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.
MY THOUGHTS:
I picked up The Celebrants because it was heralded as “the Big Chill of our times.” I loved that book and movie, and I always enjoy the gathering of old friends.
But in this tale, our story takes us back and forth in time, and sometimes it was difficult to keep track of where we were in the lives of the characters.
I did enjoy some parts of the story, but I had to keep setting it down and starting again. I wanted to love it, but I didn’t. The characters had their moments, however, so I kept picking it up and reading more. Overall, a four-star read.
The Celebrants: A Read with Jenna Pick (A Novel)
4 | 2,664 ratings
Price: 17.72
Last update: 12-21-2024
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Top reviews from the United States
Laurel-Rain SnowFRIENDS FOREV ER...
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Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2023
After their close friend dies unexpectedly just weeks before their 1992 graduation from Berkeley, Jordan, Jordy, Craig, Marielle, and Naomi make a pact to gather in the future if any of them experiences really hard times and needs to be reminded of their friendship and love for one other.
During the next 28 years, the five friends reunite three times to support each other through personal hardships, but the fourth call to assemble is different. Hope can’t change the outcome of the latest adversity, and their decades-long pact is about to end. The friends who survived devastation and rebuilt their strength by celebrating life will again have to endure grief, but they will face it together as they have for nearly 30 years, leaving nothing left unsaid.
At its heart, the novel celebrates a deep friendship that endures through loss, years of silence, and even anger, to support and lift each other up when lives fall apart. The story moves a little slowly as the characters are introduced and the pact explained, but it picks up speed as the pieces of the narrative come together. Told from multiple perspectives and through several get-togethers spanning decades, the story unfolds bit by bit, allowing readers to gain familiarity with each friend and the importance of their friendship over time.
Steven Rowley has a gift for writing about grief. His previous novel, The Guncle, was overwhelmingly funny and endearing, but the small portion that was heartbreaking radiated with love. Likewise, the five friends in The Celebrants experience loss and are forever changed, but they gather hope and courage from each other and over and over are reminded of the precious gift of being alive.
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Theresa