What Remains?
"Life, Death and the Human Art of Undertaking"
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What Remains?
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Narrated by:
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Rupert Callender
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By:
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Rupert Callender
About this listen
When he became an undertaker, Rupert Callender undertook to deal with the dead for the sake of the living. This book is his brilliant, unforgettable story—the life and work of the world’s first punk undertaker—but it's also about ordinary, everyday humanity and our capacity to face death with courage and compassion, to say goodbye to the people we love in our own way.
In becoming the world’s first “punk undertaker” and establishing the Green Funeral Company in Devon, UK, Ru Callender and his partner Claire challenged the stilted, structured world of the funeral industry—fusing what he had learned from his own deeply personal experiences with death with the surprising and profound answers and raw emotion he discovered in rave culture and ritual magick.
From his unresolved grief for his parents and his cultural ancestors to political and religious non-conformists, social outlaws, experimental pioneers, and acid-house culture, Ru Callender has taken to a “DIY” ethos to help people navigate grief. He has carried coffins across windswept beaches, sat in pubs with caskets on beer-stained tables, helped children fire flaming arrows into their father’s funeral pyre, turned occult rituals into performance art, and, with the band members of KLF, is building the People’s Pyramid of bony bricks in Liverpool.
What Remains? is a profound, deeply moving, and politically charged book that will change the way listeners think about life, death, and the all-important end-of-life experience.
©2022 Rupert Callender (P)2022 Dreamscape Media, LLCListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about What Remains?
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Zoe86
- 07-12-23
Honest and heartfelt, fascinating
I thought this book would be a tough read but it was actually strangely comforting. It's very well written and moves along very nicely. A very honest, engaging and interesting memoir. I liked how I learnt a lot about the funeral industry while also understanding the author and learning more about his experiences of death and grief. He's an interesting person with a unique perspective. Highly recommend.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- ruth
- 18-06-24
We are already dead
I loved it. Don’t ever be afraid, of anything, ever, because you are already dead.
This moment, now, this is the moment between the click and the bang.
You are already dead.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anon
- 24-10-22
A brilliant book that needed to be written.
A dark and difficult subject that has been lightly and deftly handled. I cried but I laughed too. I am now trying to get friends and family to read it because I want to talk about it so much.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Becca R
- 25-11-22
Wow.
What a book. Profound, funny, visionary, enlightening. Would like to discover it all over again.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Steve
- 26-10-22
Thought provoking
not quite what I was expecting, but a good book nonetheless.
The narrator needs to pick up the pace a bit, not the best.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 06-02-23
Vital, moving, brilliant.
A truly wonderful and moving experience. I would like to thank the author and narrator for taking me through such a wonderfully personal and moving experience.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- venetia
- 29-10-22
Powerful and honest
Rupert takes you on a extraordinary and unique journey, as unique as him. I could not put this down. Read it and then read it again. The depth of the meaning takes two reads.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- happygolucky
- 02-11-22
An exquisitely crafted view of grief and undertaking
The funeral world is, in the main, a traditional one and, like many traditions, no longer quite fit for purpose. Rupert Callender (I’m sure would gladly agree) is viewed by many as a maverick but he’s an honest one and there’s much to learn within this book. It’s beautifully written and raw in its delivery (not edited to perfection like some) I finished it, went straight back to the beginning and I’m listening again.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Jules
- 11-12-22
Disturbing
If I’d not listened to this on audio, I probably wouldn’t have finished it. Reading it as a physical book, I’ve no doubt I’d have given up on it within the first chapter or two.
The book is read by the author himself, who I found unlikeable, appears bitter for his upbringing (which sounds like it was one of immense privilege) & is insulting of people who don’t agree with his ideas (“reptile brained” being one phrase that springs to mind).
I like to read books about death, but this was less about death & more about the author’s apparent attempt to single handedly overhaul the funeral industry into something more radical. I found the talk of magic, spells (which included meditation to the point of orgasm) & rituals extremely strange.
I also cannot support someone who advocates the use of illegal drugs (MDMA) for “healing” & suggests families should use them together around the bed of a dying relative.
It’s rare for me to give a critical review of a book in this way but I found this book disturbing on so many levels. I have given it 2 stars merely because I did find the stories of some of the people in his care (of which he mentioned few) quite emotional.
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1 person found this helpful