#119 Spending the Summer with The Guncle
A review of Steven Rowley’s delightful novel
Cover photo by Joan Naidorf
Every summer I feel compelled to pick up a few of the popular summer reads because I just don’t want to feel left out. When Threads announced its first book club selection as The Guncle by Steven Rowley, I ordered a copy. It fit quite nicely into my beach bag and did not dampen the mood of half-priced frosé by the pool on Sunday afternoon.
I do not like spoiling plots but somehow grieving children, Maisie and Grant, get thrown together with their grieving gay uncle Patrick, a retired sit-com actor, for a summer of treats, excursions, campy parties, and self-discovery in Palm Springs. California.
Patrick O’Hara loves to speak in portmanteaus, words blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two other words. Breakfast plus lunch equals brunch. Gay plus uncle equals guncle. Lunch plus supper equals lupper. He also finds the children sorely lacking in their knowledge of classic Hollywood movie trivia. He aggressively takes on the challenge of educating Maisie and Grant.
The life schooling of his niece and nephews starts with the explanation of Patrick’s wide-ranging and useful “Guncle’s Rules.” The witty banter of the cynical uncle with the innocent but sassy Connecticut kids feels like a TV sit-com ready to be adapted. Patrick’s love for quoting Oscar Wilde might be the one lone exception.
Even with the telegraphing of a well-worn plot trope, quirky gay bachelor fosters needy and adorable kids, Steven Rowley manages to surprise and delight his readers. It is not all fluff, either. When speaking to his sister of playing roles, the Patrick reflects on his experience as an actor and a gay man.
“What do you think gay people do? Have done for generations? We adopt a safe version of ourselves for the public, for protection, and then as adults we excavate our true selves from the parts we’ve invented to protect us. It’s the most important work of queer lives…
He would never make her understand the bravery of the arts. The importance of exploring the human condition, particularly for gay people, who did so with gusto, and with the very tool that they were first rejected for: their large beautiful hearts. “(The Guncle page 201)
Somehow, with the sum of the anguish and will of all the cohabitating survivors, they learn how to thrive, not just survive. As Patrick spouts a litany of useful and pithy “Guncle Rules,” he reminds the kids,
“I need you to remember something. We’ll call it Guncle Rule sweet sixteen: I want you to really live. To live is the rarest thing. Most people merely exist.” (The Guncle page 301)
Reading The Guncle is a lovely way to spend a few hours this summer by the beach or on the sofa in your highly air-conditioned home. You will laugh out loud and shed a reluctant tear or two. Even a homeless and devoted dog named Marlene enters the fray. This traumatized fictional family will warm the heart and teach quite a few bittersweet lessons.
