The Celebrants – Steven Rowley
Expectation: A novel that will keep you laughing through tears as you experience the “living funerals” of our five lifelong friends.
Reality: Some paper-thin characters and melodrama masquerading as legitimate emotion overshadow the few bright spots in the story.
My Take:
Steven Rowley has an interesting polarity. His ideas for novels are absolutely fantastic, but his execution lacks the emotional and cohesive punch those premises promise the reader.
In this case it is five friends from college who meet periodically for a “living funeral” to help a wayward member of the group overcome a pressing challenge. At the core, it’s about the joy in having a group of people who “knew you when” still in your corner and a celebration of chosen family.
But, as with “The Guncle,” by the time I reached the end, the few legitimate laughs and sentimental moments were largely overshadowed by slapstick plot devices, stereotypical characterizations and forced melodrama. I was invested enough in the story, but I also couldn’t wait for it to end.
This could also be in part because the author provided the narration and to say it was dull would be a compliment. Whereas he did a decent job narrating “The Guncle,” he is not skilled enough as a performer to voice multiple characters of various genders as they interact with one another.
He was frequently tripping over words during dialogue and trying way too hard to deliver punch lines. It got to the point I was waiting for a 90s sitcom laugh track to cut-in to remind me it was supposed to be funny. A professional narrator (or actor) could’ve done wonders here and provided gloss to the text's shortcomings.
Still, the narration is only part of the reason “The Celebrants” fell short:
For following a group of friends for decades — as they navigate divorce, death, detainment and disease — he barely scraped the bottom of the emotional well of our characters’ lives (The Jordans, aside).
While Rowley is great at pop culture references (“The Courtney Scale” was a bright spot), whirlwind dialogue (writing it, not delivering it) and ruminations on relationships and aging, most living funerals were more madcap versus genuine.
Unlike, say, J. Ryan Stradal, Rowley is not a man who can write women well. The chapters focused on Marielle and Naomi were the weakest largely because they were given the least interesting — and most obvious — plots (i.e. mysterious parentage, spousal abandonment and career climbing leading to loneliness).
He writes in a way that no one actually speaks. Every character appears to be constantly performing for attention and trying desperately to one-up one another. Exhausting.
The story remained interesting, because of our three male leads: The Jordans (Jordy and Jordan), a long-term gay couple, and Craig, the “token” straight man of the group. The Jordans represented the emotional core of the story, and when the focus wasn’t on them every other situation rang hollow. Craig was given an interesting backstory, and a few plot twists that brought his character into three dimensions.
Rowley stacked the back of “The Celebrants” with these perspectives, and it made the last third of the novel far more enjoyable than the what preceded it. This was my second Rowley read and now that I see his formula, I can say with confidence that I don’t need to try another one.
Rating (story): 3/5 stars
Rating (narration): 2/5 stars
Format: Audiobook (library loan)
Dates read: June 5 – June 9, 2023
Multi-tasking: Good to go. Rowley’s narration isn’t great, but his story is relatively easy to follow regardless of task.
