Reviewed By Philip Van Heusen for Readers’ Favorite
Many will think this is just a coffee table book, but it is much more. Death has been sanitized in modern society. As a result, very few people alive today have been with a loved one at the point of death. We have tried to remove death as far away from us as possible. However, Jane Hopkins in Cemetery Reflections brings the reader face-to-face with mortality. One thing all humanity has in common is death. We all die at some point. This book is full of photographs of headstones from various cemeteries. In this book, one will see that death comes to the old and the young. As I viewed the photos, I felt at peace with death. The prose and verses that provide the text for this book give a sobering look at death. Reading this book will put you in a reflective mood and provide peace for the future.
Jane allows us to walk beside her as she visits various cemeteries. On these walks, we are given a glimpse of how death has been viewed over the centuries. While reading the epitaphs, one can see that the loved ones grieved but also accepted the inevitable. Put this book on the coffee table, but pick it up now and then to remember that life is short, and we need to live it to the fullest. I was amazed by the similarities between tombstones at New England’s cemeteries and those in Georgia and South Carolina. It shows that death is a common factor of life, no matter where you live.
Comment by Jane Hopkins:
Philip van Heusen has an interesting observation. It’s quite fascinating to see the similarities among headstones in New England and the southern coastal towns. In the case of the images below, all three headstones were created by the same Boston carver. In the center is the headstone of Jonathan Remington in Cambridge, MA. The flanking headstones are located in Charleston, SC. Almost identical, yet each unique in its own way.
