Steven Rowley is an #autobuyauthor for me - The Guncle is one of my all time favorites and while this one didn’t top that one for me, I still 11/10 absolutely adored this one and it’s quirky cast of characters and unusual premise. This one will have you calling your bestfriends and holding them extra close. So happy, sad, funny, and dark all simultaneously. This modern retelling of The Big Chill will capture your ❤️ entirely.

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Nearly thirty years ago, a group of Berkeley grads and bestfriends’ lives were forever changed: they graduated college and moved onto adult lives with joys, sorrows, challenges, triumphs, and everything in between - but they also were forced to bury their larger than life friend, Alex, after a tragic overdose.

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The experience led them to make a pact: they would in the worst moments of their life all get together - regardless of where they were in their lives - and hold a funeral for the person in need. In other words, they would ensure that the friends they loved most knew exactly how much they were loved and the impact they had on their friends’ lives while they were still living, as opposed to after they were already gone.

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Jordy, Jordan, Naomi, Craig, and Marielle join together for one last time in Big Sur, California, for a final funeral, and as they look back on their own funerals and the worst and best times of their lives - and the people and moments that brought them back to life - they are forced to reckon with both the beauty and darkness of life, and the people, so very flawed and yet so very wonderful, who make it worth living.

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A phenomenal #read.

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📖 BOOK REVIEW

BOOK: The Celebrants
AUTHOR: Steven Rowley
FORMAT: eBook
GENRE: Literary Fiction
DID I CRY: i don’t think so but maybe
PUB DATE: 5/30/23
RATING: 8/10
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you so much @putnambooks for my #gifted advanced copy of #TheCelebrants out now!

MY THOUGHTS

After absolutely adoring THE GUNCLE, I was extremely excited to dive into this one! It definitely is a slow-burn, heavily character-driven story but I enjoyed it!

It took me a while to get into it (3 months lol) and I definitely think that took away from my feelings for the book overall, but once I got to 30-35%, I found myself thinking about it when i wasn’t reading it & feeling excited to pick it back up.

I really truly loved the concept of this book. It’s original & it’s powerful and I think for the plot alone id recommend it to anybody. The writing, as always, is full of rich detail helping create these intensely developed characters that we follow throughout the book.

What went awry for me was the amount of main characters, and how long it took for us to get to know them. They each get a section of the book and to not fully know some of the characters until their section (aka the last 80-90% of the book) caused me to feel that it was underdeveloped as a character-driven story. And because there was 6 of them, they all felt a little half-baked. I wish there were fewer so that we could know them and connect with them a little better.

All in all this book is really strong in its concepts & makes for a really great discussion. Happy to have chatted with my #LowMaintenanceBookClub girlies about it!

The concept of this was one was so great: it follows a group of friends that met in college who made a pact to celebrate their funerals while they are living after their friend dies prematurely. The story has the trademark humor and heart of Steven Rowley (author of one of my favorite books THE GUNCLE) but to be honest it fell flat for me 🥲

My main problem with this book is that I didn’t connect to any of the characters. I felt like I didn’t understand them or really care what happened to them 🫣 I don’t know if it’s because there were so many characters (but I usually don’t mind this) or the story itself. To be honest, the characters were hard to keep straight. Cute that the author thought that I could keep the Jordan and Jordy straight in my head 🙄

TL;DR: I had such high expectations from THE GUNCLE and this didn’t live up 🥲 still enjoyable and sweet though!

Steven Rowley writes big feels books and this one did not disappoint! I was both laughing and sobbing in the same moments. This book is about growing into middle age and how friendships change over the years. Loved this book and will continue to seek out his newest releases.

When I read The Guncle, I absolutely loved it. It was so funny and such a feelgood read, and it made me feel so invested. So I fully expected to feel the same with this book, and I was very surprised when I started reading it and it didn't make me feel a thing. The premisse sounded so good, but the story didn't feel structured well, and the writing felt so distant. Since it's about a friend group, I really wanted to care about these people, but I just felt nothing. Because of this, I decided to DNF.

6000/5 stars. I am literally crying after reading this. This is a novel of surprises (despite the obvious which readers know what I am taking about.) The premise of the book while simple in explanation is so much more in writing. Each character and their funeral brought so much to the plot and development of the book. I was on the edge of my seat on who was Mia's father, how skydiving will go, and how this tradition will continue once everyone has had their funeral eventually. Before I write anymore, I may need to expose a prejudice of mine of being similar to the main 5 characters a student at UC Berkeley myself. This gave me a deeper connection will the novel and I felt the heart of it more than the average reader. When their friend group was on the ground of their Berkeley suite, I automatically put me and my friends in the same floor. This coincidence was not on purpose. I was just as surprised as any reader when I heard the college, they had all meet all the beginning of their friendship. I have also recently been reading a lot of books about death, some good and some bad, and this went along with this theme perfectly of showing the growth, beauty, and narrative that can come from an assumed end of death. It is now on my all-time favorite books that I would recommend to anyone (except maybe hypochondriacs like my roommate.) You only live once. That was the truth of it. But if you do it right, and I feel that I have so far reading extraordinary books like this one, once is more than enough.

Five college friends make a lifelong pact to throw living funerals for each other when they need a reminder of how much their lives mean to those around them. "There were lessons to be drawn from...each of their funerals: to live in the present, to live for yourself, and that we were never as alone as we thought." The book spans 3 decades and gets better and better as the book goes on. I loved The Guncle and while this book doesn't have quite the same appeal, it definitely has good life takeaways. Tell the people in your life how much of a positive impact they've had. Tell them before it is too late...

Absolutely LOVED this book. I found the characters so relatable, and really appreciated a story that parallels the experiences of a lot of people. I think almost every adult can relate to at least one of the storylines. This made me both laugh and cry, and made me go back and read Rowley's previous book!

I was so eager to pick up the Celebrants after LOVING Steven Rowley's THE GUNCLE. No surprises here, but I adored this book. Steven Rowley's strengths are the characters he creates for these stories. THE CELEBRANTS was a beautifully emotional story that reminds readers to appreciate their loved ones and not take a single second for granted. This is definitely a character driven novel, but readers are going to fall in LOVE with these characters. Steven Rowley is absolutely an auto buy author for me!

I have love hate relationship with Steven Rowley (in a good way). I love his books. I love the way he can come up with these circumstances that lead into perfect stories. I love that he is giving me ideas to have "funerals" with my handful of friends, so I can listen to them talk about me (with all good and bad). but I hate that he is making things so dramatic and shamelessly crumbling my heart in his hands. (yes, I'm sticking my tongue out sir!)

Five college friends made a pact after death of their "sixth" one. They would hold a roast/intervention style funeral once for each during their lowest so they could come out to the other side as a new person and life would get better. It was a good slap in the face for each of them: good downer when they felt so entitled and untouchable, good upper when they were really at the rock bottom. Knowing they had "their people" around gave them will to push through. Whichever position they put themselves into, there were the other four to pull them out, shake them a bit, and scream at their faces.

I really want to know the story behind this book. How did he come up with this idea of "the pact"? Does he have one?! Although I'm sad that I don't have "4" ride or dies (which 30 something has 4 ride or die friends left?!), I would love to have this with 1 or 2 I have. With this book, Steven Rowley continues to be my auto-read. So you should read too.

thank you to the publisher and netgalley for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

4/5 stars

this was SUCH a beautiful story and I often found myself outwardly reacting to it, smiling and laughing and tearing up. the story follows a group of college best friends bound together by love, loss, and a pact. when faced with a friends terminal diagnosis, the story traces back their friendship throughout time and throughout various fake funerals, a tradition started with the intention of reminding one another that life is worth living, despite the hard times.

I absolutely adored that it followed this group of friends over time and I loved their bickering and easy friendship and flow with one another. it feels sweet to view adults as people who were once young, and seeing this group of friends keep that spirit alive with one another made it even more special. the characters felt well developed and the story had a beautiful flow, with drama and turns that didn't feel too ridiculous at every corner. the characters are witty and fun and real in a way that made me feel like I was part of this friend group. I just love the idea of being reminded that there are people who love you and that this love should be spoken while everyone is still around <3

definitely recommend !! and pls tell your friends/family that you love them <3

The Guncle is one of my FAVORITE books, but this wasn't such a win for me. I had a very hard time connecting with the characters and feeling invested in them.

This author is quickly turning into one of my favorites. I enjoy his writing so much, and I always learn something from it. Plus, they’re fun!

This is my first Rowley book and wow! I love the depth of the story and these characters. I can’t wait to go read more from him!

This novel celebrates a deep friendship that endures through love and loss to support and lift each other up when lives fall apart. Told from multiple perspectives and spanning decades, the story unfolds allowing readers to get to know and appreciate each of the characters and the importance of their friendship over time.
The five friends in The Celebrants experience loss and are forever changed, but they lean on each other for courage and support and remind each other of what a gift it is to be alive.

Pass the tissues please because I’m a mess.
Steven Rowley has this way of writing characters that brings them to life for me. I pictured every character in this book so vividly as I read it. I felt their emotions and their life struggles.
I loved the back and forth of timelines. This concept of calling the group to have them gather for the pact, it was really sweet. It made me long for forever friendships like that. I also found this book so relatable because of the ages of the characters. I enjoy young adult books but as I get older, I find enjoyment in a book that I can relate to the characters and their current life struggles.
A bit triggering at times as the plot does contain a cancer diagnosis.
All in all, this book was so genuine and I just loved it. I feel like maybe it’s not a 5 star because I didn’t love it as much as The Guncle, but I also can’t seem to find any reason to not give it 5 stars. So there you go. 😊

Trigger warnings: cancer, death, talks of overdose, death of a parent

I just finished this book and it is beautifully written, tackles tough subjects with grace and reminds you to embrace the life you’re given and to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you.

I absolutely loved the Guncle (the first book I read by Rowley) and although I didn’t like this one as much, I still thought it was good! The chapters were a bit long and I would have liked a longer ending instead.

This book is deep so make sure you check out the synopsis and content warnings if you’re interested in reading it.

This is such a beautiful, funny, emotional, and special book. It has strong themes of connection, friendship and self-acceptance throughout. The flow of the story is done very well as it weaves through each person's life and their story. We don’t see a lot of the background of their relationships and I think a bit more would have helped me connect with the story better but that’s only a tiny criticism. This book had me laughing out loud, crying and fully immersed in every page.

Steven Rowley in undoubtedly and incredible writer, and the characters were very interesting and their stories were engaging. However, I had problems with the pacing, especially at the beginning. I felt that some elements were unnecssarily drawn out. I also took issue with what I felt was preachiness. While the themes were wonderful, they were outright stated instead of shown, and I think that the they could have been easy to pick up on without the obvious statements. I overall enjoyed reading Rowley's writing and getting to know these characters!

Thank you to Netgalley and GP Putnam's and Sons for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Celebrants was another poignant novel of friendship from Rowley. He does heartfelt, realistic fiction so well. I love how he manages to give us wholly developed characters with depth. I felt like I knew these friends like they were my own. I think this novel somewhat lacked a powerfully driven plot. Occasionally it feel like a mere glimpse of peoples lives rather than a full story arc. I also missed the sweet humor of Guncle. Sometimes the humor in The Celebrants felt a little lost. Overall, I love Steven's work and I will continue to read and promote him because we are all a little better off after knowing his characters.