I was really excited for this one, but I felt like it didn’t really sit right with me. I loved the idea of The Guncle, but I was underwhelmed in a few regards. I know, I’m in the minority here according to the Goodsread rating. While I loved Patrick’s relationship with the kids, I felt like we mainly got to know the Patrick he thought he should be rather than who he was hinted at really being. I also found the story to really emphasize stereotypes (of gay men, of poly relationships, and more). While there is nothing wrong with gay men that are stereotypically flamboyant, I didn’t care for the emphasis being placed on the more negatively viewed traits (selfishness, vanity, body image issues, etc.). At least half of the men I know consider themselves queer, and less than 10% of those men would be considered “flamboyant”. I could have got past this if we could see some of the deeper parts of Patrick or JED, but we only basically get to have those depths touched on as minimally as possible. Grant and Maisie’s characters are funny, and were quite reflective of many kids grieving experience; I just wish the whole story had the same authenticity 🤷🏼‍♀️