Reviews

The Guncle by Steven Rowley

jmuck's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Cute, heartfelt, and quick read. I wasn’t sure going into this if I was really going to like it but by the end I was smiling and enjoying all the characters. 

bryant_encarnado's review against another edition

5.0

4.5⭐️ but rounded up to 5.

So incredibly cute. Love the themes of the grief, the importance of family, and breaking down social-gender constructs.

I cried multiple times.

Plot flatlined a little, and I was hoping for a LITTLE drama halfway through. I thought we were going to get it when Clara came into the picture… but that lasted like, 3 pages.

Anyway, the part the resonated with me the most was the void that the central protagonist felt that could only be filled by family.

Definitely recommend reading.

bookobsessed_kb's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

hinkleh2021's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

jasmineehare's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

I liked this a lot more than I thought I would! It had more emotional depth than I expected. The characters really grew on me and their grief was very real and powerful.

maggiestraveledbookshelf's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

📖 The Guncle

✍🏼 Steven Rowley

☑️ Contemporary Fiction

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“𝙂𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙛 𝙤𝙧𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩. 𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙞𝙧𝙘𝙡𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧. 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚. 𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙞𝙧𝙘𝙡𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙧. 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨.”

Oh, this was the perfectly charming read for summertime!! 

Overview:

•Feel Good Story

•Life After Tragedy

•Grief Journey

•Comedic Feast

•Lovable Characters 

𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗮 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻 𝘂𝗻𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗸 (𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗮𝘀 𝗚𝗮𝘆 𝗨𝗻𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗸, “𝗚𝗨𝗣”) 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗶𝗲𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗲𝘄 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿.

Grief is the prevailing element here, so you would assume this would be a somewhat somber read. However, the author has intermixed threads of tumultuous feelings with warm interactions, which created such a delightful book. 

“𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙤𝙢 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣. 𝙁𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙤𝙢 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝙄 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩, 𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚. 𝘽𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚.”

I adored Patrick and his journey through his own experiences and the potential to begin his second act. And the two children were realistic and just so incredibly lovable! 

“𝙄𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙤? 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙪𝙮𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙛𝙛?” 𝙋𝙖𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙞𝙣. “𝘽𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚, 𝙄’𝙫𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝘼𝙨 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙜𝙤, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄’𝙢 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙮 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠.”

There is so much heart and humor in this story, and I appreciated all the little moments between GUP and the kiddos. 

“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 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨. 𝙈𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙨𝙩.”

Overall, I definitely recommend this book to everyone who wants a delightful story told with reverence and laughter!

✨ read via Libby ✨ 

staylorbaptiste's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

lizmir's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

aem5627's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

yorozuya's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

Expected to love this book but unfortunately it fell rather flat for me.

The concept sounded very convincing to me: After the passing of his brother's wife (who was also his best friend), gay uncle Patrick takes her two young kids in for a few weeks, to look after them and help them work through their grief.

Certainly, the characters were given moments of depth but those were never developed fully as they deserved. The dialogue also felt very constructed compared to how people actually speak and the humour was quite hit or miss for me.

In conclusion: Interesting concept with its heart in the right place but could have been more developed.