- Paperback: 184 pages
- Publisher: White Ladder Press (10 Mar 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1905410271
- ISBN-13: 978-1905410279
- Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 13.8 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 732,582 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Book Description
MAKE YOURS A FUNERAL TO REMEMBER
Product Description
This book is designed to help the living honour their dead. Funerals don’t have to be sombre, formal affairs conducted by strangers, in surroundings dominated by formica, to the sound of organ music. This is a step-by-step guide to planning a funeral, taking the reader through the practicalities, what has to be done, but also the choices – what you can do if you want. It’s about what’s possible. You might want a traditional church or crematorium service, or you might want something very different. Each chapter will contain case studies of funerals and interviews with the people involved.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
This book is both inspired and informed by the philosophy and practice of some wise and humane funeral pratitioners, especially Rupert and Claire Callender. They are funeral directors, it seems -- but not, clearly, of the old school, hidebound sort whose well-meaning disempowerment of grieving communities of families and friends has played its part in rendering so many modern funerals so empty and bleak and meaningless. This is not a campaigning book which beats a drum for a particular worldview. Ms George's message can perhaps best be summed up as: We deal with death by dealing with our dead. It en-courages (deliberate hyphen)readers to assume a degree of responsibility for the care of their dead and, most usefully, the creation of their their funeral ceremony.
Growing secularisation has, arguably, made it necessary to re-invent the funeral, both its purpose and its format, and this book serves that end admirably. It is both thoughtful and practical, and, like all the best things in life, based in a simple but powerful idea: a good funeral is founded in emotional honesty and fuelled by love.
This is an intelligent, inspiring book; above all, it's a humane book. There's no soft-focus or wishy-washiness in the writing: it's about what works. There's no airy-fairiness in the thinking, either. Emma George writes clearly and warmly. In researching this book she has tracked down some excellent practitioners, not just the Callenders. She does not overwhelm us with information, and has sourced some fine first-hand accounts of fitting funerals.
Recommended to anyone who has, or is about to, experience bereavement. Recommended, too, to anyone who wants to know more about death and funerals. If only there were more funeral directors out there like the Callendars, and writers like Ms George to bring them to our attention.
Growing secularisation has, arguably, made it necessary to re-invent the funeral, both its purpose and its format, and this book serves that end admirably. It is both thoughtful and practical, and, like all the best things in life, based in a simple but powerful idea: a good funeral is founded in emotional honesty and fuelled by love.
This is an intelligent, inspiring book; above all, it's a humane book. There's no soft-focus or wishy-washiness in the writing: it's about what works. There's no airy-fairiness in the thinking, either. Emma George writes clearly and warmly. In researching this book she has tracked down some excellent practitioners, not just the Callenders. She does not overwhelm us with information, and has sourced some fine first-hand accounts of fitting funerals.
Recommended to anyone who has, or is about to, experience bereavement. Recommended, too, to anyone who wants to know more about death and funerals. If only there were more funeral directors out there like the Callendars, and writers like Ms George to bring them to our attention.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
I have worked with the dying and the bereaved for over twenty years. While this book provides an outline of creative practicalities surrounding death (from do-it-yourself funerals to woodland burials), I was disappointed that it provided little insight into the deep-seated desire I have encountered time and again for spiritual expression at the time of death. By spiritual, I do not necessarily allude to 'Religious'. There are very clear rites and rituals already in place for those with strong Religious beliefs. Spiritual expression reflects personal meaning and relationships (love); how do we help people to identify and give expression to these things in a funeral ritual? Rupert and Claire Callendar of the Green Funeral Company are clearly held in the highest esteem by the author; they are quoted on almost every other page. Indeed, at times the book began to feel like an infomercial for the Green Funeral Company. There is a very strong 'alternative' funeral theme flowing thorough this book. This is not wrong in itself; I would have preferred to see this indicated in the title. The title suggests something much more personally reflective of the life and meaning of the deceased and how to express this. Over the years I have worked with the dying, one thing I have learned is the importance of a funeral which reflects their lives, values and meaning. I found it a little disturbing to read (p.77 ff) how such values and meaning were dismissed by one family, even if it did not reflect their personal value system. I would no more advocate imposing a Religious funeral on a Pagan person than a Pagan funeral on a Religious person.
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