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The Guncle

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The Guncle

By: Steven Rowley
Narrated by: Steven Rowley
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About this listen

Winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor

National Bestseller • Wall Street Journal Bestseller • USA Today Bestseller

An NPR Book of the Year

Finalist for the 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards

From the bestselling author of Lily and the Octopus and The Editor comes a warm and deeply funny novel about a once-famous gay sitcom star whose unexpected family tragedy leaves him with his niece and nephew for the summer.

Patrick, or Gay Uncle Patrick (GUP, for short), has always loved his niece, Maisie, and nephew, Grant. That is, he loves spending time with them when they come out to Palm Springs for weeklong visits, or when he heads home to Connecticut for the holidays. But in terms of caretaking and relating to two children, no matter how adorable, Patrick is, honestly, overwhelmed.

So when tragedy strikes and Maisie and Grant lose their mother and Patrick's brother has a health crisis of his own, Patrick finds himself suddenly taking on the role of primary guardian. Despite having a set of "Guncle Rules" ready to go, Patrick has no idea what to expect, having spent years barely holding on after the loss of his great love, a somewhat-stalled acting career, and a lifestyle not-so-suited to a six- and a nine-year-old. Quickly realizing that parenting—even if temporary—isn't solved with treats and jokes, Patrick's eyes are opened to a new sense of responsibility, and the realization that, sometimes, even being larger than life means you're unfailingly human.

With the humor and heart we've come to expect from bestselling author Steven Rowley, The Guncle is a moving tribute to the power of love, patience, and family in even the most trying of times.

©2020 Steven Rowley (P)2020 Penguin Audio Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Comedy Feel-Good Heartfelt Tear-jerking Witty Funny

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Critic reviews

One of:

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“Rowley delivers the perfect summer read: The Guncle is relentlessly witty, sweet and heartbreaking.” (Elin Hilderbrand)

“Patrick is a memorable character, and it’s genuinely thrilling to read screenwriter-turned-novelist Rowley’s take on the mechanics of stardom.... There’s true insight here into the psychology of gay men, Hollywood, and parenting. A novel with some real depth beneath all its witty froth.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“In his heartwarming, humorous new novel, Steven Rowley shows readers the true meaning of family, reminding us that everyone—even parents—is only human.” (Travel & Leisure)
All stars
Most relevant  
Gay Uncle Patrick takes in his young neice and nephew for the summer after their mum dies and their father admits himself to rehab.

Although Patrick and Grant are brothers, Greg met his wife Sarah through Patrick as they were college buddies.

The loss of his boyfriend Joe, a few years before the book opens forces actor Patrick into early retirement to Palm Springs. So after the funeral in Coneticuit, Patrick,and the kids Masie and Grant head back there.

What follows is a very sweet life affirming and queer possive tale about learning to live alongside grief and what it takes to be a good parent. Oh, and did I mention it is also very funny and perfect for when you are feeling under the weather.

My only slight criticism is I would have liked to hear more from Jed, and if you want to know who Jed is well, then you'll just have to read the book.

This is the sweetest book I have read in a while.

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I particularly liked the contemporary references. On a more personal level, as an uncle of one whom I see only once every few years, there were things in this book for me to learn or pay more attention to.

Modern and relatable

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I really liked it. Sweet story, fun characters and I really want to read the next one

A great story

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First - having the author narrate is always great and Steven Rowley was engaging to listen to.
Second - this story broke my heart and blew it up at the same time. It’s not dramatic, and loud, but it IS very real and wonderfully heartwarming.

Heartbreakingly beautiful

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Hands down the best book I've read this year - it made me laugh out loud in many places, and cry too. At first glance I thought the main character was going to be vapid, unlikeable and annoying but the author has written him to be quite aware of his flaws, or certainly ooen to exploring them, and the result is a hilarious dramedy (more comedy though, than drama in my opinion). I'll probably ready it again.

Absolutely brilliant

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a very easy listen to and my heart broke for Maisie and Grant. I think it would have been cool to get some chapters from M & G’s point of view about their life being different whilst living with their guncle, but I enjoyed listening to it :)

cute

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I found the book a bit annoying at times, especially when the author talked about women. The worst moment was clothes shaming the assistant.

I was close to dnf

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I wanted to love this book. I like the idea. To begin with the narrator sounded wooden. I am not sure the author should have read his book.

There was also a lot of swearing. I was surprised at this as many people said they listened with their children on a road trip.

I did not think that many of the things said by the Guncle to the children would be things that small children would understand in my opinion.

I was disappointed as I was led to believe the book was laugh out loud funny. There were some witty one liners, but on the whole this was not a book I found funny. Amusing at times, but not funny.

I got through it, but couldn’t say I loved it.

Okish….

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This is a good premise and I'm sure many will enjoy its simple writing style. However I wanted more. The characters are all too much of a characture with too many failed swings at being poignant. For gay literature, I wanted better representation and felt it wasn't very well written. The role gay men play against their straight families is important story telling but felt this fell extremely flat.

not for me

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The author is also the narrator.

This book failed on several counts. There was not much of a plot to speak of and that's fine if there's some character development, but there wasn't.

Patrick was pretty loathesome from the start with the worst gay stereotypes all bundled into one person. It's difficult to listen to him as he gets angry with his wards for not getting various gay/Hollywood jokes. He remains annoying to the end as exampled by his conversation with his agent who misunderstands his in joke and despairs and Patrick makes no effort to disabuse her, choosing instead to smile, wryly on the phone.

The narratation may have added to the general poor impression. The different voices weren't sufficiently distinguished with all of them speaking in a slightly camp way. Grant, who was supposed to have a pronounced lisp managed to clearly speak most of his sibilants in a given sentence except the obvious ones.

Overall, I think the author wanted us to get all the feels as the book reached its climax but since all the characters were pretty one dimensional I just didn't care when Patrick poured his heart out.

Wooden characters. Bad gay stereotypes

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