Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Guncle by Steven Rowley

75 reviews

freddybingsu'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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Drug abuse, Car accident, and Addiction

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

emotional funny sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This book finds a good balance between over the top humor, parenthood, and grief. It was fun reading all the ways Pat tries to connect with the kids and fails, and watching him work through his grief. He does read like a gay type-character from a comedy movie, though, and I wish the kids got a little more characterization. We don't really see them deal with their grief and they feel like they stop being people when not on screen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Alcohol, Homophobia, Medical content, and Car accident

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexual content, Racism, and Alcoholism

Death of partner, gay couple not able to be together in hospital, earthquake, toxic family relationship

cozylifewithabby's review

emotional funny hopeful reflective 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? No

3.5

This book was not what I expected. Definitely not hilarious. It is a heartfelt and sometimes chuckle worthy exploration of different types of grief.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Car accident, and Drug abuse

youngblackademic98's review

hopeful medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent and Drug abuse

sarnacle's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

This book. I did not realize what this book would do to me. It was not at all what I expected. I didn’t know what to expect, but this book, so full of humor and tenderness, hard truths and caring; it just filled my heart to the brim until it was almost ready to burst. It was a lesson in second chances and being yourself, of family, loss, and grief. Don’t let the adorable cover fool you. This book, though highly entertaining, is very profound on a lot of levels. 

I must also comment on the extraordinary narration work by the author himself. Some authors read their own work and they really shouldn’t. But you can tell that the way Steven Rowley writes is the way he speaks and his performance is absolutely phenomenal. I 100% recommend listening to this book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Car accident, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Grief, and Addiction

imrereads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

I can see why people love this book, but it didn't quite connect with me as much as I would have thought, for reasons unknown to me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, and Drug abuse

lastsilversunset's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Minor: Sexual content

bookishaddictions's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I was really excited for this one, but I felt like it didn’t really sit right with me. I loved the idea of The Guncle, but I was underwhelmed in a few regards. I know, I’m in the minority here according to the Goodsread rating. While I loved Patrick’s relationship with the kids, I felt like we mainly got to know the Patrick he thought he should be rather than who he was hinted at really being. I also found the story to really emphasize stereotypes (of gay men, of poly relationships, and more). While there is nothing wrong with gay men that are stereotypically flamboyant, I didn’t care for the emphasis being placed on the more negatively viewed traits (selfishness, vanity, body image issues, etc.). At least half of the men I know consider themselves queer, and less than 10% of those men would be considered “flamboyant”. I could have got past this if we could see some of the deeper parts of Patrick or JED, but we only basically get to have those depths touched on as minimally as possible. Grant and Maisie’s characters are funny, and were quite reflective of many kids grieving experience; I just wish the whole story had the same authenticity 🤷🏼‍♀️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death

Minor: Sexual content, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Alcohol

mlindsay27's review

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Car accident and Body shaming

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

I felt like this book was a little overhyped. I thought it was cute and had some poignant moments which were very sweet. I found the main character to be a bit pretentious and his gayness was over-exaggerated to make the story more flamboyant and colorful. The character seemed more a caricature of what it means to be a gay, white man in Hollywood/Palm Springs and that felt like an uncomfortable juxtaposition against the visceral way grief and loss was described in this novel. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Cancer, Drug use, Grief, Car accident, Infidelity, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Addiction, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content