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Rating: 
Summary: I'd pass this one up.
Review: As a student considering Mortuary School, I have been hoarding everything and anything relating to death and the Funeral Sciences. I must say, after reading this book I am truly disappointed with the authors superficial focus.
Ms. Ramsland comes off like a true rubbernecker, only looking for the gruesome and gore, hoping to find horrible stories relating to the Funeral Industry. She seems to have no real interest in the science or sociology of the the subject at hand, but rather regurgitating old stories I have heard since I was 8. The latter part of the book speaks of Necrophilia with such a light manner, all I thought when I set the book down was "it figures".
This book is a rather mind numbing one and would be great to share at a 16 year old's slumber party. This author is nothing more than a voyeur peeking through the windows of the mortuary. Ooooh, how totally spooky.(sigh)
Rating: 
Summary: Cemetary Stories
Review: Fanatstic! i took this on vacation with me and my mother is currently reading it! We are all gonna die, and this is "the" definitive title on the whole process! i want more! This was so well written, so, pardon the pun, "dead on the money", i just couldn't put it down! Now i know what i and my loved ones will "face" so to speak and it is refreshing to have a clue, about death, body changes, funeral experiances etc. i work for Borders and i put it on "staff reccommends" this month in our store! i feel because of this knowledge i know what to face in my mothers' and my "arrangements"- give this book a try, it is written with humor and honesty and i will most definitely read more of Ms. Ramslands' books!
Rating:
Summary: NOT FOR CHILDREN......
Review: I am a former Death care worker, and I bought this hoping to hear some of the same tales we all told. Well, all of us in death care know there are creeps out there that mistreat corpses, but to write about all of it in the open market where kids could read it is too much. Some of the people in this book that Katherine wrote about should have been prosecuted. Necrophilia of the most physical kind...not the witchy talking to the dead....is a most mature subject matter,objectionable even. The people that participate in corpse abuse, mutilation or sexual acts, are mentally ill or evil or both. If you buy this book, and it has some interesting tales and some fact, don't leave it around for young people. Thanks, Dawn.
Rating:
Summary: Great Source of Info
Review: I didn't expect this book to give me a play by play description of how to embalm a body or cremate a corpse. I also didn't expect this to be an extension of Jessica Mitford's rip on the funeral industry. I didn't expect this to be an unending series of ghost stories. I expected random stories that delved into the often strange and sometimes humorous happenings that occur in funeral homes and cemeteries. I expected to hear stories that have their roots in what is commonly called "gallows humor". And I got exactly what I expected.
Some of the stories were short and moderately interesting, some had me guessing such as who the actress is who is buried in a pet cemetery by her pooch (and not by her husband). A few had me cringeing such as the thought of a less than professional embalmer wielding a wanton trocar like a headhunter jabbing a spear around. Some stories even had me laughing. And one story even featured the ever quirky and wonderful Shelley Winters.
The best part of this book was that it kept me reading. I took it to the health club and pumped away on a health cycle and read, read, read. I couldn't put the darn thing down. After I finished reading it, the book made it through my small circle of friends. Five people out of five gave it high marks.
Rating: 
Summary: Fell way too short to be credible
Review: I'm very interested in books about funeral practices and cemeteries in general, but this book fell way too short to be worth while. Any technical information presented was glossed over by the author. Most of her interviews with people in the death care business remained annonomous, which to me means that its not a credible account unless you can prove it came from a credible source. In fact, almost all of her "ghost stories" came from unidentified people, lacking in either the location of the cemetery or time period, which does make for good fiction, but I was hoping for something more substantial. Its evident throughout the book that there wasn't enough research done on the topics presented and broad generalizations and unreliable accounts are used to fill in the gaps. The one topic the author seems to take too much time with is Necrophilia. The accounts presented in this section border on pornographic. There is no need for the detail the author went into on this subject. Overall, it apperars that the author began her research hoping to find twisted stories and individuals that would confirm her immage of the death care business as it is portrayed in The Comedy of Terrors. And when she finds that needle in the haystack, she grasps on to it as if it confirms all her misguided beliefs. My suggestion is, if your interested in these topics, skip this book and grab Stiff, by Mary Roach. You'll find no twisted deliusions there, just a well researched, well writen book on the life of a human cadaver. I've read both books, and I could have definately done without this one. -Amanda R.
Rating:
Summary: Hauntingly Eerie with Fabulous spooky stories
Review: This a fabulous book - and what I like about it is that Katherine didn't dwell on the history of burial (SNOOZE)....and the history she did mention was something that was completely different than what you normally would read. The stories are COMPLETELY different than what you would expect. MANY, MANY interesting stories that are just so eerie and bizarre, that it makes your skin crawl. I am a police officer and have friends in the mortuary business, and this is the closest thing I have discovered that unravels the secrecy behind the death industry. I wished I had purchased this months ago....I purchased the book: "Corpses, Coffins and Crypts" by Penny Colman - and I was so turned off by this rubbish, that it sits on my book shelf collecting dust. It is a worthless and boring book that makes one want to fall asleep quickly while reading it in bed. I recommend it to all of those out there with insomnia. But, if you want a real book that keeps you up at night, flipping page by page, not knowing what to expect, the Cemetery Stories book is for you. This is a masterpiece of information - and the way Katherine writes it is brilliant! It covers ALL facets of death...and not just the obvious. She is a true believer in the scientific and supernatural field...Keep up the good work Katherine..I would love to meet you someday!!!!!!!
-Dean in Indiana
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: Very interesting collection of stories about this, that and the other in the funeral trade. I could not put this one down!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: Very interesting collection of stories about this, that and the other in the funeral trade. I could not put this one down!
Rating:
Summary: A good read, but could have better information
Review: What this book IS: A good collection of anecdotes that guides the reader through the author's exploration of death, funerals, cemetaries, and folklore. Ramsland draws from many cultures and many time periods, thus building a canon of death-related lore. It is written in a very conversational manner, making it an easy and comfortable read. Someone completely new to the subject would find it a gentle introduction.What this book IS NOT: 1)Clearly factual - though there is a substantial resources section, the book is written in a very anecdotal way, making it hard to tell if the information being given is fact or just a 'good story.' Sometimes it is unclear if the author is sure what she is writing is fact or fiction. 2)True to its title, which highlights "Haunted Graveyards, Embalming Secrets, and the Life of a Corpse After Death." There are only about 15 pages that deal with ghost stories, and most of them are painfully general - basically lumping together several stories into one generic paragraph. Overall, it's a good read, but those looking for hard facts and detailed ghost stories will be disappointed. I was a little disturbed by the nonchalant way the subject of necrophilia was handled.
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