Book Review: Get Ahead of Being Dead by Evie King

After reading Evie King's previous book Ashes To Admin - Tales from the Caseload of a Council Funeral Officer I was eager to read her not-quite-a-sequel.

We know what happens after death; paperwork. Gas bills need to be cancelled, funeral wishes need to be carried out, money needs to be apportioned between warring family members. When you die, you won't be there to experience the annoyance and distress - but other people will. So do you help them or not?

This book is a chatty and informal guide to how to set out your wishes - including that you have no wishes.

Much like her previous book, it cheerfully mixes anecdotes about death with a powerful political message about how we treat the dead (and, I suppose, nearly dead).

It is one of those rare eBooks which is probably better as a paper book because the end of every chapter has a few dozen questions to fill in. Some are seemingly banal (library card number) and other potentially a little distressing (who do you not want invited to your funeral). The aim is to keep the answers somewhere prominent so that, come the inevitable, there's a one-stop-shop for all your deadmin.

Evie does an excellent job of making the slightly terrifying first steps accessible and approachable. It's fully trans, non-binary, and poly inclusive. It doesn't shy away from some of the more uncomfortable aspects of death, but it really does feel like the author is having a coffee & natter with you.

The style won't be for everyone. I think I'd rather have this as just a plain list of questions. But, then again, I did find it compelling to read the stories about what happens when things go wrong. So maybe I don't know myself as well as I think. Say, what song do I want playing at my funeral?

There's no doubt this is a slightly challenging and provocative read - but you should absolutely buy a copy for yourself and fill it in. Whether you buy it for your friends and relatives…