Rest In Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses by Bess Lovejoy – Reviewed by Guy Portman
The book is divided into sections – Science and Medicine, Crime and Punishment, Unsolved Mysteries etc. The subjects include Roman emperors, philosophers, authors, actors and native American chiefs. Much of the content is macabre, as is to be expected. Take the fate of Oliver Cromwell’s head, which was removed from the earth and put on a pike, to the dismay of his daughter. There are also disputable cases; none more so than outlaw Jesse James whom numerous people claimed to be after his purported ‘death’. And then there are the bizarre cases, such as Napoleon Bonaparte and his alleged member, which was bought at auction by a urologist, but turned out to be a sea cucumber.
Rest In Pieces is brimming with trivia that might prove useful in a pub quiz. However, it is not as engrossing as this reader anticipated. The matter-of-fact narration might be effective, but it is dry, relentless and monotonous. Nonetheless, this morbid offering is informative and revealing … A book best dipped into, rather than devoured whole.
