The Funeral Makers [Paperback]

Cathie Pelletier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 6, 1997

This is the story of the trials that beset the McKinnons, the first family of Mattagash, Maine, when they try to arrange a funeral for the family matriarch. Bubbling with quirky humor, this marks a dazzling debut for a gifted and richly talented young writer.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This first novel is an auspicious beginning. A seriocomic look at life in a decaying Maine village, it centers on three middle-aged sisters, last of a founding family. Marge, the eldest, is dying of beriberi as a result of her eccentric diet. This results in a reluctant family reunion to plan her last rites. As Marge drifts away, her relatives involve themselves in various unlikely and often sordid situations typical of their town. Though these include theft, adultery, and suicide, the tone is dominated by a dark humor reminiscent of Ed McClanahan's The Natural Man ( LJ 3/15/83). If the episodes never quite blend into a coherent whole, there is the story's energy and vivid characterizations. Pelletier is a writer to watch. Starr E. Smith, Georgetown Univ. Lib., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (May 6, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684826143
• ISBN-13: 978-0684826141
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #361,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A comic, yet tragic introduction to Pelletier's Mattagash..., May 30, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: The Funeral Makers (Paperback)

Let's make no bones about it. Maine native Cathie Pelletier
is easily the most talented writer out there on the Maine
fiction landscape, bar none. With "The Funeral Makers", Pelletier introduces
us to the isolated and tiny Mattagash, Maine, nestled beside
the St. John River at the Canadian border. Though loosely
inspired by the politics in her hometown (Allagash, Maine),
this wonderful hoot of a novel created a bit of a stir back
home nonetheless. "The Funeral Makers" follows the ongoing
feud between the two most visible families in Mattagash:
the self-designated monarchic clan of the community, the MacKinnons; and
the Giffords, the rowdy, irreverant and always-procreating
scapegoats. Not since Carolyn Chute's "The Beans of Egypt, Maine" have we met so
troubled, or so human a brood. As you loathe the behavior,
you can't help but admire the spirit which keeps them going.
The story of the quintessential dysfunctional family gathered
for the impending death of one of their own, this novel seamlessly
weaves plot after complex subplot in a disturbing and often
hilarious crazy quilt of small-town angst. The character
of Amy Joy Lawler, who returns in "The Funeral Maker"'s two
sequels ("Once Upon a Time On the Banks", "The Weight of Winter"),
emerges as the bubblegum-snapping, too-wise-for-her-years
heroine who challenges the world order in Mattagash and
becomes the launchpad for her older lover's bedhopping through
the generations of her family. Reading Cathie Pelletier is
a pleasure so rich, so fulfilling, that you hate to leave
Mattagash behind, though at the same time it's a place most of us would never
wish to visit.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully descriptive - even of the outhouse!, June 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Funeral Makers (Paperback)

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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This woman can write!, May 27, 2002

By 

J. Fercho (Calgary, AB. Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Funeral Makers (Paperback)

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!