The Cavanaughts | Now Departing: A Small-Town Mortician...
Now Departing: A Small-Town Mortician on Death, Life, and the Moments in Between
Author: Victor M. Sweeney
In this unique and thoughtful collection, a young funeral director—also known as “the internet’s favorite mortician” (CNBC)—explores various aspects of death, offering heartfelt and practical insights into how we determine what matters most while we are alive. This evocative book is for fans of Thomas Lynch, Mary Roach, and Caitlin Doughty.
Now Departing explores the science, craft, and mindfulness behind Victor M. Sweeney’s very peculiar skill set. Working in the funeral business since he was eighteen years old, Sweeney astutely shares the powerful and moving lessons of how we can exist and be remembered with intention and meaning. Each page is filled with reflective observations and true stories from the lives and deaths that Sweeney has come to know through his work in a small Minnesota town. With grace and understanding, he also explores the rituals around preparing and saying goodbye to those we mourn; the love and forgiveness that arises in the face of grief; the universal interplay of walking between the chasm of the mundanity of a required business practice that touches on humanity’s deepest metaphysical realities; and ultimately, how loss gives us the opportunity to focus on and celebrate the elements we have gained.
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The Cavanaughts
Kate • Apr 30
Hello friends! I'm home. I'm home. After one week, two cities, and four different bookstores, I'm home from my very first book tour.
There hasn't been enough time to recalibrate that this incredible life is, somehow, my reality. So instead, I'd like to chat about books. Specifically! All the books I bought while on tour. :)
Because that was one of the most delightful parts of the trip. Getting to meet so many new-to-me faces and explore new-to-me places. And what friendlier faces and places than at independent bookstores???
Here's a look at my fifteen best purchases:
(Samwise is also happy I'm home so he can become the star of all my pictures again.)
(I'm so ready to cozy up and get my puzzle on, perhaps with an audiobook for company.)
Please excuse the preponderance of stats I'm about to throw at you. The books I bought were:
- 53% hardcover vs. 47% paperback
- 80% new-to-me stories (since I bought a copy of my own book, Becca's book that I beta read, and the Agatha Christie classic)
- 20% nonfiction (Now Departing, How to Write Erotica, and The Haves and Have-Yachts)
- From 7 different independent bookstores (Liz's Book Bar, Love & Legends, Mysterious Bookshop, The Fountain Bookshop, Books Are Magic, The Ripped Bodice, and McNally Jackson Books)
- 20% Fantasy (Jade City, Burn the Sea, Graceless Heart), 20% Romance (Love Bites, The Princess and the P.I., Gwen and Art Are Not In Love), 7% Contemporary (Superfan), 7% Horror (Thrall), and 26% Mystery/Thriller (The Ending Writes Itself, And Then There Were None, Grandma's Little Secret, and my book, Thanks For Watching)
I'd love to get a stat on how many of the books have death as a central theme or plot point, but I might need to wait until I read them all. 👀 Dare I guess 50%???
One of these stories is also going to be our first ever book club pick, coming in May! I am so very excited. (And I'll give you a hint: it's in the fantasy category.)
Thanks, Story Scouts! Chat with you as soon as I've finished recovering from all the travel. In the meantime, happy reading! 📖