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The Guncle
- Narrated by: Steven Rowley
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
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The Guncle
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Summary
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.
Critic reviews
One of:
Oprah Daily's Best Beach Reads to Help You Escape
Washington Post’s Feel-Good Books to Brighten Your Summer
CBS' 12 Perfect Summer Beach Reads for 2021
Vogue's 12 Beach Reads to Get Lost in This Summer
Real Simple’s Blockbuster Beach Reads
Country Living’s 32 Can’t-Miss Beach Reads for This Summer
Southern Living’s Beach Reads Perfect for Summer 2021
Bustle's 40 Best New Books to Read This May
E! News' 18 Best Books to Check Out in May
PopSugar’s 45 Best Summer Reads of 2021
USA Today’s 5 Books Not to Miss
CNN’s 20 Books That Are Essential Reading This Pride Month
Reader's Digest's 75 Best Summer Reads of All Time
Parade’s 15 New LGBTQ+ Books to Pick Up This Summer
New York Post’s 30 Best Books on Our Summer Reading List
iHeart Radio’s 15 Best Beach Reads for Summer 2021
Christian Science Monitor's Best Books of May
PureWow’s 10 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in May
Travel & Leisure's Most Anticipated Books of Summer
Women.com's Most Anticipated Summer Beach Reads
SheKnows’ 20 New Books You Need to Add to Your Summer Reading List
Scary Mommy’s Most Anticipated Books of Summer
Frolic's 25 Best Books of Spring 2021
Brit + Co’s 17 Beach Reads That Make the Perfect Summer Escape
NewNowNext's 17 Exciting Queer Books to Savor This Summer
Bibliolifestyle's Quintessential Summer 2021 Beach Reads
LAMBDA Literary's Most Anticipated LGBTQ Literature of May
Washington Post’s 12 Titles to Get You to the End of Summer
CNN.com’s Essential Reading for Pride Month
“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)
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What listeners say about The Guncle
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Emma Williams
- 18-02-24
Heartbreakingly beautiful
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.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Grace Hallesy
- 09-07-23
cute
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 :)
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- K. M.
- 22-07-23
I was close to dnf
I found the book a bit annoying at times, especially when the author talked about women. The worst moment was clothes shaming the assistant.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Jahangir
- 28-05-23
Wooden characters. Bad gay stereotypes
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.
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