This is a toughie…
Summary - A deeply honest tribute to the growing pains of selfhood and the people who keep us going, coupled with Steven Rowleys 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.
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.
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.
Thank you @net for this free review copy!
Find The Celebrants at the publisher →
Toni Rocchetti is a copy editor helping authors strengthen their narratives, deepen character arcs, and find the story that is already in the draft. She reads 80+ books a year across literary fiction, memoir, and nonfiction — and writes about what she is learning along the way. Work with Toni →
