Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully written
Review: The Undertaking is not so much about the mechanical details of the "dismal trade" but is instead part memoir, part philosophical musing--with some unexpected side-trips to Ireland and London. Though engaged in disposing of the dead, "the last one to let you down," the author's concern is for life. Funerals are for the benefit of the living rather than for the uncaring corpse (or ashes now that the cremation market has heated up).Throughout, the book is mordantly, wickedly funny. My favorite is the author's proposal for the highest and best use of a piece of land: a "golfatorium," or combination golf course and cemetery: "There are roughly ten acres in every par four. Eighteen of those and you have a golf course...Now divide the usable acres, the hundred and eighty, by the number of burials per acre--one thousand--subtract the greens, the water hazards and sandtraps and you still have room for eight thousand burials on the front nine and the same on the back...Now add back the cremated ashes scattered in sandtraps, the old marines and swabbies tossed overboard in the water hazards and the Italians entombed in the walls of club house and it doesn't take a genius to come to the conclusion that there's gold in them there hills!"
Rating: 
Summary: curiously appealing
Review: The writting was so lovely that the topic was almost irrelevant. For someone like myself raised in the Irish Catholic tradition, Mr. Lynch captured just the right hint of the macarbe that has been with us since childhood.More importantly, it gave me an understanding and even an appreciation of why wakes are sometimes very important and of the human need for ritual at a time of loss.
Rating: 
Summary: Waste of time
Review: There are some funny and insightful parts to this book, but overall it is depressing and not worth my time to read it. Lynch never tells too much about himself or his family, but can tell you all about the locals. He goes on and on and on until he returns to his main themes, so you never quite get to know his true self. He is very senstive and caring toward the people he must deal with and it makes one wonder if all funeral directors are as compassionate. You can definately pick up in any chapter and not have missed a thing.
Rating:
Summary: Sex and death
Review: This book is about life and death and getting from one to the other gracefully. In places I was quite moved. Other parts made me think about things (like Dr. Kevorkian) in new ways. In other places I was laughing out loud. It even led me to write a poem to my wife. It all outrageous and wonderful.
Rating: 
Summary: More Treatise Than Fiction
Review: This book will appeal to some because it takes a rather irreverent view of death. And it makes sense. Why do we bury people horizontally rather than vertically? Why are we shaken by suicide but numbed to abortion? The Undertaking explores this and lots of other morbid topics. Don't expect a story with a plot, characters that grab and intrigue, or a page-burner thrill ride. This could have been a treatise on death more than a novel. It's short at 200 pages, but 50 would have been plenty. Or perhaps it could have been reduced to a nice pamphlet for those waiting while shopping for caskets. At any rate, the book is worth the price for one paragraph on pp. 54-55 where Lynch says, "But faith is, so far as I know it, the only known cure for fear -- the sense that someone is in charge here, is checking the ID's and watching the borders. Faith is what my mother said: letting go and letting God -- a leap into the unknown where we are not in control but always welc! ome." If you're interested in death, this book could be a revelation. If you're interested in life, go elsewhere. Lee Armstrong
Rating:
Summary: A sociology lesson of life and death and the funeral bizz
Review: This is a fabulous book. A wonderous look at life and death and what is all means to our mortality. Lynch has a keen and interesting way to describe what we all are thinking non-verbally. Being a reserve police officer, I have a friend who is a funeral director and like Lynch, look at life in a whole different way than most people do. This is a must read. Lynch is creative and talented in the pages you will read. It's hard to put the book down for too long - it even goes with me to the "...." as Lynch so delicately calls the place where we take our "santitized" poops.
You gotta get this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Thought Provoking Book
Review: This is one of those books that I had a hard time putting down. The author deals with the subject of death (and those who survive) in a compassionate, caring way. He obviously has pride in the service that he provides, and after reading his stories, you will agree that it is well deserved. The title sounds depressing, but this is an inspiring work.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Thought Provoking Book
Review: This is one of those books that I had a hard time putting down. The author deals with the subject of death (and those who survive) in a compassionate, caring way. He obviously has pride in the service that he provides, and after reading his stories, you will agree that it is well deserved. The title sounds depressing, but this is an inspiring work.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing book.
Review: This is one of those books- At any time you can pick it up-open and read
Rating:
Summary: Reverent, Illustrative Insights on Death and Ritual
Review: Thomas Lynch guides us into a milieu through which we all will travel (at least once), but which few of us understand. "The Undertaking" is not a textbook of how the funeral business operates, but a series of reverent stories about people who have died, those who grieve them, and how the undertaker cares for both. Lynch instructively reflects on the rituals associated with death (and death itself), and reinforces the importance of treating these moments of our ultimate disposition with respect and gravity. This perhaps is the most important aspect of the book. As well, Lynch sometimes humorously, sometimes poignantly, reveals to us the complexity of working in the dismal trade--running a business that sells a product no one wants to buy, while doing it with patience and compassion. My only criticism is that, throughout the book, Lynch constantly instructs us that the dead don't care what happens to them. Indeed, wakes and funerals are balm for the living, but who knows what the departed know? Wouldn't we all like to believe that, after the unfortunate end, we could attend our own funeral?
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