Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral: A Novel

Great book. Story of friendship, loyalty and love. Great for a bookclub.

My daughter considers this a must-read book. It's a lot of fun for a funeral book.Annie Freeman's friend receives an unexpected box. It is her best friend's ashes encased in the red tennis shoes Annie treasured. Annie gives detailed instructions for calling in all her friends to travel across the country, and, remarkably they all do except her hospice newest friend who feels compelled to remain with her patients for their final journey, but she stays in touch via cell phone, and joins the others toward the end of the journey.Annie's friends are able to fill in mysterious gaps in her life traveling to the places important to Annie in her life. They are steeped in unusual forms of Nature and colorful characters Annie's knew. They make touching connections with strangers being broken open by her loss and being together. As is true with the death of someone precious to us, they are each transformed--by taking off work and daily routines, coming together, traveling together, talking and drinking all night. As an old RN and therapist, I was less enchanted with the alcohol intake night after night for health and mental health reasons. But, in my 20s I would have loved that part, too. I was also disappointed in the lack of racial diversity of the book, Annie living and dying in Northern California as she did, but the class diversity and age differences were interesting and unusual. An old woman's blooming sexuality was downright radical! (Note: yes, we do. And it's not icky. Age is kind of cool.)This is a worthwhile book for women who want to read a next-generation feminist novel and tolerate the lack of racial diversity for the diversities mentioned before. I laughed and cried. Couldn't ask much more of a book. Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral

5 friends of Annie G Freeman celebrate her life, discover some secrets and learn what is important on a cross country journey to spread her ashes in the places she loved. It's one of those books that leave a hole in your life after you finish reading it, now what am I going to do?

Enjoyed the first 3/4s of this book. The characters were easy to imagine as some of my friends, and their life stories were quite believeable. The idea of the traveling funeral was different and I enjoyed seeing what the pallbearers learned about Annie at each stop they made. As the funeral travels, the readers learn about Annie as well as the women attending her ashes. However, in the last 1/4 of the book, the scenario went way over the top and became totally unrealistic. The book seemed to lose it's direction, just as the traveling funeral did. I would have enjoyed the book much more, had it continued on the path of the funeral and revealing the personality of Annie as well as her pallbearers!

What a beautiful story of love and friendship! I can only hope that I have friendships like this, ones to last a lifetime.

I received this book from a sorority sister who's husband had recently died.The book has been read, commented on, and passed around a group of us whohave been friends since college.I did not read it from any "literary critic's standards" point of view.I simply enjoyed the story, with both laughter and tears, and vowed to workharder to keep those college friendships important in my life. There is nodoubt that my funeral will be very different from Annie's, but I hope myfriends and family who are still alive when I'm gone will remember me with the love and fondness that Annie's friends had for her.I also read two other books by K.Radish, and while I did enjoy the reading,I did not like them nearly as much as "Annie..." I'm glad I read it before the others,as I might not have been willing to put in the time reading it had I readher other books first.Every reader brings her (or his) own set of standards and interests to thetask of reading a book that has been recommended by others. If you did notlike this book, oh well. But each person who starts it will have todecide for herself whether or not to complete the reading. I have oftenfound that my opinions differed from "critics," but if a good friendrecommends a book, I'm much more likely to enjoy it also.Give it a try; make your own judgment.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, and there was much food for thought, but parts of it seemed like overkill. And other than the last part, where the funeral did have some hurdles, the trips seemed to be almost too perfect.However, it does allow for good discussion--particularly for women.

I liked the first half of this book, setting up the premise and introducing the characters. After the first stop on the travelling funeral, however, it became repetitive and just too much of a good thing. Every place was fabulous, awesome and beautiful in its own way, too many coincidences, and Annie was too much of a saint to be believable. It seemed that each new stop outdid the others until the ending was way over the top! Linda

Annie Freeman's layered life was influenced by and influenced the lives of a group of her friends. All knew Annie but had not met each other. This clever storytelling of her post life requirements is a romp through the lives of these women, dead and alive that brings joy, laughter and pathos to everyday life. Through the death of their friend, at relatively early age, the women are mandated to examine their own lives, share with each other and through this evaluation determine their own greatest joys and needs.A great read, it is Thelma and Louise for the reflective.

good

One of those books you can't put down until you've finished it - I read it in a weekend and then again the next weekend - an emotional roller-coaster. . . .

Good story but writing was quite repetitive.

I read anything and everything but I abandoned this book at just under halfway.The way it is written just didn't flow for me-present day then previous times in each character's life. I kept thinking that it was going to improve but it never did.For me it was disjointed, dull and dreary.