The Celebrants
“We should have our funerals. You know, now while we’re still alive to appreciate them.”
About This Book:
Published: 2023
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction, LGBTQ+ Fiction
The Celebrants follows five college friends who make an unusual pact after losing their sixth friend, Alec, to a drug overdose just before graduation. Devastated that Alec never got to hear how much he mattered, they promise to hold "living funerals" for each other during life's hardest moments.
Over the next three decades, they reunite in Big Sur whenever someone calls in the pact. Each gathering becomes a chance to say what usually goes unsaid until it's too late.
The novel moves between these reunions and the present day, where the final gathering will force them all to confront the secrets they've kept and what their friendship actually means when tested by mortality.
Steven Rowley is known for novels that balance humor with heartbreak. The Celebrants has been described as a modern Big Chill, exploring how chosen family sustains us through decades of disappointments, losses, and the gradual realization that life doesn't turn out how we imagined.
Perfect for readers who appreciate: Contemporary fiction, friendship stories, LGBTQ+ characters, humor and heart, stories about chosen family, mortality
Why We Recommend This Book:
Most of us have experienced that moment at a funeral when we wish the person could have heard what everyone's saying about them. Rowley takes that feeling and builds an entire novel around it. The living funeral concept sounds gimmicky but becomes surprisingly moving.
The book captures something specific about friendships that span decades. They've drifted, lived separate lives, made different choices. But when someone needs them, they show up. That's the kind of friendship that matters in middle age.
Rowley writes about terminal illness and loss without becoming maudlin. The friend group's humor feels earned rather than forced. The book asks whether it's possible to have both honesty and kindness, whether we can tell people the hard truths and still make them feel loved.
