What Remains?

Life, Death and the Human Art of Undertaking

By: Rupert Callender

Narrated by: Rupert Callender

Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

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)2023 Chelsea Green

Modern Classic in Death and Dying Memoirs

First of all- Rupert Callender’s voice is incredible. I so appreciate an author who is up to the task of reading for an audience. It’s obvious he’s done tons of public speaking. He’s a freaking pro and his voice is gorgeous. Second, this story is compelling. From childhood to adulthood, Callender has been on a journey and not an easy one- but oh my, the wisdom, the compassion, the love that he has cultivated along the way. I love this book. As someone who is working in the field of death and dying in the US, this book is EVERYTHING. Everything I want for my country, for my people, for my community when it comes to death. Thank you, Rupert, for sharing your story. Thank you for sharing your work.