Point of View

The point of view of The Celebrants is entirely third-person. The main character and character whose perspective the novel tends to center is Jordan, but the narrator is omniscient and occupies the psychology of each of the five major characters at different points. This is helpful in that it fleshes out how each of the characters feel as they grow through the decades and undergo personal and professional setbacks while trying to find happiness for themselves. As a result of its being in the third person, the narration is very reliable. It jumps around from person to person even within the same paragraph, providing insights into what each character thinks without seeming too jumbled. The third-person narration allows substantial freedom in fleshing out the psychologies of each of the characters in that regard.

Jordan is in a way the most high-strung of the group, but...