Review: Funeral with a View by Matt Schiariti

Thirty-two-year-old Richard Franchitti didn’t believe in love at first sight until he met free-spirited Catherine and started a brand new life. A devoted father and husband, Richard fought to keep his family together when it would have been easier to walk away.
Tragedy left him with unfinished business.
Now a disembodied spirit, Richard relives his most important days. From the beginnings of unconditional love, to the joy of his daughter’s birth, and all of the difficult times in between, each treasured moment brings him closer to answering the question:
“Why am I still here?”
He was born Richard Franchitti, but his friends call him Ricky. Welcome to his funeral.

I received this book to give an honest review.

You know when I read the title I figured it was probably going to be a sad book but it was actually far from it. 

It was hilarious a majority of the time. Yes there was some sadness but I found the book far more enjoyable than I planned to. 

This is a story about Richard. He is viewing his funeral and we go from the past to the in between to the present of where he is now. And that I enjoyed doing. I loved reading about his life and how he lived. I enjoyed his relationship with his now wife Catherine but then she was his girlfriend. They have been to hell and back and some how still survived.

Each character was different in their own way, but my favorite character was Richard's mother. She doesn't play a huge role in the story and we read about her here and there but her sense of humor was a trip. 

Catherine's sister Jude just as funny. I loved the relationship that Jude and her sister Catherine had with each other. It is a relationship that I wish me and my own sister had. 

Richard and Catherine they are not serious people they are free-spirited and are just as humorous as their own family members. Catherine and Richard remind me of my husband and I when we were in the dating stage.

There were some surprises and twists along the way and I have to say that when they came to light on more than one occasion I was sitting with my mouth opened looking cray-cray. I literally didn't know even think of those things happening.

Now Richard has a daughter who of course believes in Angels and I thought that was amazing. I have to say what got me to tears was when Celeste was telling her daddy goodbye for the last time and she goes "Bye bye, Daddy. Wuv you." It was something that just hit me hard in the chest. 

Richard is being tied to this world for some reason and he has to figure that out, and he does eventually do that but in the process of him figuring it out he relives his past and it is a past. 

I do believe I would be looking into more of this author's work. He has a great story line to tell, his characters are diverse, overall he seems to write a great book. 

When an ill-fated joint writing venture went horribly awry, mild mannered engineer Matt Schiariti decided to strike out on his own. The result? Selling his short story 'Hollow' to Padwolf Publishing for inclusion in the recently published anthology, 'Apocalypse 13' in late 2012. Gaining confidence from seeing his first ever published story in print, he plowed on and dove into the self-publishing pool with the dark fiction/horror short story, 'Words With Fiends'.
Matt has always been a voracious reader and reviewer of books and, after 37 years, has decided to make the transition to writer. Better late than never. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, 1.75 children, crazy dog, and overly personable guinea pig. He's written two novels in 2012 which is he currently editing and continues to work on short stories. Look for more from the self-proclaimed "dude who writes" in 2013.