I've heard stories about funeral homes from folks I knew who worked in them and an interview I once needed to do for a paper in college with a director of one. Yeah, there are some really wild tales collected in them I am sure! I enjoyed this book. It was a enjoyable and entertaining read. Death isn't avoidable, may as well read about it! great collection of tales from the family's vault!

This was a surprisingly delightful read! Ralph Rossell takes the reader into his day-to-day life as a funeral director in a small town in Michigan. After reading this book, it is clear that working in the death industry is just like any other job (except maybe a bit messier!). There are so many anecdotal stories about the people in this town woven into the book which I found entertaining and sometimes humorous. Using the funeral home as a backdrop, Rossell fully immerses the reader in the idiosyncrasies of the town, which I thoroughly enjoyed. However, I do wish that there was more emphasis on the author as an undertaker rather than the people in the town.

I’d highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in the macabre but is looking for an easy, fun read without too many of the gory details!

Thanks to NetGalley, Dog Ear Publishing and the author for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The author presents a book full of interesting information and amusing anecdotes about his life as an undertaker. I enjoyed it thoroughly and even feel that I learned a few things. Death is so scary for most of us and I find more lighthearted books on the subject are therapeutic for me. A definite recommend.
My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for my honest review.

The owner of a funeral home from small town of Flushing, Michigan, notes down all of the memorable, weird and wonderful events surrounding death. Interestingly, the reactions, worries and demands of the people, members of family and attendees are not that different than those in my country.

Mr. Rossell's father, uncle, brother also worked at the same place and the book has 70+ years of history of the work and the town. It just does not have that many pictures. No mention is made of any of his children (if he has any) who have taken up the trade after him.

Also, I expected the book to detail the process of preparation of the body for embalming etc. and Mr. Rossell's feelings about it growing up and then actually performing it, and it has none of that.

This book was great! So many of Rossell's stories were not only fun to read, but also had a level of moral to offer to the reader. The details were well explained to a novice in the world of reading about "morbid" things but the content was enough that a seasoned reader can still find room for enjoyment. The cover is great too!

Ralph Rossell grew up in a busy small town American funeral home, leaving only briefly to become a fully qualified funeral director and hasn’t left since. We get a taste of what happens inside the funeral home and the industry as a whole, including the change of technology and the improvement of knowledge in some aspects.
Personally I often read books like this, around the subject of death and forensics but I’ve never read something quite like this, Ralph brings a new take on the funeral industry, one from a small town independent view.

Now one thing to note is the book doesn’t follow a ‘story’ as such but instead a collection of small anecdotes, almost blog posts, categorised together in different sections. I found it a little off-putting in all honesty, we jump from place to place and time to time, I’d enjoyed it much more if it was a flowing tale. Some of the anecdotes felt like they’d be told before though, and others felt pointless, they weren’t adding to my enjoyment or understanding of the funeral business.

The tales told clearly show how Ralph knows the community and adapts to each family making sure they get the best care possible even if it was not in his financial interest. The knowledge he has gained over 45 years of work really shines through in as does he honesty and integrity he operates with. It was interesting to read some of his interactions with other industry professionals from unprofessional hospital staff, other money grabbing funeral directors and a range of ministers with very different styles.

If you are looking for an honest take on small-town American funeral directing this is a good place to start!

Thanks to Ralph Rossell, Dog Ear Publishing and Netgallery for the ARC, but as always the thoughts in the review are all mine!

This book was such an interesting read, I enjoyed it thoroughly. I would (and have done already) recommend this book. I would love to read more from this author as it is such an interesting subject, without being morbid.

I really really enjoyed this book I'm always been kind of interested in funeral homes and all the preparation.

Funerals don't scare me. In fact I find them interesting.  On my husband's side of the family they were always rather colorful. Like the time my husband told me that his cousin died and when we got to the funeral home it turned out it was actually his cousin and his uncle. Loud salsa music was playing. Then the cousin's mistress showed up and decided she was going to be in charge instead of the wife. I found it quite entertaining though I don't think the funeral home staff thought the same.

Or the time we went to the funeral home and viewed the wrong body. I mean who hasn't done that.

This lovely book has stories like that. But he also goes into the business side and shows the good and the bad.

Its also about living in a small town and he has the most hilarious stories to tell. Its just the funniest and sweetest book.
I loved the small-town stories with all the different characters that small towns have. I laughed a lot reading this.

You can see he really likes his job and he really cares about people and sending their loved ones off with dignity. We all would be very lucky to have such a caring person look after us in our final moments above ground.

Thank you NetGalley for this book.

I received a copy to read for review from Net Galley. This is my honest opinion.

I have read many books about undertaking, death, death culture, etcetera. This is the first I have read that was all one person's experiences. That made it stand out to me and I'm glad I had a chance to read it. I enjoyed it very much.

It's collection of different stories ordered by theme. I found it easy to read a sections worth here and there. All are and well written stories. I don't think the pages contained any content that would be hard to handle for most people.

I have a lot of respect for this book by Mr. Ralph Rossell. It is an insightful peak into the interesting life of a funeral director. With over 45 years of experience, Rossell's stories are often amusing and full of heart. I appreciate the way he tastefully describes the funeral process and debunks many of the myths one hears about death. People often do not truly appreciate funeral directors until someone close to them passes away.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book, which I voluntarily chose to review.

I was interested in Mortuary Science as a major for college when I was younger, &.am so glad I got a chance to read this book. Some of his memories were lighthearted, sad, funny, embarrassing, & he told them all from the heart. The writing never trailed off & got dull, it always kept me interested for more. I highly recommend this book!

Ralph Rossell grew up in his family’s Funeral home, helping his father and uncle in the day-to-day of the business. After most of a lifetime in the business, Rossell inadvertently started on the path to this book by joining a facebook group where residents of Flushing, Michigan could share reminisces of their town. Unsurprisingly, Rossell’s stories found a ready audience and The Life of Death was born.

Rossell makes this clear from the beginning that these stories are his recollections and not to be taken as a scholarly endeavor. But many academic books have been written on the subject, and the more personal touch lends a bit of fun to the subject. The stories do have a mid-20th century gloss over them , with the positive and negative connotations of that viewpoint. The stories are by turns poignant, humorous, educational, sad, and joyous. Rossell gives us a good, solid, inside look at at profession many don’t (or don’t want to) know much about. The stories are separated more-or-less by type, and each takes the form of a self-contained vignette. As a result, the book is highly readable and quite entertaining.

Anyone looking for a book about the business of death, told in the reader-friendly format of a personal blog, should check out this book.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. Human nature is a marvellous thing and I expect the author has seen all different kinds in his time in the funeral business. The stories he tells are fascinating. sometime very sad and others quite eye opening! I enjoyed it more than I thought I would and I think the way he has written it helps to demystify the processes that ones goes through at what could be a very sad time. This was a great book.

The Life of Death by Ralph R Rossell is a look at his time in the funeral business. The book is a collection of stories that range from funny to sad to shocking. It was not at all morbid. I expected to enjoy the book, but I loved it more than I imagined. I found myself stopping over and over to tell my husband "listen to this". I then noticed he was repeating the stories to others later on. This is easily one of the best books I have read this year!

This book surprised me (in a good way) by how much it covered. In addition to the daily life of running a funeral home, it also had many insights about human nature and history. In many ways it reminded me of the town that my grandparents lived in. I enjoyed reading it!

If you've ever wondered about the life of those who deal with death on a regular basis, then this is the book for you! As someone who has always had an interest in forensics and considered becoming a pathologist, this was an interesting read. It was nice to read about a family business, and their close relationship to the community. I feel like I've learned quite a bit about the funeral business, I found it fascinating that families can spend all day at the funeral home in the US, so different to how we do things in the UK.

Some of the anecdotes were amusing, whilst others just made me go "Wow", at the sheer audacity of some people. They show that there really isn't anything as strange as folk. If you like quirky memoirs, this may be for you.

Thanks to Netgalley and publishers, Dog Ear Publishing, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Funeral homes sound like a depressing genre but once given a shot, this book adds humor to a somber topic. There were pages that made me smile and some that made me sad.

More a collection of anecdotes than an actual story, but this worked. It felt as if I were listening to a friend tell (slightly creepy) stories. I loved the behind the scenes stories, slightly morbid tales and even the adventures of some of the people he knew.

This is the 3rd book I've read recently about the funeral industry, and each has been different in its own way. What Rossell brought to this book was someone who is an integral part of the community. He, along with his father, brother and their families are more than service providers, they're friends, family and counselors to the community.

In addition to memoirs of life & work in a funeral home, this is somewhat of a memoir of life in small town America. I'm reminded of Stephen King's comment re: the Dark Tower that the world had moved on. I'd never heard of Flushing prior to this book and only know of Flint for pollution reasons, but Rossell made me want to know more. While he acknowledged the changes in Flushing from his move there as an infant to now, I wonder what contemporary FLushing would look like to an outsider.

A good read.

This was a very good book. I at one time thought about going into Morturary Science but I did not. So, books of this nature are very interesting to me. I am so glad I was given the opportunity to read this book. Very well written, and written with honesty. We learn about the author growing up in the funeral home enviroment as a young boy. He provides us stories of encounters he has had with various people some good some bad, He also gives a few tips that the lay person may not know that may help when they have to deal with planning a funeral. I thought his including about sending flowers and the power that that has for the family. Very good read,. I highly recommend this book. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

Fascinating look at a family owned funeral home. Loved all the crazy stories.
Makes it a bit less intimidating.

Thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read book. While I got the book for free, it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.