Good Grief: On Loving Pets, Here and Hereafter

In this offbeat yet heartfelt debut, essayist Bartels digs into the fraught topic of pet death, exploring the rise of pet cemeteries and other formal ways to recognize a beloved animal’s passing to the mythical “Rainbow Bridge.” Taking readers on a colorful tour of pet commemorations throughout the world and history—from the final resting place of Mariah Carey’s 18-year-old cat in Hartsdale, N.Y., to the “lavish” 1787 memorial Mozart hosted for his pet starling, where mourners were all “heavily veiled”—Bartels demonstrates that such consideration of animals is not a new thing, nor is it confined to the U.S. Indeed, as Bartels writes, “ancient Egyptians treasured intimate relationships with their pets; it wasn’t uncommon for an entire household to go into mourning when a pet cat died.” Taxidermy, cloning, and mummification may be extreme, but Bartels covers these often exorbitantly priced rituals (mummifying a pet can set one back $28,000) with pathos and wit, and lends her narrative a touching personal spin by documenting the demise of her scaled and feathered childhood companions, including, among her many “temporary pets,” an unfortunate goldfish—“the flushing/reanimation trauma was acute enough that for all future fish deaths, I switched to burial.” Animal lovers shouldn’t pass up this illuminating and thoroughly charming work. (Aug.)