The Celebrants: A Read with Jenna Pick

By Steven Rowley

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0593540425
• ISBN13: 9780593540428
• Release Date: May 2023
• Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Not great.

I loved the concept and the main message behind the book, truly we do only live once and it's important to make an impact while we're here for our only time around. However, I just found the characters so insufferable. T the point where I at times really questioned why any of these people are friends with one another. Plus, to me, it felt like subtle, yet passive-aggressive attacks on cis-gender, hetero men through a very banshee-esqe lens of what the author seems to be trying to convey as feminism. I considered not finishing this book but wanted to see it through - not a fan.

A fine novel

I loved the summary, but only liked the book. The ending was touching, and done well. But I found myself throughout the book waiting for it to get somewhere.