Life as a Casketeer
Francis & Kaiora Tipene
Harper Collins
Pub.  2020

September 29, 2021

I picked up Life as a Casketeer and started reading at the end of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2021. It seemed like fate, and fitting, to start a non-fiction book that integrates the themes and values of language and cultural preservation through familial and cultural generations.

Like people afraid of heights that seek out and ride a roller coaster; as someone who is afraid of dying, I was morbidly curious to read this. Early on, Francis reveals that Kaiora was apprehensive and initially less than enthused about their new professions.  Read more