“…they banded together with a promise to throw one another living funerals so that none of them would ever be left to wonder what impact they’d had on the others. Their mission: leave nothing left unsaid.”

It is a sad truth of funerals that the people who die don’t get to hear what is being said of them. And so the premise of the book really is a fantastic idea. Throw funerals for the living so that the living can fully understand their impact on other lives.

The book follows the lives of college friends for about 30 years post graduation. They all have their struggles and the funerals serve as reunions and also to bring forth realizations and help them find inner strength to grow and seize their day. The most poignant is that of the “Jordans”. Even as he faces his mortality, Jordan uses his time to ensure Jordy will be ok. The breaking out of Alcatraz analogy and finding strength to break free of grief particularly touched my heart.

The author does a good job of injecting humor and sarcasm while maintaining a more serious story. And really shows the important role good friends play in your life. What a gift to have friends such as these!

“To think about life is to contemplate death—it’s what makes living so valuable.”

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Unfortunately I didn’t finish this one. The premise was good but I didn’t know how sad it was going to be. I might come back and finish it later, but it was too sad for me right now. The characters were charming though! I just wanted something lighter, like his precious books. I will update this review if I finish later.

I was super excited about this one, because I loved The Guncle. Unfortunately, this one fell flat for me. I found it to be a bit chaotic, very depressing, and not very funny. I thought the boat/mushroom scene was very amusing. But this one lacked the humor to balance the heavy topics in this book. I also didn’t feel the connection to Alec, he is what started this whole thing and I feel like we learned very little about him. I was a bit annoyed by the Mia, Craig, & Marielle situation. I loved the idea of their pact, but these supposed friends didn’t really seem to be close anymore. I think this book had a lot of potential, and don’t get me wrong I 100% got choked up at the end.

Only Steven Rowley can write a book that makes me laugh and cry at the same time and write books about loss and grief that I willingly want to read. He will always be an auto-read author for me. By the end of the book, I fell in love with every single character (the 5 remaining friends) and was sad to part with them. Though the ending was absolutely perfect, I read the last page through tears. Admittedly, I did struggle with the first chapter set in present time and combined with the third person omniscient POV style. The history between each character was missing and it felt like I couldn't keep them straight or see why they were even friends in the first place. Once we were taken back to the past as each "funeral" was revealed and how the current one came to be, everything fell into place. If you find yourself feeling the same in the beginning, just push through for the reward is there. This is one of those books where you should focus your full attention.

I will never pass up a Steven Rowley book. He writes with such a charming voice - believably funny and flawed characters, heartfelt and poignant themes, and a real knack for connecting you to the story. This story of friendship and it’s importance throughout life, through the ups and downs, will really hit home for many. It’s a rare book that can make me both laugh and cry, and Steven Rowley has done it three times now. Can’t wait to see what else he has in store for us.

This beautiful story about friendship and regrets is full of heart.

I loved reading about Marielle, Naomi, Craig, Jordy, and Jordan and their decades-long connections. This is literary fiction at its best.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Title: The Celebrants
Author: Steven Rowley
Genre: Fiction
Month Read: April 2023
Book Type: E-Arc
Publication: May 2023
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Pages: 320
Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam/G. P. Putnam’s Sons for providing me this E-Arc. It in no way influences my review on this work in any way, shape, or form.

TRIGGER WARNING-
Death / Suicide / Cancer / HIV


"To live in the present, to live for yourself, and that we were never as alone as we thought.”




No Spoiler Summary (Goodreads):
It’s been a minute—or five years—since Jordan Vargas last saw his college friends, and twenty-eight years since their graduation when their adult lives officially began. Now Jordan, Jordy, Naomi, Craig, and Marielle find themselves at the brink of a new decade, with all the responsibilities of adulthood, yet no closer to having their lives figured out. Though not for a lack of trying. Over the years they’ve reunited in Big Sur to honor a decades-old pact to throw each other living “funerals,” celebrations to remind themselves that life is worth living—that their lives mean something, to one another if not to themselves.

But this reunion is different. They’re not gathered as they were to bolster Marielle as her marriage crumbled, to lift Naomi after her parents died, or to intervene when Craig pleaded guilty to art fraud. This time, Jordan is sitting on a secret that will upend their pact.

A deeply honest tribute to the growing pains of selfhood and the people who keep us going, coupled with Steven Rowley’s signature humor and heart, The Celebrants is a moving tale about the false invincibility of youth and the beautiful ways in which friendship helps us celebrate our lives, even amid the deepest challenges of living.




Review:
I am obsessed with The Guncle- truly, it is one of my all time favorite books. I haven't read anything else Steven Rowley has written (which will be changing June of 2023!) and I was looking forward to The Celebrants and SO stoked when I got a copy of it on Netgalley, as it was one of my most anticipated reads of 2023.

Welp. I am sad to say that this book fell really flat for me. I was expecting the wit, the humor, and also the devastation that The Guncle gave me, and sadly this book didn't have much of it. In the past few weeks when people have asked me how I liked The Celebrants my answer could be summed up with, I'm glad I read it but ultimately I won't remember much about it 6 months from now, and it won't stick with me. I didn't hate the book, I didn't love the book, it's the most solid of 3 stars for me. It was a book, I read it, time to move on.

Jess, why didn't you like it? I never connected to a single character, I felt like (for once) this book could have been longer) because a lot of it just never felt fully fleshed out to me. I never felt anything, and I feel like you need to for a book that's mourning every character in real time. I didn't dislike the book, but for me I wanted the connection I've had to Steven's other characters. I really wish I had more to say about it, but overall I just felt really underwhelmed. It happens! If you have a copy, I recommend giving it a go, but I wouldn't rush out to read it if you have other things you've been waiting for on your shelves.

This book had the same warm fuzzy feels as The Guncle! I usually have trouble or don’t prefer following multiple characters while I’m reading, but I fell in love with each and every friend in this book and how their individual stories and pasts shaped the book. I love when friends become our adopted family and that’s exactly what the friends in this book were to each other! I shed a few more tears than I did when I read The Guncle, but the subject matter was a tad bit more heavier! I’d totally recommend this one!

I read and loved Rowley's THE GUNCLE two years ago and bought LILY AND THE OCTOPUS right after, so I was very excited to get approved on Netgalley for THE CELEBRANTS… did it still take me months to get to it and actually read ? Yes, it did ! But oh when I did - I loved my reading so much, another book that left me smiling through tears !

THE CELEBRANTS is a beautiful novel about the importance of friendship and those friends becoming Found Family. The book centers on five friends from college thrown together by random chance but forged together by fire when the sixth member of their group does just days before college graduation. It's about living in the moment, understanding the past honoring it while refusing to glorify it or dwell in it. Staying in touch, communicating, saying things out loud. Embracing the present and nourishing the curiosity for the future. Steven Rowley is an outstanding author with the fantastic ability to capture the bittersweet, with deep insight into his characters, and offering that to readers who in turn have a chance to reflect.

Steven Rowley is the master of writing about grief in the most honest ways- poignant and hilarious in turn. At the heart are the characters, who Rowley expertly makes you feel invested in deeply. The Celebrants is a love letter to the friends that formed you into adulthood and the lifelong ties that bind us together. Filled with humor, it will bring to tears again and again.

Rowley never disappoints. His stories are the perfect combination of heart and love, sorrow and humor and this one is no exception. Old friends who come together and support each other. Lives that take unexpected turns. The beauty and the sorrow of the ordinary parts of life. You will not regret reading this one.

with gratitude to netgalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Celebrants by Steven Rowley reminded me why I love this author so much that I did an entire drunk retelling of The Guncle (again, I am sorry for butchering the story Mr Rowley 😂)

This book was a beautiful story of friendship, found family, and making sure you hold nothing back when it comes to those you love.

After losing a friend in college, 5 remaining friends enter a pact to give each other each one funeral while they are still alive. It is such an amazing premise and Rowley just writes such lovable and real characters.

I cannot get through one of his books without crying so of course there were tears. This man can tug on your heart strings like no other. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is looking to find hope during a bleak time. Don’t be afraid to lean on your people, that’s what they’re there for! 🖤

Thank you to @netgalley and @putnambooks for the advanced reader copy and thank you, as always, @mrstevenrowley, for an absolutely heartwarming story!

I LOVED this book! Devoured it in two days. Really wonderful, realistic depiction of friendship and love. The characters all fairly leapt from the page, and the story sucked me in immediately. It's like a modernized take on The Big Chill that takes you on a roller coaster ride of all the emotions. Seriously, you'll laugh, cry, all of it. One of my top reads of the year to date.

After college, and the death of one of their own, a group of friends goes their separate ways. Though not before making a pact that if any of them are in trouble they could invoke their pact - which gathers them all back together to celebrate that friend’s life for their ‘funeral’, and to remind them how much they’re loved.

Thanks so much to Putnam Books and NetGalley for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Steven Rowley’s ‘The Guncle’ (which I really enjoyed) was the first book I ever wrote a review for, so I was super excited to receive an advanced copy of his new novel - and it did not disappoint.

This book has a super clever premise, that although obviously original, felt vaguely familiar. It’s filled with old secrets, LGBTQ representation, redeemable characters, and a poignant reminder to tell the ones you love how much they mean to you.

This one will make you laugh, it will make you cry, and you’ll want to give it a big hug at the end.

I love all of Steven's books, and this was no exception! So funny, heartfelt, and hopeful. I felt like there was a little something missing to make this truly special, but I still loved it.

After the sudden death of a friend a group of 5 friends make a pact to give each other living funerals so that they can hear all the good things said about each other at their funerals. So if you want to read a book about living life to the fullest and telling your loved ones how you feel about them while living, this is the one for you!
Steven Rowley has his amazing ability to construct the best kinds of relationships. I loved the way these characters were there for each other, without shying away from speaking ugly truths when necessary. Rowley is also quite capable of making me laugh out loud and ugly cry while reading his beautiful masterpieces. I loved it!

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy.

A group of college friends make. a pact to celebrate each of their funerals while they're still alive so they know how much they are loved.

I kind of love this idea.

With Steven Rowley's witty yet emotional style of writing, we get chapters that alternate from the present to each of their funerals when they trigger the pact. Each funeral is vastly different yet still similar in that they bring the friends together in times of emotional distress to lift each other up and leave nothing unsaid. The characters are all different, and they have all (except the Jordans, who are now a couple) gone their separate ways after college. With one of the Jordans facing devastating health issues, we revisit the funerals of the other characters as him and Jordy wonder - is it time for Jordan to trigger the pact?

I didn't love it as much as The Guncle, but the subject matter and tone were different in this one. Very well done, Mr. Rowley, and get the tissues ready for the last couple of chapters.

Also, I now need some kittens to bottle feed, and a caprese sandwich. IYKYK.

I wanted to save this for my first review of Pride month because The Celebrants truly celebrates LOVE in all of its glorious forms.

Promoted as a modern “Big Chill”, and I totally agree! Rowley highlights how relationships over your lifetime shape you. It made me think of the recent hit, Happy Place, but 20 more years down the road. True friends become family that will always be there for you.

Told in multiple timelines as each of five college best friends has “living funerals” over the 28 years since their graduation and the traumatic death of their sixth friend. Rowley is a master at making somber stories feel light and hopeful. I adore his writing and his narration. I laughed, I cried, I related. 🩷

*The characters here are all turning 50 and while I personally think this book is so relatable, I’m not sure a very young audience would feel the same.

The Celebrants - 3⭐️

Quick synopsis- a group of friends gather to celebrate their own living funerals, one at a time, when each is at rock bottom.

My thoughts: While a great idea, this fell a little flat. Perhaps more character development would’ve helped me feel connected to the friend group and made me more invested in the story. Instead of feeling like relatable flawed humans, each character felt kind of blah, unlikeable, and had me wondering how and why these people were friends. The plot line with Mia was also something I personally wasn’t a fan of. Still there were plenty of funny and sweet moments that helped keep this enjoyable, and the ending helped redeem it a bit for me. Fans of The Midnight Library may absolutely love this, as I had some similar feelings and gripes with both books.

I will always want to read this author’s books. The Guncle was really special to me, and holds a special place in my heart. Despite not loving this book, I still can’t wait to see what’s next from this author!

As depressing as it sounds, would you rather have a "funeral" with friends before you pass? If you went through something and needed your friends to pick you up. Things wouldn't be left unsaid always haunting you.
My Dad passed quickly. We are almost to his 6 year anniversary which is crazy. He was going in and out of lucidity in the hospital and I kept telling him I loved him and he would say it back and after the 5th time he looked at me and said “Laura I know,” with a smile on his face. Then I started to cry and he looked away then looked back surprised to see me asking what was wrong. It was one of the harder days of my life. If only I had known we would lose his mind so fast.

I remember the Big Chill when I was a kid. I loved all the actors in it. This was definitely that vibe with our elder millennial, gen x, xennials issues of nowadays. So many themes of lifelong friendship, life events and their impact, and grief.

Thank you putnambooks and netgalley