The Funeral Makers

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful story--would make a wonderful movie!
Review: Don't listen to the Kennedy nonsense below. He was running for office long before he was elected. (That's the nature of an election!)So look past this and read what the publisher called one of the best books of the decade. Funny, sad, and witty as they come.

Rating:
Summary: Be wary of reviews posted on here.
Review: Every now and then a writer simply has to respond to a negative review, and I feel compelled to reply to the person who commented on "Kennedy" and "tamarack leaves," mentioned in The Funeral Makers. First of all, this is September of 1959. Ed Lawler simply wonders "if Kennedy will win the election." Kennedy's plans had been announced months before this, and he had been aggressively campaigning, as is typical of a presidential election. On February 16, 1959, for instance, he even announced his opposition to church-state ties so that the public wouldn't fear that the Vatican would influence him "if I am elected the country's first Roman Catholic president." So what this reader is TALKING ABOUT is a mystery to me. As far as the tamarack tree and the case of leaves vs. needles. I have Thelma Ivy say, "According to this leaf shape, this should be a tamarack." This is in accordance to nature guide books that show "shapes" of leaves for identifying. I thought this was befitting Thelma, especially since I'd read that, scientifically, it is a LEAF, and not a NEEDLE. I grew up in a family of loggers and lumber contractors, and a tamarack tree is a common thing to me. But I heard from a few family members about it, so in my next novel (in jest) I thought I would put things to rest: "You're right, it has needles, not leaves," I wrote in the dedications. (It seemed so minor that I didn't care.) Guess what? I started hearing from SERIOUS arborists who took offense at my calling the leaves of a tamarack NEEDLES. Go figure. What this says to me is that ALL those readers couldn't see the forest for the tree. Writers learn to go on to the next book. You can't please everyone. But I can't even respond to the gentleman who left that scathing message since readers are allowed to leave their reviews anonymously. Again, they might come from an angry acquaintance, or a student who received a grade he or she didn't like. So, please, read the reviews with a skeptic's eye. If they're all WONDERFUL, I'd be suspicious of those, too! And thanks, as always, for reading. Cathie Pelletier.

Rating:
Summary: This woman can write!
Review: How in the world have I missed reading this author's work? Many thanks to the Amazon reviewers for introducing me to Cathie Pelletier. This novel is excellent, the woman knows how to write a story. The trials and tribulations of the McKinnon family makes for some poignant and hilarious reading. As one of the reviewers on the book jacket states it really is like a "Northern Southern" novel, only it's far better than most of the "Southern" genre I have read. The quality of the writing is top-notch, I will absolutly be reading other work by this author. Five stars without hesitation!

Rating:
Summary: This woman can write!
Review: How in the world have I missed reading this author's work? Many thanks to the Amazon reviewers for introducing me to Cathie Pelletier. This novel is excellent, the woman knows how to write a story. The trials and tribulations of the McKinnon family makes for some poignant and hilarious reading. As one of the reviewers on the book jacket states it really is like a "Northern Southern" novel, only it's far better than most of the "Southern" genre I have read. The quality of the writing is top-notch, I will absolutly be reading other work by this author. Five stars without hesitation!

Rating:
Summary: Nicholas Cage should play Chester Lee Gifford!
Review: I don't know how long it's been since I first read this book. It was so talked about when it first appeared that it seemed NECESSARY to read it. I still can't forget it, and so the other day I picked up my battered old copy and read it again. Same as the first time: I truly couldn't put it down. Since my first read, I've seen RAISING ARIZONA. Remember the role Nick Cage played? Well, that's Chester Lee. Funny, sexy, endearing, godawful, terrible, you name it. What a great first novel. I have since gone out of my way to read all of Pelletier's novels, and I keep pestering the local bookstore for news of when she'll have another out. That's how I found out she is also K. C. McKinnon, and will read those next. I miss Mattagash, Maine even as I write these words. It's a place I've come to know and love from this author's trilogy.

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Summary: I've never laughed so hard!
Review: I LOVED this book. I have never had to put a book down before because I was laughing so hard that I couldn't breath.

Rating:
Summary: Funny, tragic insight of life
Review: I was looking for something else to read other than my political books that seem to be devouring me lately and I happened to run across this book. I had read it a few years ago and thought, I'd read it again.

This is a book that you can read again in different periods of your life. The first time I read it, I found it funny. This time, I found it tragic as well as funny. It also has a wistful tone to it as well. Life speeds by before you even realize it.

The Ivys come to town in preparation for Mrs. Ivy Sr.'s wife, whose sister, Marge, is on her deathbed. Pearl had left her hometown ~~ more like escape her hometown to become a beautican only to marry an undertaker, or a "funeral director" as the Ivys like to call it. Then there is Sicily Lawler, the youngest sister who married the high school principal and her daughter, Amy Jo, who is enthralled with her first love, a Gifford. And this is their stories. It is just a story of a typical family in the late 50s. They are just as human as we are, with lost loves, disappointment and fears. They also trimpuh over ordeals, imagined or real.

This is a fun novel to read ~~ it takes you away into places forgotten or just barely remembered. It makes you long for your family again and the flush of youth. It makes you stop and count your lucky stars for where you are in life right now.

6-4-04

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully descriptive - even of the outhouse!
Review: I'm in a small book group and was a bit wary of choosing this due to the title - I didn't want another morbid, dysfuntional story. Though this is about various dysfunctional families - it's funny. I think we could all see someone we know in many of these characters perhaps even ourselves. A quick read - you always want to find out what happens next - I love that in a book.

Rating:
Summary: Some of the best writing out there!
Review: I've been a Pelletier fan since I first read this book. She takes on the really BIG themes of life, death, love, hope, despair, sorrow, you name it and makes it accessible to all readers, from Oprah's book club to the most academic of clubs. That's the mark of a great writer. I will read Pelletier's books as long as she writes them. The Coen brothers need to get on the ball...this one (all of Pelletier's books are SO filmic and visual)has the earmarks of a classic...

Rating:
Summary: Some of the best writing out there!
Review: I've been a Pelletier fan since I first read this book. She takes on the really BIG themes of life, death, love, hope, despair, sorrow, you name it and makes it accessible to all readers, from Oprah's book club to the most academic of clubs. That's the mark of a great writer. I will read Pelletier's books as long as she writes them. The Coen brothers need to get on the ball...this one (all of Pelletier's books are SO filmic and visual)has the earmarks of a classic...

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