In their lowest moments, each of the five friends can call on the pact, and trust the other four will drop everything to come to their aid, reminding them of the impact each of them has and “know their lives are making a difference.” One by one, each of the friends begins to trigger the pact, faced with divorce, family loss and legal troubles. Naomi, Marielle, Craig and The Jordans – Jordan and Jordy - gather for their last living funeral, not realizing they’ll soon be attending their first real funeral of the pact.
I’m Molly-Jo Tilton, with KWBU. Welcome to this week’s edition of Likely Stories.
The Celebrants, by Steven Rowley, is a celebration of found family and lifelong friendships – the kind we all hope to have in our life. The story – told in retellings of each living funeral, with slice-of-life interlude chapters from The Jordans – explores how we deal with those friendships as we cross the threshold from adolescence into adulthood. With the exception of the main couple, Jordan and Jordy, the college group loses touch almost immediately after graduation, until the pact is triggered the first time twenty-eight years later. And though the group stays only loosely connected between each funeral, they’re always there when the phone rings.
In each of the four living funerals, the group is forced to grapple with long-kept secrets and hard questions – have you lived up to your parents’ expectations? Your own? What is the meaning of your life when everything changes? When your child leaves? When your spouse dies? The answers aren’t always clear for Naomi, Marielle, Craig and the Jordans – just as they aren’t always clear in life. The Celebrants navigates those questions with compassion and warmth, even though there isn’t necessarily a happy ending.
This is my third Steven Rowley book in as many years, and he is quickly becoming an immediate read for me. I think I’m drawn, not just to his writing style, but the way he writes his characters – in the two other books I’ve read and in The Celebrants. Like life, the characters are flawed, selfish and stubborn at times, endearing them in the story. Emotional, humorous, this book made me laugh out loud one page, cringe the next and cry the next. At its heart, The Celebrants asks whether we are brave enough to show up for the people we love — not just at the end, but while there is still time. It’s a reminder that friendship, like grief, is not a single moment but a lifelong practice. Rowley doesn’t pretend connection is easy or permanent, but insists it is worth choosing again and again. This is a book for anyone who has ever lost touch, grown apart, or wondered who would come if they called.