#7 The Guncle by Steven Rowley (2021) – 76ers I find grief to be one of the richest subjects for storytelling, whether that be books, movies, TV, music, etc. Everyone reacts to grief in different, sometimes unexpected ways, and it’s usually a lengthy process to deal with. Steven Rowley knows grief, and handles it well creatively. His first novel, Lily and the Octopus was all about grief… the grief of losing a friend, a beloved pet dog, and how her owner dealt with an impending terminal illness. It was beautiful and fantastic and kicked off his career strongly.
Now, with his third book, The Guncle Rowley has written a fun and funny novel about a gay, former TV star living a slightly solitary life in Palm Springs, who is called upon to take his young nephew and niece for the summer. But what it’s really all about is grief and coping with loss. ]Patrick, has lost his dearest friend Sara to cancer. Sara also happened to be married to Patrick’s brother, Greg, and mother to Maisie and Grant. When Greg checks himself into rehab after his wife dies, he entrusts Patrick with his children’s care, much to Patrick’s consternation. Reeling with his own grief about the loss of Sara, now he was expected to cope with her children’s grief as well? And as a single gay male, Patrick is unsure of his qualifications to do so. Then there’s another wrinkle… Patrick is still struggling with the grief he never properly dealt with after the death of his boyfriend in a car accident several years prior. Instead, he covers it up with snappy comebacks, fashionable caftans, and that solitary life. Until the summer he became “GUP” — gay Uncle Patrick.
Like I said, Rowley knows how to handle grief: with humor, with grace, and with sympathy. Patrick’s relationship with his niece and nephew unspools naturally and gracefully. The humor is fresh and not overdone, and the life Rowley paints of Patrick’s life in Palm Springs is recognizable but not cliche. If there’s one misstep at all, it was with the young, potential romantic interest, Emory, that pops up occasionally throughout the book that seemed more of a plot checkbox than a character that we needed. But it’s a minor quibble, and as a Guncle myself, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.
#6 – Honor by Thrity Umrigar (2002) – Accomplished writer, Thrity Umrigar returns with a heart-wrenching, dramatic novel, Honor. Smita, A journalist covering hard-hitting, international, humanitarian stories returns to her home city of Mumbai after years of avoidance, when she she receives a call from a close colleague who needs her. To her surprise, her colleague doesn’t need her for emotional support or assistance after a difficult surgery, but summoned her to finish a story she was covering about Meena, a Hindu village woman, who married a Muslim man to tragic consequences. Meena’s brothers, old-fashioned and conservative are outraged that their sister has married a Muslim, and burn their home down with the two of them inside. Meena is horribly disfigured, nearly dying, and her husband is killed.
From the start, we sense that Smita is very reluctant to be home, and it soon becomes clear that something in her past, some traumatic event, sent her and her family to America, never expecting to return. This event links Smita and Meena in ways that the journalist never expected, and powers the momentum of this finely written, hard-hitting novel. The one stumble comes nearly at the end, when the introduction of an unnecessary, and poorly executed romance weakens the impact of the story. There was a much better path to Smita’s story resolution built into this powerful story that would have had a far great impact and resonated more strongly with the overall story, but it’s it’s a small complaint in the larger context of this powerful novel.