Reviews - The Celebrants | The StoryGraph

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2.94k reviews for:

The Celebrants

Steven Rowley

3.75 AVERAGE

kellyluvsbooks24's review

5.0

This book was a good one. I laughed and cried (still crying as ai write this). What a wonderful story of love and friendship and life.

ryreadsbooks's review

4.25

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

3.7*

A lovely balance of humor and deeper emotions including grief and loss. Steven Rowley always seems to capture that balance and I think this may be his best attempt at it. Some of the characters and their development fell a little flat which impacted the overall story.

thopp84's review against another edition

5.0

"To think about life is to contemplate death - it's what makes living so valuable. Our time here is limited, gone in the blink of an eye."

Rowley's previous novel, The Guncle, was my favorite fiction read of 2021. So I came into this one with lots of excitement and very high expectations. Would he be able to maintain the high standard that he set in that book, particularly with such a different story? I am glad to report that he nails it. This book is just as good as that one and had me laughing and tearing up in equal measure.

This is a book about a group of friends who meet in college and following the death of one of their own make a pact to conduct a living funeral for each other so that they can hear what their friends think about them before they die. It's a lovely idea and it is executed perfectly in this book. Each of them gets to choose when they want to enact the pact and the story follows them through the decades as their lives change and they experience all sorts of tragedies along the way. From death of parents to career changes to birth of children and even a prison sentence, these friends' lives are irrevocably shaped just by knowing each other. Reading this book made me realize that books about friendships that span decades are totally my jam. And these friendships follow the natural path that many friendships do. They don't talk for long periods of time. They don't see each other very often. And yet, when they get together, it is like no time has passed at all.

Rowley writes with such elegance and care about the nature of friendships and how they evolve over time and over the course of decades. And also how they can often be the most important people in your life because they will be there for you through all the good times and the bad. Each of these characters felt like a real person and I loved spending as much time with them as I did. This is one of the best books I've read this year because it made me think deeply about the people in my life and the relationships I have cultivated. I don't really have a group of friends like is portrayed here. Not sure I ever did to be honest. And so just like the Guncle, this book made me nostalgic for something I don't have. Which is a real testament to just how good his writing is that he was able to evoke that in me. I loved every minute I spent with this book and I wish I had gotten to spend more time with it. I can see this becoming a limited series someday on TV. And I think the format of it would make that very doable. Regardless of that though, this is an incredible book. Glad I read it and glad to see that Rowley was able to write another book that made me cry.