disheartening question; then why bother reading the book? Fabricating a story, no matter how close to the truth, is still a lie in of itself. Why should we as readers trust anyone who is unable to provide us with all of the facts and actual examples of them?
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