The Funeral Planner [Paperback]

Lynn Isenberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2005

An initial investment is all she needs . . .

The stereotype is "starving artist" not "starving entrepreneur." However, business-school grad Maddy Banks lives in her office, works 24/7 and hasn't shopped in so long that her closet has official historical status. Still, she's convinced that her manic drive, propensity for risk and dogged follow-through will make her millions. Someday. They have to. Right?

Success comes at a price . . .

When "death" gives Maddy a second chance at happiness, she quickly realizes that schmoozing and spreadsheeting her way through life isn't much of a life at all. Armed with an angel investor and a hot VC (um, that's venture capitalist), Maddy starts party planning for those who won't be attending . . . while she learns some hard lessons about trust, working with "friends" and mixing business with pleasure.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Chick lit meets business savvy in the second novel from Isenberg (My Life Uncovered, 2003). Would-be entrepreneur Madison Banks has longed to run her own business since childhood, but she has had no luck finding the right fit. Just when she thinks she has hit the jackpot with an idea to make digital bios of artists for museums, her business school nemesis, the slimy Derek Rogers, beats her to the punch. Disheartened, Maddy finds inspiration in the unlikeliest of places: at the funeral of her best friend, Tara. Maddy believes funerals should celebrate the life of the person and thinks that a funeral-planning business could be profitable and meaningful. With the help of her shrewd uncle, a lover-turned-friend from business school, and a handsome investor, Maddy launches Lights Out only to realize she might again be facing competition from Derek. Smart, perceptive Maddy is a welcome relief from the shoe-obsessed heroines of other chick-lit novels, and Isenberg's exploration of the business world is fresh and fascinating. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

A Michigan girl at heart, writer-producer Lynn Isenberg currently lives in California. This is her second novel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 377 pages
• Publisher: Red Dress Ink; Original edition (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 037389533X
• ISBN-13: 978-0373895335
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,551,685 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

LYNN ISENBERG

In addition to writing the comedy trilogy novels THE FUNERAL PLANNER, THE FUNERAL PLANNER GOES TO WASHINGTON and THE FUNERAL PLANNER GOES GLOBAL, Isenberg launched the real life business it inspired at LIGHTS OUT ENTERPRISES (www.LightsOutEnterprises.com) and a social media networking site inspired by protagonist Maddy Banks at www.TheTributeNetwork.com. A native Michigander and Californian Lynn Isenberg is an avant-garde content creator, transmedia producer, and brand strategist.

Her critically acclaimed works include THE FUNERAL PLANNER trilogy series and her debut novel MY LIFE UNCOVERED as well as feature film and TV credits for Youngblood, I Love You to Death, True Vinyl, and the popular series I::Design (which she co-created and executive produced. Her work in new media and branded entertainment includes The Funeral Planner Digital Series featuring JOSS STONE now available on AMAZON, Jill Sobule's Analog Girl for Paramount Pictures & StreamSearch.com, the premiere Sundance Online Film Festival among many others. She is CEO of Focus Media, Inc. and www.BooksandBrands.com, and the founder of the renowned Hollywood Literary Retreat.

Lynn speaks at Universities and Book Festivals and is a member of the Writers Guild New Media Writers Caucus. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a B.A. in English Language & Literature, a minor in Film Studies, an MBA & Entrepreneurial Studies Audit and holds a Masters in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica.

She has appeared on NBC's The Today Show, CBS's The Early Show, and numerous other TV and radio talk shows including NPR and the front page of the New York Times Style Section, BusinessWeek and MSN.com.

Through her company Focus Media, Inc., Lynn writes, produces and publishes multi-media content. Her trilogy of The Funeral Planner is soon to become a TV series with award winning comedy director Donald Petrie on board.

Visit: www.TheTributeNetwork.com, www.LynnIsenberg.com, www.LightsOutEnterprises.com for more information or to book speaking engagements contact [e-mail]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Chick-Lit hits an all-time low, October 7, 2005

By 

Dolli Hayes (Grand Lake, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Funeral Planner (Paperback)

Picked The Funeral Planner up for an airplane trip and was sorely disappointed. Terrible writing (sprinkled liberally with incorrect grammar and punctuation; the occasional spelling error as well), cliched characters, no sense of pacing and a bumbling attempt to structure the novel as a business plan that dragged the boring parts out even more. The main character was so insipid I found myself hoping she would fail in her endeavors, but I put the book down long before I had a chance to find out.

I understand that chick-lit isn't necessarily Pulitzer material, but despite a cute concept (self-evident in the title)this book was a real disappointment. I'm frankly surprised the author managed to get it published.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Funeral Planner, September 18, 2005

By 

Pamela Simon - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Funeral Planner (Paperback)

It's not a coincidence that a book about the funeral industry could serve as a reminder to celebrate life as it's been lived. Isenberg's "The Funeral Planner" is a treasure chest filled with shining gems of stories, anecdotes that resonate of reality despite the book's fiction status. The fact that the book is, in itself, a novel that launched an actual business, isn't its greatest success but its ability to remind the reader that it's never too late to change the direction of life and never too early to think about the best way to celebrate it.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This was better than I thought it would be, July 23, 2006

By 

Nikkie (Toledo, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Funeral Planner (Paperback)

Madison aka Maddy Banks has been going from entrepreneur career through entrepreneur career, with many failures. After going to a funeral for a friend, she realizes her calling. Planning personalized funerals, with the new company she's going to build called Lights Out. She gets emotional and financial help from her Uncle Sam. And before she can even begin her new career, Sam dies of Cancer. His is the first furneral she plans, and it's a hit. Soon, she has people lined up to do funerals for. One costumer even wanted his furneral twice. Just so he could live through the first one. But things take a bad turn when her arch rival, the man behind satabogiging all of her other businesses she's had, decided to open his own funeral company, and steals all of Maddy's ideas, as well as many of Maddy's backers and clients. At the advice of her handsome Venture Capitalist, she decides to take time out for herself, and to properly grieve her friend Tara and her uncle. After spending time in Ann Arbor, she not only regroups, but with an old friend of her uncle's who used to own a funeral parlor, makes a pamplet on how to grieve, and hold grieving seminars. With this new info, she puts Lights Out back on track, and even gets the upperhand on her competition.

I have to say one of the things that I liked about this book is that the main character is bi, and even though she winds up with a man at the end, there are some scenes with her and her ex-girlfriend, whom she remains close with. This book made me laugh and cry at the same time through a few chapters of it. The bad guys in the book get their just deserts, and Maddy also realizes what unconditional love from a dog can do to someone in need, like herself.