Booklist Review

To allay the trepidation with which many approach funerals and memorials, Bennett and Foley first discuss such basic considerations as letting the deceased's character and relationships influence the planning of any service and using any instructions the deceased has left. Each of three succeeding pairs of chapters consists of one chapter describing a certain general kind of service and one chapter reporting actual services of that kind. A fourth pair of chapters discusses the eulogy and then presents real examples. A chapter on such details as preparing a newspaper obituary, ordering flowers, and honoraria for hired musicians and clergy concludes the main advice, and an appendix handles choosing burial or cremation, buying funeral home services, etc. A generous anthology of suitable readings (mostly poems) and a broad ranging list of suggested funerary music occupy 81 pages between the main text and the appendix. A tasteful, accessible, calming adviser. --Ray Olson