The Funeral Makers

Mattagash #1

by Cathie Pelletier

Meet the residents of Mattagash, Maine, a dull backwater town where nothing is what it seems.

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. At the heart of the novel are the three McKinnon sisters: Marge, the one who is dying; Pearl, the one who left town; Sicily, the one who stayed--and Sicily's fourteen-year-old daughter, Amy Joy, a bored and sexually promiscuous adolescent whose raging hormones lead her straight into the brawny arms of one Chester Lee Gifford, Mattagash's blackest sheep.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Book Club, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Family, Adult

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

"There's no starting over in Mattagash," she thought, "and they never let your children forget, or your grandchildren. You don't get a second chance here." And she wondered why they had even bothered to form a historical society when the minds in Mattagash were all bulging museums open to the public year round, and inherited by those not even born yet."


Welcome to Mattagash, Maine, a town founded in the 1800s by a small band of illogical men and women. Now at the tail end of the 1950s, logic still hasn't gained much traction in this burgeoning hamlet of 456 souls. Petty, small-town nastiness seems to be the rule. Gossip hangs heavy on every tongue and God save anyone who dares to deviate from the musty old norm.

Pearl McKinnon is returning home to this town, with her husband, grownup son, his wife and their unlikable brood in tow. She's back to be with her younger sister, Sicily, as their oldest sister lays dying. What follows is a hilarious comedy of manners. Secrets will be revealed, old resentments will be squabbled over, dirty laundry will be aired and hearts will be broken. Though most of the action revolves around the sisters and their antics, there is a delightful subplot involving a stripper/Jezebel who has set herself up in a local motel room, causing great consternation among the local women.

If you've ever lived in a small town, you're sure to recognize someone you know, used to know or are, perhaps, related to, in this wacky cast of inbreds, ne'er-do-wells, fornicators, busybodies and hypocrites.

[Linda]

**I am reading this book for the second time just to see if I still think highly of it.

The strange thing about this book is how much I enjoyed reading it but that I am at a loss as how to describe it in this review. I can't even think what I could compare it to. It is not quite like anything I have read before. I don't think the blurbs on the back of the book do it justice. Reading those alone, I would never have selected this book. It was highly recommended to me by a friend whose opinion I trust. I thought maybe if I read some Good Reads reader reviews, something there might bring my thoughts together. Oddly, the majority of Good Reads readers rated the book highly, but almost no one commented on it other than to rate it a 4 or 5 star. I have never seen that happen before. It's so strange that I almost think there is a glitch in the program, but not really. I just think this is a hard book to describe adequately. The story is set in a small town, population a little over 400, in Northern Maine, right across from the Canadian border, mostly in the late 1950's. It's comic, tragic, poignant, and extremely thought provoking, more so than any book I have read lately. At times Pelletier's writing is almost poetic. The author's writing is very evocative of how life might be in such a place. One thing I am positive of is that this book would be an excellent choice for a reading group. So much to discuss in this wonderful book. Even though I can't describe it to my satisfaction, I think you should read it. There's nothing like a book that you continue to think about once you have read the final line and closed the book.

[Helenk · Rating 1 out of 5]

I do not allow myself to put aside a book just because I don't think I like it. Well, this book, for me, is a good example. I made myself finish it and I am so happy I am done. The cover mentions it is hilariously irreverant, comic, tragic and lyrical. I found it very depressing and not hilarious at all. I do wonder if small town life (isolated town at that) is so horrible. This town is definitely not Mayberry nor does it have any of the redeeming characters. I cannot recommend this book. I see I am one of the few who did not like this book, and am dismayed that there are sequels.

[Melissa Coyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Funeral Makers is so well written that you can see the scenes taking place in full color! These are ordinary people living in a small town in Maine as close to the Canadian border as possible will make for a hilarious read. A very satisfying read!!! Highly recommend.

[Becky Kaiser · Rating 5 out of 5]

At times laugh out funny, but other times thought provoking and sad. Loved the quirky characters and their mishaps they encounter in Mattagash, a small town fictional town in Northern Maine, near the Canadian border. It's a place where many don't escape from and their ancestors' past histories. If they do manage to move on in life, their welcome home isn't always endearing. Brilliant and lyrical writing by the author with great characterization of the people of Mattagash as well as the town, itself. You feel as if you are right there with those characters in their stories.

[Robert Rodi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first in Cathie Pelletier's wonderful series about life in rural Mattagash, Maine (an analogue for her own Allagash, if I recall correctly), which continues to this day. It's cripplingly funny and wonderfully lyrical, and it's been out of print for a lonnng time, so it's hugely satisfying to see it back in a beautiful new trade dress along with its immediate sequels, A WEDDING ON THE BANKS and THE WEIGHT OF WINTER. There are characters and situations in these novels that will never, ever leave me; and the joy of having them back is considerable. Go ahead, plunge into this world: you'll be living there for a long time to come, with ever-increasing giddiness and delight.

[Barksdale Penick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe I started this book many years ago and was put off by the absurdist humor at the beginning. This time I again found it slow going at first but as events marched on the drive and structure of the plot came clear, and I found lovely observations about life, about sadness and disappointment, and how the passing of time lowers people's expectations, goals and hopes. But the book isn't bleak or hopeless, as the characters come to accept these changes and better understand themselves and their world.

[grundoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 An impending death in a tiny town on the border of Maine and Canada is the lynchpin for a tale of several families. Inbred, dysfunctional or family of one - broken people, all, with broken dreams. I didn't really enjoy the meta-tone of the ending, and every time I set it aside I had to steel myself to re-enter their lives, yet... I honestly can't find fault with this book. Disturbing and subtly humorous throughout - usually simultaneously - this is incredibly good story telling.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found Pelletier's The Funeral Makers a bit like Garrison Keillor’s Lake Woebegone…however, unlike Mr. Keillor’s Minnesota residents, you get the feeling that in Mattagash, Maine, things are not going to work out as well. And they don’t.
So, first I laughed. And then there were tears. Why, oh why, are all the books I read lately making me cry?

[Martye Jeffords · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to laugh oout loud - read this

[Cyndy · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are four books in the Mattagash series. I read the fourth one in 2015. I waited a while to go back to read the first in the series, so I wouldn't have expectations for the first based on the fourth. This is totally small town where there are too many people that need to know everybody's business. There is a lot for book club conversation in this book. There are three sisters that grew up in this small town, two stayed in the small town, one married and one not. The third sister married and moved away. They are all together for the death of the oldest sister. This brings old feelings and memories to the surface as only sisters and small towns can. I like Ms. Pelletier's writing style and will read the rest of the series.

[Jeanette "Josie" Cook M.A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was funny and entertaining in spots. However, I wanted a bit more towards the end of this storyline.

There were moments of reflection, some beautiful passages about the setting. Death has never been a subject I want to read about frequently in a book. Here it is handled in a light manner with some humor injected.

Some follies are unveiled through throughout about the two main families and their conflicts, views, and differences often carrying the story forward.

Her lyrical writing about nature always keeps me reading to the end of her stories, no matter what I am thinking about the plot.

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Meet the McKinnons, inbred, undereducated, and oversexed residents of Mattagash, Maine, a dull backwater town rocked by scandal, seduction, mayhem, blackmail, and the only recorded case of beriberi on the entire North American continent! One of the most highly acclaimed debuts of the year, The Funeral Makers is "a crazy rollicking whoop of a book, written with a poet's sensibility and a deeply wacky down-home wisdom."
~~back cover

[Mimi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this novel about the residents of Mattagash, Me, a small town in upstate Maine. The travails of the McKinnon family swing from bathos to pathos. The characters were well described in all their humanity... at times noble and often absurd. I look forward to the other two books written about Mattagash...

[Lisa (NY) · Rating 3 out of 5]

[3+] Death, loveless couplings and mean-spirited gossip are the threads that run through this novel about small town life. I like Pelletier's writing and the humor sprinkled throughout, but the suffocating reality of life in Mattagash is hard to take.

[Tracey Welsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rachel book club

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! Very funny and the characters are awesome!

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book did not age well.

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very funny book.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took awhile to get into it - many characters so unlikable. But her writing in the end is so beautiful- such a sense of place in Northern Maine.

[Casey Mackesey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book because it was cheap and about Maine. It was a little slow in the beginning but it was a funny story about a very dysfunctional family that is preparing for a sister's death.

[Jenny Gardner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't develop empathy for the characters and didn't see any character growth or much humor.

[Tiffany Manning · Rating 5 out of 5]

The trials and tribulations of the McKinnon family makes for some poignant and hilarious reading. Get this book and enjoy.

[Kirsten Lie-Nielsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable story that captured the characters of rural Maine (even today) in a nutshell. Felt almost like I was reading about my neighbors!

[Martha]

Mrs Darcy; series

[Ivan Benedict · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of humor, but also sadness and even tragedy. All in a town of 496 persons.

[Anya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a madcap story that takes place in the part of northern maine where my Grandparent's all came from, so it was a humorous adventure that felt a little close to home. Very entertaining.

[Jenny Dunning · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel came to me by way of a friend who picked it up at Big Lots, which says something about what happens to good books that aren't penned by a celebrity author. I liked the novel, loved the writing. Set in the isolated (fictional) small town of Mattagash, Maine, the characters are small-town everymen (and -women and -kids), petty and unhappy and none too bright. It's a comedic novel, the characters and their faults larger than life, the situations increasingly ridiculous. And it was funny. Sometimes laugh-outloud funny. But a strange thing happened as the narrative drew to a close: it got sadder and sadder, and the writing got more lyrical. All of which left me a little disoriented. But it was worth reading--thanks for passing it on, Barbara.

[Trisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in the 1950’s in Northern Maine, in one sense this book is about life in a small rural community in the 1950s. But Mattagash, Maine is about as far removed from Lake Wobegon, Minnesota as it could possibly be. The women aren’t strong, none of the men are good looking and all of the children are definitely well below average. It’s not the kind of place most people would want to come home to. Not only because most of the quirky people who live there had yet to install indoor plumbing, but also because most of them were either depressed, lazy, drunk, or downright crazy. I had a hard time staying with this book because I couldn’t figure out whether it’s meant to be a farce, a comedy of manners, a satire or an irreverent look at life in a tiny backwater town full of dysfunctional families. But each time I was on the verge of abandoning it entirely, something would happen that was either laugh out loud funny, or so ridiculously impossible that I had to keep going to find out what happened next. And just about when I was ready to call it quits, I discovered that beneath the dark, sometimes morbid and often coarse humor was something quite touching, even tender about what Pelletier was doing in this strangely compelling novel. The vulnerability and helplessness of even her most flawed characters began to emerge, revealing the desperately lonely, sad, and disappointed people they really were. By the end of the novel, it was impossible not to feel moved and ready to cut even the worst of them a little slack. While this book won’t make it to my list of favorites, I have a feeling I won’t soon forget the folks Cathy Pelletier wrote about from Mattagash, Maine.

[Sherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maine Author. #1 in Mattagash series. Quirky family gathers for funeral of not dead oldest sister, Marge McKinnon, who raised her two younger sisters Pearl and Sicily when their mother died after Sicily's birth and their hard nosed missionary father, having scared off Marge's only suitor, who was both a con artist and already married, abandons them to go convert the heathens in China and dies there of Kala-azur. Pearl took the bus out to Portland to go to beauty school, married Marvin Ivy, a law student who dropped out and returned to Mattagash to join his father in their funeral home. Their son Marvin, Jr. Married at stick thin Thelma and they have three I'll-behaved children, two daughters, Cynthia,10, breath holding Regina Beth, and a horrid son, Marvin Randall III- Randy, 9. Sicily marries school principal Ed Lawler, who thought she was pregnant, but their only child, 14 year old, hormonally raging, Amy Joy was not born until 13 years later. Amy Joy is have an affair with town loser family's jobless Chester Lee Gifford, twice her age. Add in a 46 year old modern dancer/ strip tease dancer, assorted busy bodies and you've got a bodacious, audacious tale set at a dead end of northern Maine, almost on the Canadian border. Hilarious, and poignant.