Does This Mean You'll See Me Naked?: A Funeral Director Reflects On 30 Years Of Serving The Living And The Deceased (2007) - Plot & Excerpts
WARNING: DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED ALL OF THE HBO SHOW "SIX FEET UNDER"!Luckily for me I have the whole series and have watched it. However for others who have not he basically ruins a big plot and the ending so future SFU fans beware! He also does this with no spoiler warning as I have given you which kinda pisses me off.~~~~~~~~~~Though I found the book very informative from the perspective of a family run Funeral Home, and the funeral buisness in general, I found the author's holier-than-thou attitude a bit off putting at times. I think in any buisness the care of the customer: being kind, helpful and understanding is most important. I also believe that the author truly lives by this same notion but never really gives credit to other funeral homes being the same way. Instead they're always the competition, always driving buisness to him... It felt inauthentic. He makes himself out to be some lone wolf amongst a pack of money grubbing, no good, dirty scoundrels who don't give a fuck about your grandma's final wishes, just buy the damn $17,000 casket! This assembly line attitude that he believes he is exempt from didn't pull me toward his way of thinking but made me feel that while he may have compassion for those who come to him in their time of grief, that same compassion does not translate to his fellow mortician's. As stated above he talks about Six Feet Under quite a bit and about the corporate take over of many family owned funeral homes, keeping the names and the staff while hiding the new mass production company owners behind the velvet curtain. He doesn't talk about how for many of these family run homes these corporate buyouts are their only options to not lose everything. Many have no other choice than to sell and I'm sure many hate doing so, a life's work and buisness sold to those who care more about upselling than doing what the family wants and can afford. He never discusses these possibilities, those who sell out do so for the crazy amount of money thrown at them and nothing more. Being informed and well aware of death and the many options that come with it is something I think everyone should be open to. I'm for cremation, natural, and green burials myself, however that's just my opinion. I don't see fault in others who want to go the route of the grand funeral, embalming, and cemetery burial. I was a bit annoyed with his blasé attitude toward his green death debate partner. He ended the whole side story matter with his opponent coming to understand some of his views but he himself didn't seem to be open to any of the green ideas presented to him. He only states that those bodies be buried deep to deter wild animals getting to them. Maybe we should just add a crap ton of limes to graves of natural burials since he seems to love them so much. It'd put a whole new spin on "green burials". I won't begrudge him for advertising at every opportunity. Billboards and buisness cards adorned with family photos to remind you this is a family run establishment, nice quality pens and TV advertisements. It's the part of me that once thought I would go into advertising that doesn't blame him for doing whatever possible to get his buisness out there. I know this annoyed many other readers but to stay relevant in a corporate takeover world it's gotta be done. Now I also understand his dislike for cemeteries that are now acting as a one stop funeral home and burial packages. My grandparents on my father's side were Catholic and we went through the whole burial of my grandfather through the local Mission's (we live in California) funeral home and Cemetery where my grandmother was buried long before I was born. I see how these can be a bad thing because 1. They take away buisness from other funeral homes going to already ridiculously priced places because the dead already own a space. Just look at how much it is just to have the plot of land. Imagine adding the whole funeral, embalming, etc on top of that. 2. It makes you feel forced to go along with what the church or cemetery feels is right often picking on the grieving. The funeral is regulated by the same corporations and these people are often just trying to upsell aswell.I did like this book but it was nothing special and nowhere near as entertaining as Six Feet Under. That being said I wish his family the best and hope they never have to sell out, don't want anyone tossing in their graves. 0_o
I was looking forward to this book when I saw it at the local library, and I'm glad I read it. I've been interested in the funeral business for a couple years now, and it gave me some good insight on what it's like. I don't think I could do it, but it's still an interesting business. For a first timer, I think this book is well written and the descriptions are good. Some have said how the author seems preachy and perfect, and I only saw a couple times where it really seemed that way. But I think people have to remember that the book is about him and his funeral home... Anybody would make themselves out to be "perfect" if they were writing about their lives. The stories he gives about other funeral directors I feel like he gives to show people how other businesses can be, but it doesn't mean they're worse than him. It's like when you're talking about work... You share what you did great at, and complain about what others have done wrong (not saying he complained, just giving an example). I don't see the difference. Another one said that he's basically trying to sell his business in the book, even though most of us don't live near him. Yes, that is true, but again, it's a book about his life. I also read about he gave general prices on things, to give us readers an idea about how much a funeral costs. I also remember reading on one that it seemed disrespectful of him sharing the stories, because of that person and their families. I don't see how it's disrespectful... He gives no names. Those people could be anyone. If he gave names, then yes, it would be disrespectful. I do have one complaint though. This author seems to use a few of the same words over and over, and it got repetitive and at times annoying. I hope he writes another book, an update on what has gone on since this one came out, and if he does... Use different words to describe things.
What do You think about Does This Mean You'll See Me Naked?: A Funeral Director Reflects On 30 Years Of Serving The Living And The Deceased (2007)?
Call me morbid, but I've had an interest in the area of funeral services since I binge watched all of Six Feet Under four years ago. I decided to take it to the next step by reading more about this job profession that people would rather not speak about. I was very excited when the author started talking about bizarre cases he'd seen on the job. Slowly though, my excitement drained into annoyance. After the first 40 pages, it started to read like a text book. Webster even lists casket prices like his readers would be reading this to funeral shop! He then goes on to list a string of stories that all end in the same way; him telling us how awesome he is. "One time this other funeral screwed up and I did it perfect, I'm awesome." "One time I found money in a guys clothes but I didn't keep it because I'm honestly awesome." "One funeral home price gouged a family but I didn't because I'm reliably awesome." Ok Webster, we get it! If he stayed on the initial trend this could have been a five, but it just narrowly squeaked by with a 3, only because 2.5's don't exist on Goodreads.
—Carolyn James
Great behind-the-scenes bookI really enjoyed this book and found that I couldn't put it down. It had all the gruesome details one would expect, but it also had a great deal of practical information. The only drawbacks had to do with the author's sometimes very subjective information. I found myself reading about the good time of "the 1970s" a bit and his thoughts on religion. That aside, he is charismatic and fun to read so this is pretty easy to forgive. If you are interested in the world of mortuary work I highly recommend this book.
—Cassie Ballard
I've read a lot of books about death and funerals and what happens to dead bodies, but never before have I read one on what it's like to actually run a funeral business. I think I learned a lot from this book, and it was even funny in parts, but Mr. Webster's narrative is sometimes preachy, like when he has this seemingly endless list of terrible mistakes other funeral homes made that caused customers to come to him for services instead. Overall, I'd recommend for those people interested in this kind of thing.
—Meaghan
