I have it on my bookshelf, and it has occasionally led friends to comment on my "macabre" bent. Someone actually gave it to me as a gift, for reasons unknown. This thread reminded me of the transfixing photos of babies propped up in their coffins, a practice that perhaps brought comfort to family members. Anyhow, this is one of the weirdest, most sorrowful accounts I've ever seen.
I remember my sister doing a book report on "The American Way of Death" in junior high, and one night she read this grotesquely funny passage to me. We made a pact(even shook hands)right then and there to be cremated.
See, now I want a giant headstone with my name splashed across it. In Italy, they have photos of the dead on the tombstones. But Italy does everything with panache.