Nine Years Under: Coming of Age in an Inner-City Funeral Home

Booker, Sheri

ISBN 10: 1592407129 / ISBN 13: 9781592407125

Editore: Avery Publishing Group, 2013

Former library book; May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Codice articolo G1592407129I4N10

Riassunto:

Six Feet Under meets The Wire in a dazzling and darkly comic memoir about coming-of-age in a black funeral home in Baltimore

Sheri Booker was only fifteen years old when she started working at Wylie Funeral Home in West Baltimore. She had no idea that her summer job would become nine years of immersion in a hidden world. Reeling from the death of her beloved great aunt, she found comfort in the funeral home, and soon has the run of the place, from its sacred chapels to the terrifying embalming room.

With AIDS and gang violence threatening to wipe out a generation of black men, Wylie was never short on business. As families came together to bury one of their own, Booker was privy to their most intimate moments of grief and despair. But along with the sadness, Booker encountered moments of dark humor: brawls between mistresses and widows, and car crashes at McDonald’s with dead bodies in tow. While she never got over her terror of the embalming room, Booker learned to expect the unexpected and to never, ever cry.

This vibrant tour of a macabre world reveals an urban funeral culture where photo-screened memorial T-shirts often replace suits and ties and the dead are sent off with a joint or a fifth of cognac. Nine Years Under offers readers an unbelievable glimpse into an industry in the backdrop of all our lives.

Informazioni sull'autore: Sheri Booker has a BA in political science from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland and an MFA in creative nonfiction from Goucher College. A writer, poet, spoken word artist, photographer, and teacher, she currently lives in Baltimore.

Dati bibliografici

Titolo: Nine Years Under: Coming of Age in an ...
Casa editrice: Avery Publishing Group
Data di pubblicazione: 2013
Legatura: Hardcover
Condizione: Very Good
Condizione sovraccoperta: No Jacket
Edizione: quarta edizione