The Celebrants: A Read with Jenna Pick
A Novel
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3.9 • 229 Ratings
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
New York Times Bestseller
A TODAY Show #ReadWithJenna Book Club Pick
A Big Chill for our times, celebrating decades-long friendships and promises—especially to ourselves—by the bestselling and beloved author of The Guncle.
It’s been a minute—or five years—since Jordan Vargas last saw his college friends, and twenty-eight years since their graduation from Berkeley 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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Steven Rowley invites us into the personal lives of five longtime friends in this humorous, heartfelt novel. Jordan Vargas has some bad news. His cancer is back, and he and his partner of 30 years, Jordan “Jordy” Tosic, know he has less than a year to live. Calling on an old pact with their tight-knit college crew, the Jordans head to their friend’s gorgeous Big Sur home to enjoy each other’s company—and hold a “living funeral.” Rowley’s captivating and complex story reflects how adulthood doesn’t always turn out the way we expected—one character is still processing an emotionally devastating divorce, while another is rebuilding his life after a public scandal. Filled with witty dialogue and heartbreaking emotion, The Celebrants celebrates the friendships that get us through.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rowley (The Guncle) offers another winning story of a friend group held together by an unusual bond. Five friends at U.C. Berkeley are reeling from another friend's overdose death. Just before graduating in 1995, they make a pact. Each of them may ask for a "living funeral" in a moment of crisis, and their friends will show up to celebrate their life. After college, they drift apart. Then, in 2013, Marielle Holland, now living in Washington, D.C., sounds the alarm, flailing through an impending divorce. In 2016, Naomi Ito's parents die in a plane crash, pushing the strident Naomi, now a music executive, to drag them all to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. In 2018, Craig Scheffler, who relies on humor to shield his emotions, is facing prison for art fraud when the friends ambush him for his own "funeral" in New York City. Finally in 2023, Jordy Tosic and Jordan Vargas, now husbands in New York City, activate the pact because Jordan's cancer is back. Faced with an impending real funeral, the quintet, now 50, gathers a final time for a genuinely heartfelt conclusion. Rowley admirably avoids sentimentality along the way, and there's plenty of fresh and witty dialogue. For anyone needing a reminder about the importance of friendships, this will more than do the trick.
Customer Reviews
Highly Recommend!
Naomi, Craig, Marielle, Jordy, Jordan, and Alex all met as transfer students at Berkley, where they became friends. They all graduated in 1995 except for Alex because he had unexpectedly died. At that point, this group decided that they needed to get together for “living funerals”, an excuse to get together to show how much they mean to each other. When life gets hard, they are supposed to call the group together for a celebration of their life. On Jordy’s “living funeral” trip, Jordan has to inform them his cancer has spread and he doesn’t have long. This news brings them closer to making it extra special for Jordan as well.
This heartfelt book is about the importance of friendships. When a friend dies in your friend group, you realize how precious life is, so you make time to do regular get-together instead of waiting for a funeral when everyone is forced to come together. A clever preface to a book! Why not take the time to support/celebrate with each other when everyone is still alive! A great book club pick as this book would lead to meaningful discussions!
Must read
If you loved the show friends this book is for you. These friends have a unique pact that you will want to adopt as your own for you and yours. I know I’m going to do it often especially to the people that mean the most to me.
You will love this book I promise you won’t want to miss this one.
Another great Steven Rowley book
I really enjoy how he yells a story. If you haven’t read his other books, be sure to do so. I enjoy his dry wit, the at- times slightly surreal descriptive prose, and the way the story captures my attention. This book has a slightly sad side, but is about a unique celebration of a unique group of friends.