The Guncle & How Lucky

Reprinted from the Citizen:

February is the month we celebrate Valentine’s Day and love. This month’s Book Report features a few books I loved, but not necessarily books about romantic love.

Steven Rowley’s fantastic novel The Guncle is about Patrick, an actor who made his fame and fortune on a television sitcom a few years back. When the sitcom ended, Patrick left Los Angeles behind and moved to the solitude of Palm Springs away from everyone. 

Patrick’s best friend Sara married his brother Greg, and they had two children, Maisie and Grant. When Sara dies, and Greg has to deal with some troubling issues of his own, Greg asks Patrick to take in Maisie, age 9, and Grant, age 6, for the summer. 

Patrick agrees, and the children go to live with the man they call GUP (Gay Uncle Patrick). He doesn’t know much about caring for children, but he does know about dealing with grief after losing his boyfriend in a car accident a few years ago.

They fall into a routine, riding bikes in the morning, swimming in the pool, having dance parties, going out to eat. Things seem to be going as well as they can until Patrick’s sister Clara comes to town and wants to take the children back to their home in Connecticut. She believes she is better suited to care for the children until their father can come home.

The Guncle is a lovely, heartfelt story with characters you’ll fall in love with. Patrick grows to deeply love the children, and he gives them the sense of security and understanding they need. They in turn open Patrick’s heart up after it was broken in grief. 

Although the story is tinged with sadness, there is humor in it as well. Patrick sprinkles in his ‘Guncle Rules’, like this one: “Guncle Rule number eight: Make the Yuletide gay”, something they did when they put up their Christmas tree in the summer to celebrate the holiday early and left it up all summer.

Patrick also has wise words born of experience. “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.”

The Guncle is a story about a family lifting each other up and loving each other. You will smile throughout, and tear up at times. The dialogue is wonderful, and I think it would make a terrific movie. 

Will Leitch’s terrific novel How Lucky has a unique protagonist.  Daniel is a 26 year-old man who has SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy), a debilitating disease that leaves him unable to speak or move (other than his left hand) and using a wheelchair. He works monitoring a customer service Twitter account for a small regional airline, and lives on his own in the college town of Athens, Georgia. 

His childhood best friend Travis and an immigrant home health aide Marjani help care for him. Everyday Daniel sees a young woman walking down his street on her way to class. One day he sees a car stop and she gets in.

The young woman ends up missing. She is a Chinese student who, like Daniel, has trouble communicating as she doesn’t speak much English. Daniel and Travis contact the police about what Daniel saw, but when a young policeman stops by Daniel’s house, the communication problems cause the policeman not to take Daniel seriously.

Daniel turns to the internet site Reddit to alert a group of students searching for the missing woman. The man in the car sees the Reddit post and responds to Daniel. Daniel keeps in contact with the man, hoping to find out what happened to the missing woman, but it also may be placing himself in danger.

How Lucky is a real page-turner, and some people have compared the premise to the famous  Jimmy Stewart movie Rear Window, which is an apt comparison. The reader also learns what it’s like to live completely dependent on others for day-to-day living.

This book has it all- great characters, a fast-paced story, an interesting setting, a mystery to be solved, and How Lucky is nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Novel. Like The Guncle, Travis, Daniel and Marjani become a family who care for each other.

The Guncle by Steven Rowley- A+

Published by G.P. Putnam & Sons

Hardcover, $27, 336 pages

How Lucky by Will Leitch- A+

Published by Harper

Hardcover, $25.99, 304 pages

Friday 5ive- February 4, 2022

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post featuring five things that caught my attention this week.

1)  I finally had an opportunity to visit the new Trader Joe's in my neighborhood. I read that the best time to go there was Wednesday morning, so off I went. It is a beautiful store, and so spacious. The other Trader's Joes in NYC have very crowded aisles, it's hard to shop. It was easy to move around and shop, and there was literally no line at the cash registers. Luke, the cashier, praised my choice of Sour Cream Donuts and after tasting one, I have to agree with him. I also enjoy their greeting card section- only 99 cents each and the cards are so pretty.

Photo from patch.com

2)  I walked by this window on my way home from running errands, and I was happy to see that the Book of the Month person was back. I haven't seen the display in the apartment window in awhile, so I am glad that the fellow reader is back. You are not alone my friend.

3) The snowstorm that hit NYC last Saturday meant that the public library was closed, and so was the Book Cellar where I volunteer. I was able to hop on a Virtual Book Club for Reese's Book Club with Alka Joshi (The Henna Artist, The Secret Keeper of Jaipur) in discussion with Thrity Umrigar about her novel Honor. I read Honor recently and it is such a stunning, moving book about Smita, an Indian journalist who leaves her home in the US to return to India and cover the story of Meena, a young Hindu woman who married a Muslim man. Meena's brothers murdered her husband and severely burned and disfugured Meena in what they called an "honor killing". The discussion was one of the most fascinating ones I have listened to, I learned so much about life in India from these two brilliant writers. I highly recommend reading Honor, it is a difficult subject but a very important one. 

4) We watched the movie House of Gucci this week. Lady Gaga does an amazing job portraying Patrizia, an Italian working class woman who falls in love with wealthy Maurizio Gucci, played by Adam Driver. Patrizia pushes Maurizio to become more involved in his family business, and she shows a real aptitude for the fashion industry. She loves the good life, and her husband, but when he wants a divorce, Patrizia spirals downward and hires hit men to kill him. The movie is a bit of a slow start, but once it picked up the pace and they became involved in the family business it gets more interesting. Word is that Lady Gaga and an unrecognizable Jared Leto may be up for Oscars for their performance. The movie is available for purchase On Demand through your cable system or Apple TV, Google Play, or Amazon Prime Video. 

5) I read two terrific books this week. The first is Will Leitch's mystery How Lucky. Daniel is a 26 year-old man who has SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy), a debilitating disease that leaves him unable to speak or move (other than his left hand) and using a wheelchair. He works monitoring a Twitter account for customer service for a small regional airline, and lives on his own in the college town of Athens, Georgia. His childhood best friend Travis and an immigrant home health aide Marjani help care for him. One day Daniel witnesses a young Chinese student get into a man's car and she disappears. Daniel has to figure out how to get help for the young woman. This book has it all- great characters, a fast-paced story, an interesting setting, a mystery to be solved, and How Lucky is nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Novel. I highly recommend it. 

The second book is also a mystery- Katherine Faulkner's debut novel Greenwich Park. Helen is pregnant and meets Rachel, an intense young woman, in her childbirthing class. Rachel keeps turning up wherever Helen is, insinuating herself in Helen's life. We're left to wonder what Rachel is up to when she moves into Helen's home, and things go missing, like Helen's husband's laptop. There are a lot of characters to keep track of in this gripping story- Helen and her husband, Helen's brother Rory and pregnant sister-in-law Selena, her brother Charlie and Helen's best friend Katie, but Faulkner weaves it all together in an expert manner that will keep the reader guessing just what Rachel's secret is. It has a definite Girl on the Train vibe, and I recommend it. 

Stay safe and warm everyone.

This post was shared with The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader's Weekend Cooking blog posts.

Happening This Week in NYC- Vol. 2

This week's events in NYC include the following:

Monday, June 14th- 80s rock icon Pat Benatar signs copies of her autobiography at Barnes & Noble Fifth Ave. store at 12:30pm.

Tuesday, June 15th- Deadspin's Will Leitch signs copies of his book, Are We Winning? Fathers and Sons in the New Golden Age of Baseball, a humorous look at baseball that would make a good Father's Day gift, at Barnes & Noble 86th St. store at 7pm.

Wednesday, June 16th- Star if Bravo TV's Kell on Earth Kelly Cutrone talks about and signs copies of her book If You Have to Cry, Go Outside at Bryant Park's Word for Word Series at 12:30pm.

Wednesday, June 16th- Author Carolyn Parkhurst reads from and signs copies of her book Nobodies Album at Barnes & Noble 86th St. stores at 7pm. I really liked her books Dogs of Babel and Lost and Found.

Thursday, June 17th- The cast of the Tony nominated Lend Me a Tenor, including Tony Shahloub (TV's Monk), Justin Bartha (The Hangover) and the fabulous Jan Maxwell discuss and sign copies of the script at Barnes & Noble Lincoln Triangle store at 5pm. I saw the show last week and it is hilarious.

Thursday, June 17th- Author Sara Waters discusses and signs copies of her Gothic mystery Little Stranger at Barnes & Noble Lincoln Triangle at 7:30pm.

Friday, June 18th- The cast of the Tony winning musical Fela! perform from and sign copies of the CD cast recording at Borders Columbus Circle store at 5pm.