MARC Record from Library of Congress

LEADER: 02489cam a2200313 i 4500
001 2012049711
003 DLC
005 20150107080504.0
008 130307s2013 nyu 000 0deng
010 $a 2012049711
020 $a9781592407125 (hardback)
040 $aDLC$beng$cDLC$erda$dDLC
042 $apcc
043 $an-us-md
050 00 $aHD9999.U53$bU5217 2013
082 00 $a338.4/73637509752$223
084 $aBIO026000$2bisacsh
100 1 $aBooker, Sheri,$eauthor.
245 10 $aNine years under :$bcoming of age in an inner-city funeral home /$cSheri Booker.
264 1 $aNew York, New York :$bGotham Books,$c[2013]
300 $a261 pages ;$c22 cm
336 $atext$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$2rdamedia
338 $avolume$2rdacarrier
520 $a"Six Feet Under" meets The Wire in a dazzling and darkly comic memoir about coming-of-age in a black funeral home in Baltimore. Sheri Booker was only fifteen years old when she started working at Wylie Funeral Home in West Baltimore. She had no idea that her summer job would become nine years of immersion in a hidden world. Reeling from the death of her beloved great aunt, she found comfort in the funeral home, and soon has the run of the place, from its sacred chapels to the terrifying embalming room. With AIDS and gang violence threatening to wipe out a generation of black men, Wylie was never short on business. As families came together to bury one of their own, Booker was privy to their most intimate moments of grief and despair. But along with the sadness, Booker encountered moments of dark humor: brawls between mistresses and widows, and car crashes at McDonald's with dead bodies in tow. While she never got over her terror of the embalming room, Booker learned to expect the unexpected and to never, ever cry. This vibrant tour of a macabre world reveals an urban funeral culture where photo-screened memorial T-shirts often replace suits and ties and the dead are sent off with a joint or a fifth of cognac. Nine Years Under offers readers an unbelievable glimpse into an industry in the backdrop of all our lives"--$cProvided by publisher.
650 0 $aUndertakers and undertaking$zMaryland$zBaltimore.
610 20 $aAlbert P. Wylie Funeral Home (Baltimore, Md.)$xEmployees.
650 7 $aBIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs$2bisacsh.
856 42 $3Cover image$uftp://ppftpuser:welcome@ftp01.penguingroup.com/Booksellers and Media/Covers/2008_2009_New_Covers/9781592407125.jpg