After the death of their friend Alec, Naomi, Marielle, Craig, and the Jordans make a pact that they’ll have funerals for each other while they’re still alive to know how much they’re loved. Nothing left unsaid.

Steven Rowley writes about relationships so well. After reading The Guncle last year, I knew I had to get my hands on this one too and it did not disappoint. The characters are written so well, and despite have 5 main characters, all of them were so well developed and had equal screen time. Initially I was unsure about the way the story was organized. I still wish there had been shorter chapters to break up each section, but by the end I was sold on the way that it had been done otherwise. The Celebrants is an emotional rollercoaster, but so perfectly heartwarming.

The Celebrants was one of my most anticipated spring reads! I’ve been a fan of Steven Rowley’s work since Lily and the Octopus. The Celebrants is a touching story about a group of five college friends who make a pact to throw each other "living funerals" after one of them dies tragically. As they approach middle age, their reunions remind them of missed opportunities, but when one member is diagnosed with a terminal illness, they are forced to confront their secrets and the idealistic dreams of their youth. As I started reading The Celebrants, I braced myself for the tough subjects that the novel explores: suicide, drug abuse, death, cancer, and terminal illness. Despite the heavy themes, I was touched by the heartfelt nature of the book. I found myself crying at the end, which is an extremely rare occurrence for me when it comes to books, and wanted to hug Steven Rowley after reading it. I admired how the author was able to capture emotion, heart, and humor into the story despite the heavy topics. The character development was impressive and I appreciated the thought put into each character, as well as the chapters that delved into their past and present. Although the book started off slow, the ending was worth the wait. I highly recommend this book to Steven Rowley fans, but please read with care.

This is a book that is going to stay with me for some time. The basic storyline: After losing a close friend due to an overdose, his five remaining college roommates make a pact - they will throw living funerals for each other, making sure each one of them knows how much they are loved and leaving nothing left unsaid. Rowley is such a beautiful writer and weaves this very creative story in such a way that you won't be able to put it down. My one complaint is that I would have liked to get a little more about the relationship of the roommates in college - I found it a little farfetched that a pact like this would continue to pull them all together so far into the future. Definitely a recommended read.

I want to start off by saying that I adore Steven Rowley and fell in love with his writing after I read The Guncle. 

Well, with a heavy heart it saddens me to say that The Celebrants just didn't hit home for me.
The premise sounded promising and I high hopes for this but unfortunately it fell flat for me.  I do want to say after reading reviews that I may be in the minority here. People seemed to really enjoy it.

I feel bad comparing it to The Guncle but when reading The Guncle I was laughing out loud and then sobbing the next minute.  While reading The Celebrants I didn't laugh or cry once, and I am a little upset about it, especially with what the book was about.

These "friends" from college seem to not even really like each other, plus it was really hard for me to even like these characters because the character building seemed to be non-existent.   After college the group rarely sees each other but when they do get together they are constantly arguing and keeping secrets from each other. Instead of them being relatable they came off as unlikable. I felt like the story line was all over the place, and things just sort of happened without any sort of build up.

I am still a huge Steven Rowley fan; unfortunately this book was just not for me.

Stephen Rowley excels at books that will break and heal your heart. The Celebrants is no exception. Heavier than last year's The Guncle, this novel will make you think about your life and the friendships that you make and keep along the way.

Steven Rowley’s sense of humor and signature warmth is evident in his newest title, The Celebrants. A group of friends forms a pact when one of them dies unexpectedly during their college years. In order to show their appreciation of each other, they will celebrate their funeral when they need support and while still alive. Now in their middle age, the friendships and love are told from the present and to flashbacks of the 90s. Marielle, Naomi, Craig and the couple, Jordan and Jordy are beautifully written and realistic characters.

At times sad, hopeful and funny, The Celebrants is a beautifully written addition to this writer’s collection. A story sure to spark emotions ranging from laughter to tears.

Thank you to Putnam Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this title before its release.

This was absolutely beautiful: heartbreaking and hopeful and so sad but also funny. It's been on my mind since I finished it, and I know I'll come back to it again and again. I'll be recommending this one to pretty much everyone I know.

The Guncle being one of my favorite books last year, was thrilled to be granted an ARC of The Celebrants! We immediately meet a group of 5 college friends in middle age, Naomi, Marielle, Craig, and married couple Jordan and Jordan (differentiated by nickname Jordy), who made a pact following the sudden death of the 6th member of their group, vowing to hold "funerals" for each other rather than wait to share what they all mean to each other until it's too late to hear. Spanning from the mid-1990's to present day, we jump around in time to the circumstances that bring each to "call up' their funerals.

It took me a bit to find my groove with it, the beginning 25% felt a bit grim and lacking in Rowley's signature wit, and I was perplexed by the two Jordan choice - it felt unnecessarily confusing to little effect? Once the story got rolling, while it didn't have the wow factor of The Guncle for me, I was eager to get back to it and inspires me to delve into the rest of Rowley's backlist.

4.5 stars rounded down, which over time and further reflection, may move it into the 5 star category.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and Mr. Rowley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Celebrants is Steven Rowley's fourth book and probably his best yet! Having just won the Thurber Prize for American Humor, Rowley has solidified his literary place front and center in what readers can only hope will be a long career filled with novels, each better than the last.

In The Celebrants, we meet five friends: Jordan, Jordy, Craig, Naomi, and Marielle. They've been besties since college where they lost their friend Alec just before graduation. Overcome with grief, they form a pact and agree to host "living funerals" for themselves to celebrate their lives while they are still living.

They can each choose to throw their funeral whenever and wherever they need it most in life, whenever a pick-me-up is needed, or when they might reach a point in their lives where they need reminding that they are loved and that life is worth living. Everything is on the table and each of them can say whatever they want.

The book plays out over four of those funerals but flashes back and forth between the present, Jordan's funeral, and the past. Marielle is the first to invoke the pact after her divorce. Naomi follows several years later after losing her parents in a plane crash. The group rallies around Craig, forcing him to have his funeral when he is faced with jail time for committing art fraud. And then it's Jordan's turn after he is faced with a diagnosis which means his actual funeral might be approaching sooner than he thinks.

Of course, there are tensions and relationships among the group that give the book its depth. Jordan and Jordy are married and have been a couple since college. Craig and Marielle have a heated past, and Craig wonders if Marielle's daughter might actually be his. All of them are haunted by Alec's death and the secrets he carried. And each of them have their own secrets and struggles which come to light as they plan their funerals or write each other's eulogies.

It sounds heavy, but Rowley uses his signature humor to keep things from getting too serious. Think 902010 meets Dawson's Creek meets Friends meets The Breakfast Club and add a splash of Steel Magnolias and you get the idea. There is also a plethora of musical references that will have you googling song lyrics or listening to The Carpenters while you read this. Has Rowley put out the novel's playlist yet?

At the center of this book is the theme of friendship. Readers will find themselves appreciating the friendships they still hold close or missing those connections from their twenties that have been broken by too much time and distance. You'll want to pick up the phone or send a message on Facebook to remind someone out there about the important mark they left on your life. And that's the magic of a book; it makes you feel something. It creates a connection or mends one. And Rowley pens it so well, giving his readers a reason to celebrate.

The Celebrants releases May 30th from Putnam.

A group of friends meets to have their own living funerals after their friend Alec dies in college.

This book is heavily about the relationship these friends have but I found myself not connecting with any of the characters, or caring. And I struggle saying that because I love the way this author writes.

Heavy, heavy, dialogue and I constantly found myself trying to remember who each person was and why they were even friends in the first place.

I loved Steven Rowley’s 2021 release The Guncle so when I saw this on NetGalley it was a no-brainer to request it and am I ever glad I did.

This book takes place over a twenty-eight-year period from 1995 to 2023. We also get an inside look into each character’s life over the years. I loved the way this book was set up with each section devoted to a single character and we see how they’ve been doing since they graduated. It’s about friends who dormed together in college and after a dormmate dies unexpectedly they make a pact to celebrate the life of one another when they need it most, so you can hear how loved you are and how important you are before you actually die and you can appreciate it. Sounds kinda morbid but it isn’t. It is about living funerals and full of humour and love. I recently lost a 51-year-old cousin and I tell you these are a good idea. We have all had to deal with love and loss.

The book is very heartwarming and proves just how important friendships are in one’s life, especially friends that are like family. The plot and characters are very true to life and I think that’s why it touched me so much. There is joy and sadness throughout. Emotional, humorous, and full of wit, a book that made me laugh and cry in equal measure, what more can you ask than that?

3.5 stars
I thought this book had a really unique plot and I wasn’t totally sure how it was going to end so it was enjoyable clear until the end. The biggest problem I had with this book was that I really struggled connecting to the characters until the last 20-15% of the book. For the first 10-15% I was honestly having trouble remembering who was who and it took me most of the book to be able to remember which Jordan was which. This being said, I still enjoyed the story and I liked that it was laid out with multiple POV’s but it didn’t switch back and forth. Each persons funeral was told from their own POV which helped me get the know the characters and connect to their story.

Unlike The Guncle, The Celebrants had a slow start. A group of friends at Berkeley make a pact after the death of one of their group to have funerals for each other whilst they are still living whenever one of them needs to be lifted up by hearing how much their friends care about them. A bit maudlin, right? But it’s Steven Rowley telling this story so of course we begin to care deeply about each group member as their lives are told about with warmth, compassion and acerbic wit. Laugh out loud humor interspersed with tears- really a wonderful book.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC- the opinion is my own.

The Celebrants by Steven Rowley is a book about friendship most of all, but unfortunately I didn't connect to this book as much as I wanted to. Friendships can be messy and complicated especially when spanning over the course of decades, but the connections seemed forced and almost mean at times. I loved a lot of The Celebrants and will continue to read Steven Rowley, but this just fell a bit short for me in terms of emotional impact throughout the entire novel. That being said, the end hits hard.

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

The Celebrants by Steven Rowley was basically created to hit me right in the feels. I’m convinced. A story of college friends who gather intermittently to host fake funerals for each other—where they genuinely share & talk & remind each other of their sustaining friendship, despite the distance between them—this book dared me not to feel the heavy weight & gratitude of my own lifelong friendships.

Addressing drug overdose and cancer among other topics, this read can make you feel grief & loss. But more than that, it’s about life & love & friendship, & the bonds that people can make & choose to perpetuate, even when life takes us in different directions.

Previously, friends have recommended The Guncle & after reading this one, I’m even more excited to check it out. I absolutely loved every page of this bright & shining book & wish I could give the characters—so lovely, so human, so forgiving, & so deserving of love—& my own friends—hugs.

5⭐️. Out 05/30.

CW: reference to Alec’s drug use. Jordan’s cancer. Other deaths mentioned. Describes finding Alec’s body. Reference to a secondary character’s HIV diagnosis.

[ID: Jess’s white hand holds the ebook over a green meadow dotted with yellow buttercups.]

The Celebrants had me laughing out loud throughout the book, despite being about a group of friends who create a pact to have funerals for the living. Steven Rowley is so talented when writing the bittersweet moments in life.
I did struggle with the pacing of the book and found it to be a bit repetitive. However, I deeply enjoyed the relationships and many one-liners throughout.

I really enjoyed The Guncle so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Steven’s newest book. The storyline is an interesting one: throwing “funerals” for your friends before they’re gone to show how much they mean to you. I found each of the characters endearing in different ways and felt the rollercoaster of emotions right alongside them while reading it. Thanks so much to NetGalley and Putnam Books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

This is a toughie...⁣
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Summary⁣
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.⁣
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Five friends, for a reason that I won't spoil, decide to have living funerals, or celebrations of life while they are still living so nothing is left unsaid about how their friends feel about them. They call it a pact and each person can use the pact at anytime in their life and the others have to come together. ⁣
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I felt like I was on a roller coaster that did the same trick over and over. When each pact is called they: they get reacquainted (semi-interesting), bicker (this got old quick), do an activity all together (extremely boring and started to skim), then have a deep and meaningful time giving the eulogies (oh wow, this part was great). So here's the tough part, do I recommend it? Well, it wasn't nearly as amazing as The Guncle but it did have more depth but the depth was probably only about 30% amongst the semi-boring, I never really connected to these characters...I don't know. ⁣
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Thank you @netgalley for this free review copy!⁣

The Celebrants is out May 30th
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Interesting…I really liked it, not as much as the G

DNF @ 46%. I really liked The Guncle - it struck a bittersweet balance without being cloying. I can see the attempt to do the same thing in The Celebrants, but perhaps because of the number of characters and the back and forth over several decades it just doesn’t manage to have a similar emotional resonance. I mostly found this a bit boring and unrealistic, and after reading 2 or 3 other books instead of finishing this one I just have to admit I’m not interested enough in this to finish.

This was really, really sad and not nearly as much fun as The Guncle. I had a hard time differentiating between the various snobby and boring characters. I loved the idea of throwing living funerals, but the friend group bonded by a college trauma just didn’t work for me. I think many will find this entertaining, but it was a miss for me.