Pub date: 5/30/23
Genre: books about friends, contemporary fiction
Quick summary: After a brush with death, Jordan and his friend group have a pact to celebrate "living funerals" for each member when they need it the most. And their secrets mean that they need each other more than ever.

I loved THE GUNCLE, but THE CELEBRANTS didn't hit quite the same for me. There are five friends in the group, but I didn't feel attached to them, and that's so important in a character-driven story. For example, one couple is Jordy and Jordan, and it took me until more than halfway through the book to reliably be able to name who was who. I liked the overall message of celebrating the people you love everyday, but this book didn't resonate with me as much as I had hoped. However, it seems like a lot of reviewers enjoyed this one more than I did!

Thank you to Putnam Books for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another engaging read by Rowley. I adored the Guncle and Lily and the Octopus so much that as soon as the words “new book” were uttered I was sold and knew I would be reading it! I was so excited for the opportunity to be an early reader.

Blurb:
The night after one of their own is tragically taken away from them, a group of seven college friends form a pact: a promise to reunite every few years to throw each other "living funerals," constant reminders that life is worth living, if not for them then for their late friend.

Now, twenty-eight years into the hard-worn lines of adulthood, their "funerals" only remind them of all the opportunities they missed. But when one member of the old gang receives an unexpected diagnosis, the pact takes on new meaning, and each friend is forced to confront old secrets, and weigh their now-middle-age lives against the idealistic dreams of their youth.

✨ The Celebrants oozes that signature Rowley wit, humor, and emotional impact. I love his writing so much. He had me feeling the whole gamut of feels while reading. Each character is throughly developed and I enjoyed that we get to see them in both past/present timelines. Showing us how they’ve changed/grown.

✨ A wonderful character driven story about celebrating lifelong friendships, and living with intention. I loved the living funerals concept, and could totally see myself doing this with my friends.

Mark your calendars! The Celebrants is coming 5/30/23

Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, C.P Putnam Sons for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was so excited to see Steven Rowley was publishing a new book in 2023 after loving The Guncle a few years ago. To this day it's a story that I recommend to my friends whenever they're on the hunt for a feel good story. The author goes a different route this time with The Celebrants: a group of college friends who reunite throughout their lives to host each other's funerals... celebrations to remind themselves that life is worth living -- and living well. It was inspired by the loss of one of their closest friends early on in their friendship and they didn't get to say how much that person meant to each of them, and they were determined to never let that happen again. If that sounds like something that will require tissues nearby, then you're totally right.

I equated the characters from this story to my college best friends. I'm 8 years post-graduation at the time of writing this review and to this day I still have a group chat with my friends and we make an effort to see each other at least once a year, despite all of us now living in different parts of the USA. The scenery found throughout the story was also super similar to my real life experiences, where as a group we make an effort to travel to different places together. I think after reading this story I'll make sure my friends and I forgo any sky diving activities (or attempts at flying the plane!)

I love the message that concludes this story: "tell a loved one the positive impact they've had on your life so that they are never left to guess. I promise you'll be glad you did." I had tears in my eyes as I closed the book for the final time! It's a great reminder that you don't always know what a friend or close loved one is going through and just a simple text message checking in on them and telling them how much they mean to you can go a long way.

I can see this one adapted into a movie on some kind of streaming service. This was really character driven and I can picture quite a few actors/actresses who would excel at bringing these characters to life.

Overall, this was an emotional ride that Steven takes us on. The Guncle still wins out as my favorite story by him, but the message this story projects will stick with me for a long time!

A book about friendships and making sure to tell those you love why. The book begins with friends losing a loved one. They make a pact to do a “living funeral” from then on if any of the friends wants to hear how and what everyone loves about them. We rotate and time and perspective. The friends are about my age so there’s a lot of references to time periods I reflect on with tenderness and joy. That said I really had a hard time getting into this book. I found the writing and characters a bit wooden and just didn’t enjoy reading about them all that much. It was ok. I think people will enjoy this but not as much as Guncle.

This is by far the best book I have read in 2023!! Steven Rowley knows how to tug at your heart strings and make you cry, but also knows how to make you laugh in the very next sentence. He is a literary god!! This book will make you very nostalgic and will have you wanting to give your current friends and college friends hugs and more hugs. This is one to add to the top of your list this summer!

The Celebrants
By Steven Rowley
Pub Date May 30
G.P. Putnam
Thanks to the author, publisher,and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Fiction, Contemporary, LGBT
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
I was looking forward to reading this novel because I adored Guncle last year. This book penetrates your soul. I highly recommend.
4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I love Steven Rowley's writing and found this book to be an interesting and engaging read. What if you celebrated your life with the people who know you best while you are still living? That is the question this book poses and I found the relationships in the novel to be well-formed and interesting. I will definitely be recommending this book.

We follow a group of college friends who have been honoring a pact they made after they lost one of their own. They have been throwing each other "living funerals" in times of need to help each other when it counts. The reason they have been called together this time is a little different, and an interesting twist. This was a story about the power of friendship. I loved The Guncle and just liked this, but I respect the good writing and the point of the story. The comparisons to The Big Chill are accurate.

Thank you, Penguin and Net Galley, for allowing me to review this advanced reader copy.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this new novel.

I LOVE "THE GUNCLE" and was so happy when I was approved for this new one! It was one of my most anticipated books of 2023 and I'm so disappointed 😱

There was nothing that pulled me into the story and I couldn't connect with any of the characters. For me, it was boring to read about their past "funerals" and I wish the story had started in present time. If Steven wasn't one of my favorite authors I would have put it down but now I struggled through. I thought it would be so much better...how can this be the same author that wrote "The Editor" which I also loved? Oh man.

I will definitely read his next book but this was not fun.

Steven Rowley knows how to write a book! Just like The Guncle, this one packed the funnies and a ton of emotion. I really enjoyed it!

Rowley does it again! Weaving together the complex emotions and pouring depth and heart into characters, The Celebrants takes a unique idea - living funerals - and immerses the reader into the lives of this group of friends as they live life and navigate grief, love, heartache, fear, and pressures everyone faces. Quirky moments peppered throughout that feel like signature Rowley charm can be found as each friend summons the group for a funeral in their honor with the goal of leaving nothing left unsaid. What seems like it would have been an impossible next step to follow The Guncle's success - The Celebrants explores living life and loving one another. Definitely worthy of picking up this gem of a novel!

THE CELEBRANTS is a special tribute to the people that pull us up and buoy us onward. The story follows a group of college friends that make a pact to celebrate life through living funerals. Although the years go by and life takes them in different directions they still gather to express their love for one another and remember that life is worth living.

The way that friendship and grief was explored in this character-driven story was beautifully done. I think there is something a bit special about maintaining friendships from college and . continuing to do life with the people who knew you when your heart was brimming with optimism and the world felt a little less jaded.

In true Steven Rowley fashion, the story strikes the perfect balance of heart and humor. Through the hardships these characters face, he reminds readers that living in intentional community is messy but life-giving. I loved the way Rowley encourages us to be intentional with the people in our lives and not take their presence for granted. In the midst of challenges it may not feel natural or convenient to let others in but it is always worth it.

READ IF YOU:
-Enjoy friendships that span decades with 90s inside joke throwbacks
-Have a deep love for nostalgic traditions
-Appreciate a heartfelt look at grief and the people that we choose to keep

RATING: 4/5
PUB DATE: May 16, 2023

Many thanks to Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

review will be posted to www.instagram.com/kellyhook.readsbooks in advance of publication date

I really enjoy Steven Rowley’s books. They’re full of complicated relationships, explorations of grief, heartwarming moments, and queer characters. The plot of The Celebrants follows a group of college friends who lose one of their members in their senior year. They vow to throw each other funerals while they’re still alive so they can be reminded of how valuable and loved they are.

I liked getting to see glimpses of the characters at different points in their lives. They all had distinct personalities, and it was fun to view what they were like in college versus later on in middle age. Their friendship also seemed realistic, they move to different places and don’t talk all the time. But when a member of the group was experiencing a low point and called them together to have a funeral they were all there.

There’s a good mix of emotions and tones throughout the book. There are fun, silly moments and heartfelt moments of people connecting with one another and realizing their importance. I definitely recommend checking this book out. While there are sad or heavy topics brought up I never felt like the book was depressing or melodramatic.

He's done it again! Steven Rowley has a way of writing a book that's so genuine, so real, with characters so real that by the end of the book you feel like they are your friends. The whole premise of the book was brilliant, and Rowley took a bit of a hokey idea and turned it into one of the most beautiful novels I've ever read. The characters were all flawed, but that's what made them special; it made me wish I was one of The Celebrants, too. This has been a great spring for new books that leave a deep impact on their readers, and I cannot wait to share The Celebrants with all my readers.

This novel is about a group of 5 college friends over the decades. Just before college graduation, the 6th member of their friend group died, and in the wake of that death, they made a pact that in the years to come, any of them could reach out to the group when they needed and make the call for them to gather for a “living funeral” of sorts - basically to get the tributes and support of the group while they were alive. As the book starts, they’re now 50 years old - but how will everything change now that one of them is facing his mortality for real? The book then flashes back and forth between the present day and each of the past funerals they gathered for.

Although it also deals with the subject of grief, this book is definitely different in tone from Steven Rowley’s breakout hit of two years ago, The Guncle. It reminded me more of the type of writing of books by Jonathan Tropper and Matthew Norman (indeed Norman’s last book, All Together Now, is about a group of college friends who gather for a vacation where one reveals that he is dying). It is perhaps a tiny bit less unique and special than The Guncle, but I still loved it!

I’m just a little younger than the characters in this book, so I really could relate to both the pop culture references for their time in college, and the ways your friendships with your college friends change over the years. I also had a friend pass away last year and another who is currently quite ill, which definitely made the themes of grief, facing mortality, and telling people how much they mean to you while they’re still alive more poignant.

Six college students transfer to UC Berkeley from other universities at the beginning of their sophomore year, find themselves in the same dormitory, and, based on their shared stigma as transfers, forge a friendship that will last a lifetime. But on the eve of graduation, one of their number is found dead--cause unknown. That shattering event leads Marielle to declare a pact among the remaining five--the others are Jordan, Jordy, Craig, and Naomi--to stage a funeral for each of them upon demand, while the requester is still alive.

After graduation they scatter all over the country for their new jobs, and only the two Jordans decide to turn their close friendship into a romantic relationship. Over the next 25+ years, each "living funeral" takes place when one of the friends is going through a challenge that makes them long to reconnect with the group--a failing marriage and teenage daughter, a legal disaster, a plane crash that takes the lives of parents, and a serious illness.

I must admit that it took me a while to warm up to the five individuals, if not the premise of the pact. But before reaching the middle of the novel, I realized that I was all-in.. The author develops each person beautifully and makes each "funeral" seem somehow inevitable. Each of the ceremonies takes place in a different venue and plays out touchingly--they were my favorite scenes of the book.

The overarching theme is that we all need to know, while we are alive, that there are others who love and value us beyond our wildest expectations and despite our flaws, and that we are not alone. The Celebrants is not a comedy like Rowley's last book The Guncle, but it is a winner.

My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. @mrstevenrowley previous novel, The Guncle is one of my favorites so when I saw this one, I knew I had to read it! I devoured this in one day and it has left me with all the feels! As someone who is still close with my core group of college friends, this one really got to me. By going back and forth between all their “funerals” and the Jordans in the present, this story unfolds in such a wonderful way. Rowley has such a way of mixing humor and gut wrenching scenes to make something truly special. For anyone who has had longstanding friendships that feel like family, this is a book you will want to check out!

When a group of college friends loses one of their own, it makes them think hard about the briefness of life. There are a lot of what if’s that go unanswered. Jordy, Jordan, Craig, Naomi, and Marielle decide the way to honor Alec’s short life is to invoke a pact to honor each other before their time with a funeral.
This is such a moving story about friendship and being there for each other no matter what. It’s about telling people how you feel before it’s too late.

Thank you Penguin for allowing me to review this advanced reader copy.

While The Guncle will go down as one of my all time favorites, this one just missed the mark completely for me. I didn't connect with any of the characters and it took me so long to get through it and that was with a lot of skimming. In general, I don't care for flashbacks but sometimes they work so well but unfortunately, not in this case. Many thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read the book.

Wow!! Last year I discovered on Bookstagram The Guncle. It was one of my favorite reads of the year. When I heard Steven Rowley had a new book coming out, I knew I had to read it. He did not disappoint. Again Steven’s heartfelt and poignant writing about the people that keep us going when we encounter loss. Well done and I look forward to your next book!