Book Review: The Guncle

The Guncle by Steven Rowley has been on my tbr for a while and I finally read it this past week. It was more emotional than I was anticipating and I loved it.

The Guncle follows Patrick O’Hara, an actor in his 40s living in Palm Springs. He was the star of a hit sitcom show, but after the show ended a few years ago and going through heartbreak after losing his love, Joe, in an accident he has been living a quiet life in Palm Springs. That is until his best friend and sister-in-law, Sarah, dies after her battle with cancer, his brother reveals that he has been struggling with addiction since his wife’s illness got worse and he needs Patrick to take his two young kids for the summer while he goes to rehab. Maisie and Grant, his 9-year old and 6-year old niece and nephew call him Gunc for “gay Uncle Patrick”.

Patrick has never taken care of kids before let alone have them stay with him for months at a time. What follows during this summer in Palm Springs is Patrick and the kids learning from each other. Patrick educates the kids in film and cultural things he thinks the kids should know. And while he tries to help the kids grieve their mother he also works through his grief of losing Sarah. Additionally, helping them work through their grief and missing their dad he comes to terms with his grief for losing Joe and how he’s been sort of frozen in life for too long.

I loved this book. Patrick had such a fun personality and I loved his humor. The kids were such amazing characters as well. I knew the premise of the book, but it was still more emotional than I was expecting and it had me on the verge of tears for a large part of the book. I just wanted to wrap Maisie and Grant up in a big hug most of the time.

I gave the book a 4.5 star rating only because sometimes the book felt a bit long. I did love everything about the storyline, but sometimes it felt like a few chapters were dragging. Other than that, I loved it. I’m planning to read the sequel this summer when I’m on vacation!

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