Customer Reviews

The Funeral Planner

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Even as a child Maddy Banks equated self worth to be equal to net worth. So she is concerned that she has yet to make her entrepreneurial mark. Maddy has no time for self pity as she travels from Los Angeles to Ann Arbor to attend the funeral of her friend Tara Pintock.

This second sudden death, last year her cousin was hit by lightning, with a canned eulogy by a clergy who never knew the deceased has Maddy thinking that ceremonies should be customized to honor the dearly departed and provide solace to the guests. Her Uncle Sam lends her $15K to develop the strategic business plan for Lights Out and soon sells the concept to venture capitalist Victor Winston. Her business booms until the Fed Uncle Sam pulls the plug on her. She misses Victor, who encouraged her every step of the way as he was with her the extra miles beyond that of an investor, more than Lights Out. Maddy reconsiders her mantra as her self worth is much higher than her net worth if she can persuade Victor that he invested in love.

THE FUNERAL PLANNER is a primer for starting a business with satirical chapter titles that Maddy's entrepreneurial efforts never seem to quite achieve. Maddy is terrific as even as a preadolescent preferred the financial reports over dolls. Her how to succeed at business with trying makes for a fine chick lit tale; even when she breaks the first commandment of the Bush Administration "Thou shall not worship any other god but Adam Smith" when she entered the dark side of placing her personal life over the bottom line.

Harriet Klausner

Love Lynn's The Funeral Planner books, and got a sneak preview of her Hi-Def Digital Series on DVD that is due out this spring with a sparkling Hollywood cast that will make you laugh and think about how you want to be remembered. Three women plan Life Celebrations with fun twists and a coffee shop office in Santa Monica, CA, including Maddy Banks (Heather Mazur/ CSI), Eve (Joss Stone/ hot singer), and Sierra (Marisa Ramirez/ General Hospital). What an awesome compliment to Lynn's comedy novel trilogy (The Funeral Planner, The Funeral Planner Goes to the White House and The Funeral Planner Goes Global).

Along with these entertaining books and upcoming DVD, Lynn has created The Tribute Network, which is a social media website where you can post videos and tributes to honor people and pets you love. After posting a tribute video for my highschool friend who recently passed away suddenly at a young age, it was heartwarming to see that over 500 friends watched my tribute from around the world. This video helped me share life celebrations for my friend when I could not be there to speak at the funeral. Thank you Lynn Isenberg for inspiring me to film this tribute with laughs of the good times together that are so important to remember. I highly recommend The Funeral Planner books, DVD and The Tribute Network!

The Funeral Planner is the first fiction I've read in years. I guess,like Maddy Banks, I've got too much to accomplish to fool around with fluff like fiction.

Over the last few weeks I found time to get half way though the book. I spent last weekend finishing up seaside on Palm Island in Florida. What a treat to leisurely follow along with Maddy's adventures.

If you have ever started a business, or in the midst of starting a business right now, here's your opportunity to match characters and stories with all the people and predicaments you will bump into along your way.

Something about this book just didn't grab my attention. Maybe it was the story or the plot that I just couldn't identify with. Either way, I did read read the whole thing. Some parts I did enjoy but then others were just so boring I'd want to put the book down. This is the first book I read by this author so I dont know if her book being unenjoyable is a one time thing for me. Who knows? Maybe I'll get into her next book she releases, if there is going to be one.

Finally, a strong independent character, who is nonetheless a woman competing in the business world. The character, Maddy Banks, encompasses the great qualities of a woman is never willing to give up. Her new company "Lights Out Enterprises" brings happiness and joy to a dead business.
The book can seem a tad bit informative in the beginning but I must say, towards the end, you are begging for more. Speaking for myself, talking about a love one's death is very hard to talk about and even bring up. I can honestly admire this character because of the strength she has to tackle an issue like this.
Among this grief and sadness, a very youthful character stands out, Eve. She compliments Maddy. You wouldn't think a strong character like Maddy would have some weaknesses but she lacks total fashion sense. This is where Eve comes in, a loveable character who brings comedic relief when times seem too intense in the book. This combination of characters helps this novel become a very good read.
I would recommend this book to anyone with a troubling heart.

The Funeral Planner by Lynn Isenberg is a fun novel about the character of Madison Banks, a young workaholic entrepreneur who wants nothing more than for one of her start-ups to succeed. Constantly plagued by the left of her ideas by her long time rival Derek Rogers, Maddy is inspired to start a new company named Lights Out Enterprises after the loss of a close friend.
The book is a fun read, very informative about the beginning of any company and the drive that it takes to get a new business off the ground. Maddy Banks is an artist when it comes to business, which is fitting, seeing as she is also the only business savvy member of her family, the rest of who are all artists of some sort. Her knack for business and the jargon that goes with it really helped me gain some insight into corporate America.
Overall, The Funeral Planner is a good book about the struggles of a young woman in a very male dominated business world.

The Funeral Planner by Lynn Isenberg brings a refreshing take on grieving and loss. Madison Banks, an entrepreneur and workaholic, gets inspiration for her new business after a very personal loss. Her new business, Lights Out Enterprises, focuses on pre-need life celebrations: customizable "parties" that focus on celebrating someone's life after they pass away. Isenberg makes a good decision to not only focus on this more positive approach through her characters, but also to acknowledge and face the reality of loss after someone has passed, and that this is a very painful process. For anyone who has lost, this book puts a very positive and unique spin on how to remember and celebrate the person who left.
The main character, Madison Banks, adds another dimension on the process of grieving and celebrating a life by refusing to accept her own grief and loss. While acknowledging her own loss, she refuses to face it by dealing with her own grief, even while trying to help others deal with their own. She buries herself in her work, like so many of us do, instead of personally dealing with the more important issues that she helps her clients with: who am I really? What do I really want out of my life? How do I want to be remembered?
While no academic paper on grief and loss (and in this book there are more types of loss than simply death), The Funeral Planner is a light and fun take on the subject. It is a humorous and inspiring reminder that we might all need to take time out of our busy lives that distract us from asking the central questions about ourselves and the mark we leave behind.