The Dead Beat
Marilyn Johnson
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Buy *The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries* by Marilyn Johnson online

The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries
Marilyn Johnson
HarperCollins
Hardcover
256 pages
March 2006
rated 4 of 5 possible stars
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I like reading my morning paper. I’m sure there are millions who enjoy doing the crossword puzzles or the jumble or the comics – and, oh yes, let us not forget the actual news. I could guarantee at one time or another you’ve perused the want ads section of your local paper to look for an apartment or a used car. You might have even looked for a date in the personal ads. But is there anyone who actually looks forward to reading the obituaries? Isn’t that the inevitable fate we all face that we don’t want to be reminded of?

Alas, it is true. There are obituary junkies just like there are crossword junkies, TV junkies, and movie junkies. A morose addiction? Or as the title suggests, a perverse pleasure? Maybe yes, maybe no, depending on your own personal point-of-view. But one thing is for sure, Marilyn Johnson’s The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and The Perverse Pleasure Of Obituaries is one heck of an entertaining and thoroughly engrossing read.

“I meet the other readers of obituaries, glancing over their shoulders at the coffee shop, striking up conversations. ‘You like obits?’ ‘I love them. I read them everyday. I’ve always read them.’ Fervent with a kind of feverish look in their eyes, or reverent, members of the Church Of Obituaries. Some of these people read the death notices, those tiny ads paid for by the family and written by morticians everyday. That’s hardcore. I skip those, mainly, and head right for the cream, the big feature stories of the newly departed, written by real writers and festooned with photos.”
Not only does Marilyn Johnson chronicle the obituaries (the average Joe and the famous) but also the writers of them. The book starts at the Sixth Great Obituary Writer’s International Conference and then, over the course of the book, breaks down the differences in obits both regionally and abroad. The level of humor is appropriate and Johnson’s writing is smooth as silk. In the same vein as Mary Roach’s Stiff or Spook, The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and The Perverse Pleasure of Obituaries is truly a quirky read that is a celebration of life, death, and the obsession with reading obituaries.



Originally published on Curled Up With A Good Book at www.curledup.com. © Bobby Blades, 2006

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