Customer Reviews

Final Arrangements: A Novel

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3 star:		(1)
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I've never written review for a book before, at least not here. The reason is simply because I have never before come across a book that I enjoyed as much as Final Arrangements by Miles Keaton Andrew.

When I first picked up the book, I admit it was the author photo that intrigued me. It's an overhead shot of the author lying in an open grave. Seeing this gave me an idea of just how original and jaded the author's sense of humor would be. It was nothing compared to the story and the characters.

The story gets into your brain. When I finished the book, I started it again. It's just that good.

Miles Keaton Andrew is definately an author that we will be hearing a lot from in the future. This book has become one of my all time favorites. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Death follows Casey Kight everywhere he goes it seems. He has been obsessed with becoming an undertaker since his parents died in a plane crash when he was nine, where he found comfort within the walls of Morton Albright, a family run funeral home, fighting to stay independent while threatened by a huge corporation. Casey is a "natural", drawn to all aspects of the morbid trade. He soon takes up with the owner's daughter, eccentric and strangely lovable "deathy obsessed" Natalie who everyone within the funeral home wants him to marry, to produce a male heir to foil an inner family conspiracy to sell Morton Albright out from under the family out of sheer spite. Be warned this book is dark, often graphic and liberally sprinkled with post-mortem detail. Sometimes uncomfortably too much information is present about the corpses lying in wait for burial and their preparation techniques, yet Andrew has accomplished a difficult task; bringing together rather distasteful scenes, humorous and delightful dialogue and wonderfully three dimensional characters into a page turning book. It has been some time since a book made me laugh aloud like this one. Andrew's debut novel is written from obvious experience and his well-crafted characters come alive though people are dying all around them.

How long has it been since you embarrassed yourself laughing out loud on the train ride home? This one did it for me. How long has it been since you fell in love with fictional characters? I hated to see them go. I laughed, I cried, and when it was all over, how I hated turning that last page! A must read. Casey Kight lives! Natalie is deathy as hell!

Final Arrangements was really a great read. I absolutely LOVED each and every character in the book. At first it was a little difficult to get the family tree down, but the more I read, the easier it was to understand.

I laughed out loud at points while reading this WONDERFUL story! It is hard to believe that the author could put such a great spin on such a morbid topic, but he managed to do it with a flair unmatched by any other author I have ever read.

Absolutely in my TOP 10 Books of All Time!!! Give yourself a treat and read this book!!

Do you like the HBO series 6'Under? If so, this book is a must for you. It is written by a man who works as a Funeral Director. It's a great little story set in the world of Funeral homes. One would almost think Miles Keaton Andrew wrote it over night to coincide with the events happening in Alabama at the Crematory!If you have ever wonder what happens in the back rooms at the Funeral Home, this will expose a whole other world. It also illustrates how the role of Funeral Director is one of the ultimate services that express compassion for the living, not a morbid preoccupation with the dead.
I hope Mr.Andrew will continue to write - I especially enjoyed the photo of the author on the back bookjacket, usually a pose struck showing intellect, wisdom, arrogance . . . Miles is shown full body in an open wooden casket in the ground! What a sense of humor this guy must have, I love it!

There is, for many people, myself included, an interest in death. This is the first book I have ever read that gave me the DETAILS of what actually happens to the body after death in a funeral home.

I was especially intrigued by a disclaimer the author wrote stating that if this book fell into your hands after a death of a loved one, he apologized and gave his sincere regrets. I was fairly certain that what I was going to read about how a body was processed after death was realistic. By the time I made it to page 21, I had read most of it out loud to my medical colleagues. There was no way I could contain myself and NOT share exactly what occurs during body embalming. Like most things uncomfortable, it was imperative to share, and quite frankly, laugh out loud in the response to the characters.

The novel itself is quirky fun, and it is not without respect for the dead. As with all things that are distasteful, to inject humor makes the topic much more palatable. The novel introduces Casey Kight, who suffered the loss of his parents in a plane crash and found sincere comfort in the funeral home of Morton-Albright Funeral Home and Memorial Chapel in Angel Shores, Florida. Circumstances happened that as a small boy the day of his parent's services, he was gifted a key to the Funeral Home by the funeral director as an attempt to distract the young, distraught boy from his grief of his parents horrible death.
The boy, Casey, never forgot the generosity. Nor did he ever let go of the key to the funeral home. It became a symbol to hold on tightly during moments of insecurity and fear. Casey and the key managed to bring him through puberty and to age 21, when he qualified for application in a position at the Morton-Albright Funeral Home. On the day of his 21st birthday, he went to the home and sought employment, laying carefully the key wrapped in the giver's handkerchief that the director, Jerry Stiles had given him on the funeral day of his parents onto to the man's desktop. This act was in response to the question from Jerry as to what brought Casey here to apply for the position.

Casey's sincereity insured admission. The funeral home stood for the highest ethics and respect for death. Aside from such respect, the many characters that worked for the funeral home were all family, and these people provided the humor and sincereity that bonded the place together.

Part mystery, part love story, part reality, the novel is a revealing and entertaining story from a relatively unknown field. Fresh, (if you pardon the reference) and quite delightful, it is an original peak at what happens when our lights go out.

My family read this book for our family book club. We picked it based on its Amazon reviews.

In general, I found that this book lived up to what the reviewers said about it. It was funny, poignant, and very different from anything else I had ever read. It was a good, light choice for our book club, as it brought up numerous subjects for discussion. Thanks to Final Arrangements, we have all decided we would rather not die. Especially in the 1970s.

Seriously, if you have a weak stomach, some of the contents of this book will no doubt be disturbing. But this book is a fine page-turner, and when it is over, you will find yourself better off for having read it. The characters, for the most part, are dynamic and interesting, and the subject is more fascinating than I would have imagined.

As a side note, this book takes place in a fictional town by St. Petersburg, Florida. Many local places are mentioned. For those who have ever visited or lived by the Tampa Bay area, these details give the story an extra spark.

I enjoyed this book immensely. ...if you like "Six Feet Under", you will probably enjoy this book. Face it: this is a business most of us hope to have as little contact as possible with, but it is fascinating to learn about (just don't ask me to ever DO this job).

Beware, however: there are sections of this not for the squeamish. If you are sensitive on the subject of death, you may be offended by some of the dark humor (I suspect that if you work in this business, you have to be able to maintain a sense of humor to keep you going through the grief around you).

In this wacky side-splitter, Miles Keaton Andrew has established himself as a great writer of comedy - black comedy - verrrry black. You can't say there's a funnier book out there until you read this one. It's a book about the ultimate dysfunctional family - the family that owns Morton-Albright Funeral Home. Highly recommeded for 6 Feet Under Fans!

I bought this book after running across it on anew release rack at my local book store. I read the jacket and decided to give it a try. I am so glad that I did. It has a dark sense of humor that keeps you entertained throughout the book. The story is engaging enough to keep you turning pages until it is done. His writing style is very engaging, especially for first time author. I recommend this book for anyone who is looking for an engrossing and entertaining read. Just make sure you are not squeamish as some of the details of the funeral home business can be somewhat explicit.