“It’s
been five years since Patrick’s niece Maisie and nephew Grant spent the summer
with him in Palm Springs, playing caretaker after their mother’s passing. The
kids are back in Connecticut with their dad, and Patrick has relocated to New
York to remain close by and relaunch his dormant acting career. After the run
of his second successful sitcom comes to a close, Patrick feels on top of the
world professionally. But some things have had to take a back seat. Looking
down both barrels at fifty, Patrick is single again after breaking things off
with Emory. But at least he has a family to lean on. Until that family needs to
again lean on him. When Patrick's brother, Greg, announces he’s getting
remarried in Italy, Maisie and Grant are not thrilled. Patrick feels drawn to
take the two back under his wing. As they travel through Europe on their way to
the wedding, Patrick tries his best to help them understand love, much as he
once helped them comprehend grief. But when they arrive in Italy, Patrick is
overextended managing a groom with cold feet; his sister, Clara, flirting with
guests left and right; a growing rivalry with the kids’ charming
soon-to-be-launt (lesbian aunt), and two moody young teens trying to adjust to
a new normal, all culminating in a disastrous rehearsal dinner.”
It seems logical for author
Steven Rowley to return to his one book that seemed to get universal appeal,
the one book that anyone could read and not take too much offense with it. I’ve liked this authors books, even the overly-ambitious The Celebrants,
and doing a sequel to a beloved tome is always fraught with danger, but in the
end, I enjoyed being back in Patrick’s world, even if I felt the sitcom jokes
got in the way of any real character development. Still, I got a lot of
Patrick’s obscure pop culture jokes (I know many young people in their thirties
that would never get the Doublemint Twin joke, let alone those even younger)
and because they landed for me, it made me feel a bit less grumpy; it’s like
there is someone out there who thinks in the same way I do.
Anyways,
the trio spend a few weeks gallivanting around the most tourist guide-book
types of European hotspots as they count – oh, to be this rich and white. There
are a few great set pieces here, the Sound of Music tour being the best, but
the sort of slapstick, yet sad wedding rehearsal comes to mind as well.
Anyways,
as they travel, Patrick gets a glimpse into Maisie’s feelings about getting a
stepmother at fourteen –even if she and
her brother seem enamored with Livia’s sister, Palmina, the new lesbian aunt
(who they call Launt). Grant seems less enthused with it as well, but because
he was so young when his mother passed, I sense he’s more open to having his
Dad remarry.
As I
mentioned in my take on The Guncle, I can understand both the kids’ feelings on
this. Losing a parent was hard as a child, and while I had no one to really talks
to about my feelings, it’s great to see that today when a child does loose a
parent, and there are a team of relatives and what not to help them cope. And
though I took two tries, once my Mom settled into her third marriage, I got the
best stepdad anyone could ask for. Still, even her second marriage was not so
bad –he had his own issues (a hero complex), but he gave my Mom the ability to
grow.
Much
like The Guncle, in The Guncle Abroad you have a feel good book for summer –and those brought up in
the 1970s will get a lot of Patrick’s jokes. It’s a fun, and sometimes funny
look, at our current times, even if my family is somewhat dysfunctional. But
like any book that features a somewhat lovable family that somehow gets along,
it’s also a fantasy. But one I wish now –at end of my own dysfunctional life- I
could’ve had.
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