All the Ways Our Dead Still Speak: A Funeral Director on Life, Death, and the Hereafter

In this profound treatise, sixth-generation funeral director Wilde (Confessions of a Funeral Director) reflects on death and the hereafter in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. Wilde outlines a “progressive view of the afterlife” that sees death as a “liminal” space in which the deceased live on through the impact their words and actions had on the living: “We are living cemeteries... carried here—to this moment—by the love, hard work, and heritage of our ancestors.” He notes that this understanding of the self challenges white Americans’ belief in individualism by asserting that humans are fundamentally shaped by their ancestors and community rather than by one’s own whims. Christianity’s trinitarian “claims that God is a plural self” offer a religious variation on this theme, the author suggests, positing that, since humans were made in God’s image, they are also an amalgamation of “those we love in the past and future.” Wilde complements these ideas with autobiographical stories recounting his struggle to keep his business running during the uncertain early days of the pandemic when he had to wrestle with such questions as what to do with anti-mask funeral attendees. In a wonderfully conversational tone, Wilde tackles themes of mortality, history, and justice with masterful felicity, delivering bracing big picture ideas about death and community. The result is an exceptionally soulful and insightful take on identity and the ways the dead linger among the living. (May)