Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, Author Publishes New Book
This fascinating memoir reflects on the childhood of the son of a funeral director and what impact this had on his life
Point Pleasant Beach, NJ (Vocus) September 28, 2010
Switching Heads by Tom Sullivan has been released by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc.
At an age when most boys are busy climbing trees, catching frogs, or tossing a baseball with their dad in the backyard, Tom Sullivan was helping his father embalm dead bodies.
So goes the life of the son of a third-generation funeral director.
Today, as a fifty-something father himself, Sullivan shares how he was cautious about letting his own children even attend funerals, wary of the effects it might have had on them—effects that he himself has felt for so many years. But while he regrets being given a front-row-seat look at death so young, he doesn’t fault his father. Death was just a matter-of-fact occurrence in the Sullivan household—and the means by which food was put on the dinner table.
Sullivan recalls some of the more gruesome, disturbing, and spectacular deaths he witnessed—100 mph car accidents, an infamous five-person murder, a skydiver whose parachute failed to deploy—as well as the more mundane, “garden-variety” deaths. Though he admits to being deeply scarred by his childhood exposure to death, he maintains a healthy sense of humor. Most importantly, he has developed a deep, unique perspective on the frailty of human life.
Switching Heads is a 96-page paperback with a retail price of $10.00. The ISBN is 978-1-4349-0471-3. It was published by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For more information, or to request a review copy, please visit our virtual pressroom at http://www. dorrancepressroom. com or our online bookstore at http://www. dorrancebookstore. com.
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