Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Title: The Celebrants
Author: Steven Rowley
Genre: Fiction
Month Read: April 2023
Book Type: E-Arc
Publication: May 2023
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Pages: 320
Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam/G. P. Putnam’s Sons for providing me this E-Arc. It in no way influences my review on this work in any way, shape, or form.
TRIGGER WARNING-
Death / Suicide / Cancer / HIV
"To live in the present, to live for yourself, and that we were never as alone as we thought.”
No Spoiler Summary (Goodreads):
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.
Review:
I am obsessed with The Guncle- truly, it is one of my all time favorite books. I haven't read anything else Steven Rowley has written (which will be changing June of 2023!) and I was looking forward to The Celebrants and SO stoked when I got a copy of it on Netgalley, as it was one of my most anticipated reads of 2023.
Welp. I am sad to say that this book fell really flat for me. I was expecting the wit, the humor, and also the devastation that The Guncle gave me, and sadly this book didn't have much of it. In the past few weeks when people have asked me how I liked The Celebrants my answer could be summed up with, I'm glad I read it but ultimately I won't remember much about it 6 months from now, and it won't stick with me. I didn't hate the book, I didn't love the book, it's the most solid of 3 stars for me. It was a book, I read it, time to move on.
Jess, why didn't you like it? I never connected to a single character, I felt like (for once) this book could have been longer) because a lot of it just never felt fully fleshed out to me. I never felt anything, and I feel like you need to for a book that's mourning every character in real time. I didn't dislike the book, but for me I wanted the connection I've had to Steven's other characters. I really wish I had more to say about it, but overall I just felt really underwhelmed. It happens! If you have a copy, I recommend giving it a go, but I wouldn't rush out to read it if you have other things you've been waiting for on your shelves.
Recommendation:
The Guncle - Steven Rowley
The Heart's Invisible Furies - John Boyne
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