“We’re All Going to Go Sometime” Reading List by Jayne

JayneB Reviews / Book Reviewsancient-Egypt / ancient-greece / ancient-Rome / death / funeral / Middle East / Paris / Reading lists2 Comments

What to Expect When You’re Dead: An Ancient Tour of Death and the Afterlife by Robert Garland

An entertaining and enlightening book about how ancient peoples dealt with death—and what we might learn from them

A lively story of death, What to Expect When You’re Dead explores the fascinating death-related beliefs and practices of a wide range of ancient cultures and traditions—Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Hindu, Jewish, Zoroastrian, Etruscan, Greek, Roman, Early Christian, and Islamic. By drawing on the latest scholarship on ancient archaeology, art, literature, and funerary inscriptions, Robert Garland invites readers to put themselves in the sandals of ancient peoples and to imagine their mental state moment by moment as they sought—in ways that turn out to be remarkably similar to ours—to assist the dead on their journey to the next world and to understand life’s greatest mystery.

What to Expect When You’re Dead chronicles the ways ancient peoples answered questions such as: How to achieve a good death and afterlife? What’s the best way to dispose of a body? Do the dead face a postmortem judgement—and where do they end up? Do the dead have bodies in the afterlife—and can they eat, drink, and have sex? And what can the living do to stay on good terms with the nonliving?

Filled with intriguing stories and frequent humor, What to Expect When You’re Dead will be a morbidly delicious treat for every reader alive.

An entertaining and enlightening book about how ancient peoples dealt with death—and what we might learn from them

A lively story of death, What to Expect When You’re Dead explores the fascinating death-related beliefs and practices of a wide range of ancient cultures and traditions—Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Hindu, Jewish, Zoroastrian, Etruscan, Greek, Roman, Early Christian, and Islamic. By drawing on the latest scholarship on ancient archaeology, art, literature, and funerary inscriptions, Robert Garland invites readers to put themselves in the sandals of ancient peoples and to imagine their mental state moment by moment as they sought—in ways that turn out to be remarkably similar to ours—to assist the dead on their journey to the next world and to understand life’s greatest mystery.

What to Expect When You’re Dead chronicles the ways ancient peoples answered questions such as: How to achieve a good death and afterlife? What’s the best way to dispose of a body? Do the dead face a postmortem judgement—and where do they end up? Do the dead have bodies in the afterlife—and can they eat, drink, and have sex? And what can the living do to stay on good terms with the nonliving?

Filled with intriguing stories and frequent humor, What to Expect When You’re Dead will be a morbidly delicious treat for every reader alive.

Review

Garland takes us on a tour of death rites for (primarily) ancient Near and Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and Mesopotamian cultures with a few references to Hindu, Chinese, and Zoroastrian cultures. Note that almost any Asian, Oceanic or American (North, Central or South) cultures are omitted. Also note that since much of what he says is based on remaining evidence (tombs, funerary items, ancient plays/poems referencing death, etc) and most of these items were made for or about the wealthy and of those mainly men, a lot of guesswork is done in regards to the 99% of us. But it’s certain that most of the rest of us weren’t thought to enjoy such a cushy afterlife.

Still Garland has dug deep (pun intended) into the subject and has a wealth of information about how the ancient Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, Sumerians, Etruscans, etc dealt with the fate that awaits us all. Some of the chapters discuss corporeal bodies, sex, eating – yes or no? The life awaiting varied widely with some being improved versions of your earthly existence while others seemed frankly dreary. He knows his subject, writes well without talking down, and even injects some levity into the subject. Might as well since we’re all going to reach this stage sooner or later. B

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The Secret Life of a Cemetery: The Wild Nature and Enchanting Lore of Père-Lachaise by Benoît Gallot

From the head curator of the most famous cemetery in the world—a moving story about a place where joy, grief, and wild nature converge in unexpected and inspiring ways.

For Benoît Gallot, Père Lachaise is best explored without a guide: You’re guaranteed to lose your way. You’ll feel as though you’ve stepped out of time, out of Paris, and into another place entirely. In his debut memoir, Gallot, head curator of Père Lachaise and son of a grave stonemason, pulls back the curtains on his otherworldly workplace—a cemetery crammed with tourists in the high season and mourners year round, but also a natural paradise, where foxes roam, birds flit between trees, and wildflowers and moss encroach onto tombstones.

In elegant, engrossing chapters, Gallot reveals the secret world of Père Lachaise—its Napoleonic origins, its unusual graves and monuments—alongside touching stories from his working life in the cemetery. Born into a family of undertakers, Gallot was named curator of Père-Lachaise in his early-thirties, inheriting the complex job of managing over 100 acres of green space, overseeing 70,000 graves, and arranging burials and cremations, all while contending with millions of tourists—plus film crews, birdwatchers, ghost hunters, and the occasional nude performance artist. Gallot, who also lives on the cemetery grounds with his wife and young children, demystifies his unusual and often misunderstood profession, which in reality requires much more contact with living people than dead ones. In doing so, he provides insight into the history of graveyards and our evolving relationship with death.

Gallot also shares vivid descriptions of flora and fauna, which have reemerged in recent years thanks to a huge rewilding effort. Initially unsure about the idea, he embraced it as the cemetery alleys blossomed and birdsong proliferated. Then in April 2020, with the city in lockdown, Gallot took an early-morning stroll and crossed paths with a fox—in the middle of Paris! He snapped a picture and posted it, unwittingly setting off a media frenzy. Gallot’s daily photographs of Père-Lachaise’s flourishing animal and plant life have attracted followers from around the world, helping to change the public perception of cemeteries, which ultimately exist as places for the living.

Review

I’ve said before that I find cemeteries to be calm and relaxing places. After seeing the title and realizing that this book would focus on Pere-Lachaise, one of the most famous cemeteries in the world, I asked to be able to read it. 

Benoit Gallot has sort of been involved in the funeral business his entire life. The son of a monument maker from a small town, he decided to go to college and branch out into law only to get bored, take the civil service exam and be recruited back into the funeral business. After stints at other places, he was encouraged to apply for his current job and has been there since 2018. The skills and knowledge needed to ensure everything runs with efficiency, care, tact, and attention to detail are varied and wide ranging. 

Though it has many famous “inhabitants,” Pere-Lachaise is actually in a working class neighborhood and if a descendant meets the requirements, anyone, not just the well known, may be buried there. The cemetery is carrying on, along with others in France, a practice of rewilding in order to encourage nature and wildlife which has led to Gallot’s Instagram (@la_vie_au_cimetiere) account on which he posts photos of wild fox kits, cats, birds, and stone martens that make the cemetery their home. There are also several wildlife photos in the book.         

Gallot has a sense of humor about himself, the job, and the place (though he never pokes fun at anyone but himself or mocks anyone) but is also conscious of the respect due to grieving families (though when they meet him to work out arrangements, they’re often joyous and happy for their loved ones to secure a place there). As with everyone associated with funeral practices, Covid hit hard. Gallot also has to deal with souvenirs left by fans (chewed bubble gum on a tree trunk near Jim Morrison’s grave is the latest fad) and those who feel the rewilding leaves the place looking dirty and unkept. 

It’s clear he relishes the day-to-day challenges, as well as the amazing view of the Eiffel Tower, takes his job seriously, and loves it. B     

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