The Guncle: The Review

The Guncle by Steven Rowley

#Humor #Gay #Contemporary

CW: Alcohol, Swearing, Mild Sexual Content, Death, Grief, Loss of a Parent, Terminal Illness, Rehab, Drug Addiction, Republican Grandparents, Homophobia, Mention of Homophobic Abandonment, Earthquake, Injury, Blood, Toxic Sibling Behavior, Car Crash, Fatal Injury, Survivor's Guilt, Mentioned Sexual Assault, Misandry, Medical Content/Trauma, Infidelity, Ableism, Suicidal Thoughts, Attempted Kidnapping

5/5

If you follow my blog, you may have been wondering how the two-person book club with my mom is going. Well, I'm here to talk about our second book! The Guncle by Steven Rowley was my mother's pick. We're intentionally slow going to give ourselves time for the other books we wish to read. It also took her a while to decide what book she wanted for us. I know she kept being drawn back to The Guncle and I'm glad she finally went with it! It was emotional, hopeful, sweet, and a dash of silly!

The Guncle takes place in the summer following Sara's death. It focuses on the grief of Patrick (her best friend and brother-in-law), Maisie (her daughter and older child), and Grant (her son and younger child). Their father has been struggling with addiction and checks himself into rehab, leaving the children in Patrick's reluctant care for the summer. Patrick was a popular actor, but has been hiding in Palm Springs for many years now. Stubborn Maisie and questioning Grant aren't exactly excited about it either, but they'll need each other to get through the summer and mourning period. The experience might just change them in the best of ways.

I was questioning what the genre of Rowley's The Guncle would be, given I have only read one other book that felt like this. That one was The Floating Feldmans by Elyssa Friedland. My thought was vacation fiction because that's what the setting was for both. However, I've read vacation/summer books that felt completely different. These both start with a scene that comes well into the story, even if The Guncle never revisits the specific scene. They both focus on dysfunctional families being brought together, told from 3rd person omniscient. They're both emotional, but funny, tying up happily in the end. They also both focus more on character exploration than plot arcs. These books do still have an overarching plot, though. I had to look up the genre and agree that it's humor and domestic fiction. The humor caught me off-guard with how much I made a sad/pitying face for the characters, but I was also laughing plenty. Domestic fiction is different now than when it started, but this definitely fits the modern description. I wouldn't say that this is my normal genre, but the book was so good that it hardly mattered to me.

"Guncle" means gay uncle, a title Patrick is happy to have. While the novel does acknowledge some of the hardships queer people have/do face, it doesn't focus on them. The community of characters in The Guncle allows everyone to be themselves. It's a supportive environment for feelings, identity, and all things human (or dog). Patrick's neighbors are a gay throuple. They're eccentric and sweet, but a little bit foreign to Patrick. He does seem to get closer to them as the book goes on. There's also a younger gay actor who clearly has a crush on Patrick, 10-15 years the junior of Patrick's 43 years of age. Maisie likes to reject traditional gender roles and Patrick is absolutely there to support her. It's overall, a very progressive book!

The overarching theme in The Guncle is grief. A family has lost someone important to them, taken by disease, much too young. Patrick is also still recovering from having lost the love of his life many years ago. He's been hesitant to get attached to anyone since. Yet, how could he not fall familially in love with Maisie and Grant, the kids of his beloved brother and his best friend? They inadvertently show him that attachment is worth the risk. All the while, Patrick intentionally learns how to teach about grief for both the kids' sake and his own. He encourages the children to feel all of their feelings, both the happy and the messy ones. Patrick gains friends over the summer that encourage him to open up as well. To be a part of life again, no matter how scary that is. Despite Rowley writing in 3rd person, I could feel the characters going through it. The topic of grief was exceptionally well explored here.

When you're looking for your next summer read or you're looking for a book that'll help you process grief, The Guncle is what I recommend that you read. It has great characters, vibrant scenes, delightful running gags, Oscar Wilde quotes, information on Hollywood, a little romance, and flashbacks to Sara. I specifically recommend listening to the audiobook, as Steven Rowley reads it himself! Patrick, Maisie, and Grant are waiting for you in Palm Springs!