TEST
Call him “Uncle Mame.” Former sitcom actor Patrick – who worked under the pseudonym Jack Curtis – is hosting his niece and nephew, food fussy nine-year-old Maisey and lisping six-year-old Grant, on a long vacation in the wake of their mother’s tragic death from a long illness. His attempt at teaching them about the right angles at which to take a selfie and the importance of the movie Grease are interrupted when the kids’ father, Greg, calls and begs Patrick to take the kids for ninety more days while he gets clean of his pill addiction in rehab. Patrick’s been living the life of a single man for a very long time, and his brother’s request feels like a total impossibility.
Nevertheless, Patrick packs the kids off to his home in Palm Springs. Loose teeth, toilet trauma (Grant is convinced Patrick’s is haunted) and a manipulative agent soon intervene. Being around his young niece and nephew forces Patrick to confront how lonely his life has been ever since the love of his life, Joe, died in a car wreck years before. A career revival, the return of Greg, and the possibility of new love all complicate Patrick’s life, and to his surprise, he becomes even more fond of his niece and nephew over time.
The Guncle is terribly sweet and charming. It does occasionally lean into stereotypes a little hard (the selfish actor; the adorable, lisping kid – this book would have gotten an A+ were it not for Grant’s phonetically spelled lisping) but it’s a wonderful story about a man coming back to life and getting back into the swing of things after a long, self-indulgent emotional hibernation.
Maisey, in particular, is a wonderful character; a realistic nine-year-old with a love of YouTube and a sense of rage and befuddlement about this new life. Patrick is one part classic Hollywood divo (his most prized possession is his Golden Globe, which has a special position in his house and yes, ultimately must be rejected as an important object in his life when one of the kids ends up in danger) with a heart of gold and a salty mouth. He’s a lot of fun to follow even though sometimes he can be a bit ridiculous and OTT, seeming to forget that of course little kids won’t pick up on his references.
There’s something very tearjerker movie about the book (which has already been sold for a big-screen adaption) but that doesn’t work against it. Patrick is that lovable – and so are the kids. This simple story about recovering your true self after years of mindless waste and loss will resonate with everyone dealing with the torpor of mid-pandemic dregs. As Patrick shakes them off, so does the reader, and the somehow lighthearted and yet very trenchant tone of the book helps move the pace briskly along.
The Guncle is an easy read and a funny one. Readers are bound to love it; it’s a shaggy dog winner of a story that resonates.
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Grade: A
Book Type: Fiction
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 19/10/21
Publication Date: 05/2021
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
Lisa Fernandes is a writer, reviewer and recapper who lives somewhere on the East Coast. Formerly employed by Firefox.org and Next Projection, she also currently contributes to Women Write About Comics. Read her blog at http://thatbouviergirl.blogspot.com/, follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/thatbouviergirl or contribute to her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/MissyvsEvilDead or her Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com/missmelbouvier
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This sounds like a fun read but at a few pence under £30 for a HB or £10 secondhand, it’s way above my budget. Just checked – the £10 book is now gone. I hope it will come out on kindle sometime or I will have to wait for a secondhand PB.
Jeez. I just checked the UK page and you’re right. WTF is it with geo-restrictions in the digital age? It may eventually come out in eformat here, but chances are that by the time it does, you’ll have forgotten about it! I know that’s often the case for me.
I think it has something to do with various countries’ varying tax laws, particularly VAT. When I self-publish through KDP, they have a tool that calibrates different price points in different markets automatically so the author can make roughly the same amount in the US as the UK. Unfortunately, that usually means passing the higher price onto the consumer. How that works for mainstream publishers, I have no idea.
I suspect it’s not so much that as it is down to publishing rights – but it just seems ridiculous to restrict something that people are prepared to pay money for and make it impossible for them to do so.
That could definitely be a factor as well, if not the big factor in the case we’re discussing. Rights can get complicated, that’s for sure. And a lot of things are definitely hold overs from the pre-digital age.
There is no VAT on either printed books or ebooks in the UK.
Rishi Sunak (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) said the zero rate of VAT will now apply to all e-publications from tomorrow (1 May 2020) – seven months ahead of schedule – potentially slashing the cost of a £12 e-book by £2. The price of an e-book will now be VAT-free.
There has been no VAT on printed books in the UK since 1994:
The Value Added Tax Act 1994, section 30 provides for the zero rating of goods listed in Schedule 8 to the Act. Schedule 8, Group 3 sets out books, which may be zero-rated as follows: … Books, booklets, brochures, pamphlets and leaflets. Newspapers, journals and periodicals.
Thanks for the explanation. It’s hard to keep up with all the changes. I’ve been selling internationally for a while, but KDP (Amazon) handles all of the international tax stuff and currency conversions. They keep their authors posted now and then but not recently.