With nearly twenty years of experience, Lu La La, Taiwan’s foremost trauma cleaner, has a unique familiarity with death. Writing with clarity and compassion, he records his observations and reflections on living, dying, and carrying on, helping readers to understand his profession and his personal calling to help settle the affairs of the deceased.

A few years back, South Korea had a hit TV series with Move to Heaven, a fictional portrayal of the life of a trauma cleaner, which raised public awareness the professionals who clean and organize the homes of the deceased. Taiwan has a similar profession, and the top man in the field is author Lu La La. He removes blood stains, deodorizes living spaces, and packs corpses into body bags in addition to tending to the cleaning, organization, and disposal of a lifetime of possessions.

Lu La La has worked in the funeral industry for nearly twenty years, during which he has literally seen it all. As a trauma cleaner, he travels from one death site to the next, restoring the homes of the deceased to a more presentable condition while also helping to clear away the pain of those who survive them. With this book, he shares his experiences on the job, his personal reflections, and the stories of those who have passed on.

In the first of its four parts, Remnants of Life introduces the work of trauma cleaning in objective terms, lifting the taboo of death that shrouds the industry. As in any industry, there are high and low seasons due to the increase in heart disease related deaths in winter and an uptick in suicide deaths around major holidays.

In the second part, the author continues by discussing how he first began working as a trauma cleaner. He shares his desire to contribute to society, and to give opportunities to disadvantaged members of society, whom he often employs in his work: the homeless, rehabilitated inmates, and those with disabilities. Part three delves into the human side of death, relating the full spectrum of emotions that the author has observed in his work, and the impact of social issues on life quality as death nears. Herein, readers witness how, after death, money often becomes the primary focus of the surviving family members. More poignantly, readers learn the background factors that too many deaths share in common: poverty, estrangement from family, loneliness, and cramped and unsanitary living quarters.

In the fourth part of the book, Lu La La expresses his complete vision of what it means to tend to the affairs of the deceased: as much as his work focuses on sorting through the possessions of the departed, he also hopes to accompany the surviving family members as they sort through the complex emotions that are stirred by the loss of a loved one. Only when each emotion, and possession, is finally settled in its proper place, can the soul of the departed finally rest in peace.

Though constructed around a chilling subject, Remnants of Life passes through the darkness to emerge with a message of sincerity and warmth. At its heart, Lu La La’s account is an exploration of our humanity and what is most essential in life, and also sheds light on social issues that are often obscured by the fears and taboos surrounding death.