This is the story of 6 people who transferred to Berkeley their sophomore year and became friends due to their dorm placement. Marielle, Naomi, Craig, Alec, the Jordans—Jordan and Jordy become family to each other. When Alec dies 2 weeks before graduation, Marielle suggests a pact--they will have a funeral for anyone one of them when they are alive, so nothing is left unsaid. All that person has to do is ask, and they will all come together to celebrate that person's life. They usually meet at Naomi's family home at Big Sur, California. Each chapter in this book describes the circumstances of each person requesting the funeral and the funeral. Marielle's marriage has fallen apart, and her daughter is leaving for college; Naomi's parents are killed in a plane crash, Craig is charged with art fraud, tried, and sent to prison; and Jordy's husband Jordan is dying of cancer. At this point, they are all around 50 years old, so they have been friends for about 30 years. I did not particularly like this book. These folks, although all successful in their own way, seemed very narcissistic. ( )

this book was one big hug. i loved laughing out loud to this book. this is a touching story with a group of enjoyable, flawed characters and great friendships. the idea was to leave nothing unsaid before death. the compassion and sensitivity is there! Rowley’s books are written so beautiful and you just immediately fall into the story with his characters so quickly and it’s really truly the best. i never wanted to put it down. kudos to Steve Rowley for writing this book. this is was so special. it's a reminder to celebrate the happy times, life, say final goodbyes and forgive the body for failing ( )

The celebrants: five college friends from Berkeley who used to be six until one unexpectedly dies.

“They went to bed exactly two weeks before graduation thinking they would live forever and woke up to the last real lesson that college would teach them: all that begins, ends” (23).

Taking that lesson to heart, the five remaining friends enter a pact where each can invoke their own funeral at any point in life—a low-point, a traumatic tipping point, a rebirth point. This one-time funeral will serve to function as a reserve parachute when the main parachute of life doesn’t deploy. When you’re plummeting to the hard earth, pull the reserve, call in the funeral, and your closest college friends will be there to remind you: “to live in the present, to live for yourself, … that [you] were never as alone as [you] thought” and to “leave nothing left unsaid” (288, 214).

The book unfolds in the sequential order that each person calls for their own funeral, and while the events that precipitate each funeral are melancholic moments, the funerals themselves are full of humor and tenderness. They’re really made up of all the ingredients of a good reunion with old friends: emotional purging and laugh-out-loud scenarios and enlightening therapy. In the same way, this read is like a reunion with an old friend and one I’d highly recommend reuniting with—you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll feel hopeful, even knowing that “all that begins, ends.” ( )

This was not great. The story was a downer, but the unlikeable characters really killed it. Maybe 1/5 was likeable. I didn't get their friendship, it felt forced for the most part. The "celebrations" were slapstick and unbelievable. It also felt like the author was trying to tick off the boxes too hard and I didn't care for the writing. ( )

Great Quote: " We've reached a tipping point. At a certain time, life takes more from you than it gives."
This was actually a modern day Big Chill, great movie in its time, and gave the same air to it. I enjoyed the banter of the group. I've read other books by this author and he hits different subjects in them and makes them great reads. ( )