What Remains?

I have mixed feeling about this book. I really like the work that Ru Callender is doing (I heard him talk at Electromagnetic Field in 2022, which lead to me picking up his book), but the book itself is written in a way that I find somewhat offputting (short, simple sentences and paragraphs that feel like they're written for a audience with a very short attention span), and it's fairly slow, or at least, longer than it needs to be. It's more of a memoir than a book on undertaking.

There is some interesting stuff in here. A lot of inspiring stories of good funerals, some interesting thoughts on crop circles and ritual magic, good cultural analysis of the funeral industry (mostly in the UK, but also worldwide). The idea of "cultural ancestors" that he has seems somewhat unique, and it's interesting to see someone explore it so much. The stories of his interactions and work with the KLF are, as one would expect, excellent.

There's also stuff that I feel more mixed about. He talks a lot about the transformative role that punk and acid house and raves had in his life, which like — sure, those things can be transformative, but I feel like talking more about the things themselves than the specific ways in which they're transformative misses the mark a bit. He touches on appropriation only very briefly, much more briefly than one would hope from a white person living in the UK and worshiping a Haitian Vodou deity.

I'm glad that I read this book, but I don't think I can really recommend it.