The Guncle Abroad

Maisie is the niece of Patrick and the only daughter of Greg and his late wife, Sara. Maisie is 14 in The Guncle Abroad and feels the pressures of being a teenager at every turn. Not only is she angsty, but she is also still grieving from the loss of her mother five years prior. Her character arc highlights The Persistence of Grief. This leads her to resist Greg’s plans to marry Livia, and she tries to enlist Patrick in helping her and Grant stop the wedding. Her ill will toward Livia stems less from anything Livia does and more so from Maisie’s fears of what a new mother figure will mean for the memory of Sara: She thinks that “[i]f she comes in here trying to replace Mom, she’s going to erase the rest of her, too” (88). Maisie’s memories of her mother are already fading, and she desperately wants to preserve her remaining memories as best she can. Maisie fears that Livia will replace Sara in their family and cause Sara to be forgotten. Patrick tries throughout the novel to convince Maisie that this will not happen.

Maisie works against Livia throughout the novel, planning to stop the wedding at any cost. She stands firm in her belief that the marriage is a bad idea, and only at a very late stage does she finally open up to Livia and the possibility of being her stepdaughter. Maisie is a complicated, dynamic character who changes once her own worries are finally addressed and she learns to open her heart and listen to others. When Livia and Greg call off the wedding, Livia acknowledges that they need to do a better job of including Maisie and Grant in this change and ground the relationship closer to their home in Connecticut. Maisie accepts this change, opening the door to a possible relationship with Livia, which is “one giant leap for Maisiekind” (265). Though it is a minor admission, Maisie’s willingness to consider this course of action demonstrates that she is slowly accepting Livia. Maisie is neither quick to change nor quick to forgive, and any relationship with Livia must be a long-term project, but it does begin earnestly in this moment.

Patrick’s nephew, Grant, is the younger brother of Maisie, and he is 11 in The Guncle Abroad. Grant was only six when their mother died, and his memories of Sara are more limited than Maisie’s. His experience with grief is therefore also different. Despite this, for much of the novel, Grant and Maisie operate as a team, and in Patrick’s eyes they are often one unit. Grant follows his sister’s lead and agrees with her that they must do something to prevent Livia and Greg from being married. On the train from England to Paris, Grant echoes Maisie when they ask Patrick to intervene on their behalf: “Maisie picked right up where her brother left off. ‘We need you to talk to Dad.’ ‘Talk to some sense into him,’ Grant explained” (60). Maisie is very concerned about Livia’s presence in their life, and as the younger sibling, Grant follows her lead. He mimics her, often eliciting accusations from Maisie that he is copying her. Maisie’s example partly molds his identity.

Despite Grant’s proximity to Maisie, he proves to be a dynamic character and becomes his own individual, disagreeing with Maisie at a pivotal moment. As they journey across Europe, Patrick comes to realize that Grant and Maisie are individuals, not the monolithic one unit he believes them to be. This becomes clear at the rehearsal dinner when Grant publicly disagrees with Maisie over whether or not Livia should become their stepmother: He asserts, “I want a mom. You got to have one for nine years and I only got six. […] I want a mom for birthdays and summer vacations and to wake up with on Christmas and to buy us Santa presents and regular presents and stocking presents” (231). He is still young, which his childlike preoccupation with Christmas presents highlights, but he is growing. Grant likes Livia and wants her to be a part of the family. While Maisie resists Livia because she fears that Livia will replace Sara, Grant wants her to marry Greg because he craves someone to fill the absence that Sara left in his life.

Greg is Maisie and Grant’s father as well as Patrick and Clara’s brother. It is his wedding to Livia that causes most of the conflict in The Guncle Abroad, and he depends largely on Patrick to help Maisie and Grant grow as people. In The Guncle, Greg attends a rehab program after Sara’s death and asks Patrick to help the children through their grief. Now, five years later, Greg is ready to begin the next chapter of his life with Livia, confident that it is the right move for him. He does not forget Sara, but wants to be happy again with a woman he loves. He asserts to Patrick, “I need Livia” (143). Greg is aware of the many concerns and criticisms from his children and family about marrying so soon after the death of Sara. He understands that he must think of his children and hopes that they can accept Livia into their family. Despite this, he is confident that it is the right decision for his life.

Though he exudes confidence in his match with Livia early in the novel, Greg proves to have doubts as time goes on and the relationship between Maisie and Livia does not improve. He begins to question whether the right thing to do for himself is also the right thing to do for the children. As the wedding nears, Greg expresses this to Patrick, and Patrick comes to realize that “his brother didn’t know what he was doing, not really, not deep down, there was no master plan guiding his every move” (204). Greg is simply following his instincts in healing from grief and pursuing happiness while also battling the fact that these feelings are at odds with the needs of his children. Greg handles this pressure, however, and postpones the wedding, allowing more time for his children to grow, heal, and become accustomed to Livia.

Palmina is Livia’s sister and an antagonist figure in Patrick’s eyes. Palmina is a lesbian, and Grant and Maisie call her “launt,” a play on the term “guncle,” their term for Patrick. Patrick sees Palmina as a threat to his relationship with Grant and Maisie, as the two seem obsessed with her. She is not only rich but also younger than Patrick, and the children believe that she is cooler than him. When they first meet, the tension between Patrick and Palmina is palpable, and Patrick immediately views her as a villain: “‘You must be GUNK,’ she began, with an Italian accent that bordered on Transylvanian. ‘We meet at last.’ She said it with a villainous inflection; perhaps he was more like James Bond than he thought” (150). Patrick sees Palmina as a foil to himself and therefore as competition for the affection and trust of his niece and nephew. He becomes jealous of her and the ease with which she can connect with the growing Grant and Maisie.

Palmina is a foil to Patrick not only because of her identity as the new “launt” but also because of the ways in which she can connect with Maisie. Maisie grows into a young woman in The Guncle Abroad, and as she becomes a teenager, Patrick struggles to connect with her on many levels. Palmina, however, connects with Maisie with ease, understanding her insecurities and anger over the wedding as a woman:

Young women are different. They know they have to contain the monster to get what they want. And it’s frustrating to be young and to first see how the world works and to learn how much of yourself you have to hide. The unfairness of there being two sexes (240).

Palmina offers Maisie a perspective that Patrick cannot, and it is a struggle for Patrick to accept this and see it as a healthy relationship for Maisie. He wants to be the one trusted guardian and struggles to relinquish some of these duties to someone he finds so antagonistic. However, Palmina proves to be a useful and nurturing figure.

Livia is Greg’s love interest and Grant and Maisie’s future stepmother. She tries her hardest to be a mother figure for Grant and Maisie, despite their reluctance to get to know her. Livia is very clear from the beginning that she wants to be a mother for Grant and Maisie because her own efforts to be a mother did not result in children. She weathers their insults and disinterest, persistent in trying to earn their trust. She finally achieves this with Maisie when she and Greg decide to move their wedding to a later date, in Connecticut. Livia earns Maisie’s trust by not only acknowledging the concerns that Maisie has but by allowing Maisie some say in how Livia is included in the family. She wants Maisie to lead her and show her how to be a mother to her. She also admits a willingness to be more of a part of Maisie’s life in Connecticut rather than trying to earn Maisie’s trust in a foreign country.

Clara is Patrick and Greg’s sister and Grant and Maisie’s aunt. In The Guncle, Clare is very uptight and rigid, going so far as to try and legally take Grant and Maisie from Patrick during their summer with him because she believes that he is doing a horrible job. However, in The Guncle Abroad, Clara is a changed woman, recently divorced and ready to find new meaning in life. Her historically rocky relationship with Patrick heals over the five years from that summer, and Patrick sees Clara as a different person now, “much more fun than the married one” (145). Patrick’s relationships with his siblings developed in positive ways in the five years since Sara’s death as they come closer to support Grant and Maisie. Clara, in many ways, is a sidekick in this endeavor, always offering support where needed, but never breaking through to them like Greg and Patrick can.