Uncle Sean [Paperback]

Ronald L. Donaghe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2001

"Uncle Sean sure is pretty, but there's something wrong with him, anyway," writes 14 year-old Will Barnett, unable to understand the feelings that seize him when he first lays eyes on his troubled uncle. Just how troubled his uncle is becomes one of the things Will Barnett seeks to find out; why he falls in love with him is the other.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

The way certain materials came into my possession (including a Big Chief Tablet, a letter, dog tags from the Vietnam Era, and a spiral notebook) is somewhat startling. I was tearing down an old barn twenty miles south of Hachita, New Mexico, just west of the Big Hatchet mountains, where a long-time-ago farm had passed into oblivion. When the barn was merely a skeleton of itself, I was standing inside the slatted shadows cast by the remaining rafters, when a box fell the nearly thirty feet to the pile of rubbish in the middle of the floor. It was sealed with disintegrating duct tape and simply burst open upon impact. When I kneeled over the contents that had spilled out, I was amazed at the condition of the Big Chief tablet. I chose to pick it up first, since I had not seen one for at least thirty years. The first words I read were these: "Uncle Sean sure is pretty, but there's something wrong with him, anyway." From that point, I was hooked.

About the Author

Ronald L. Donaghe is the author of many books including Common Sons, The Blind Season, The Salvation Mongers, and soon The Gathering. These four books make up the series: "Common Threads in the Life." He is also the author of two books of autobiography. One is a collection of essays and the other is a full-length autobiography of being openly gay in the United States Air Force during the waning days of the Vietnam Era, entitled My Year of Living Heterosexually and Other Adventures in Hell. He lives with his mate of many years in a turn-of-the-century adobe house.

Product Details

• Paperback: 199 pages
• Publisher: Writers Club Press (July 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595190146
• ISBN-13: 978-0595190140
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,485,486 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So Real it Sweats, October 4, 2002

By 

Larry Brussels (New York State) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Uncle Sean (Paperback)

As a middle school (junior high) English teacher, I was delighted to run across this book. Every high school library should have it available for questioning youth, and it should be required reading for parents and teachers, alike. Not to give anything away, it is the painfully hand-written story of one Will Barnett, who falls in love with his Uncle Sean, a Vietnam vet who has recently come to stay with his family: his sister Arlene and her husband and four children. He has recently been discharged from a military hospital, though for exactly what kind of "wound" is not made clear in the beginning. But 14 year-old Will is about to find out. He is so struck with his uncle's beauty, so emotionally caught by his feelings, that he feels compelled to write about them. We readers are his uneasy observers as he slathers his thoughts onto the pages of a Big Chief tablet. At first it is painful to read Will's butchered prose, but as he progresses, so does his command of the language as he forces himself to write and read and squeeze the words from deep down within his soul. Maybe this work is a bit too mature for junior high students (maybe not), but one never doubts that those very students would quickly identify with Will Barnett. I wouldn't hesitate to urge high school students to read it, however.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Soon to be a classic!, October 5, 2002

By 

Margaret A. Helms (Kingsport, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Uncle Sean (Paperback)

A Big Chief tablet, a letter, a spiral notebook, and a pair of Vietnam era dog tags. When Ronald L. Donaghe throws these ingredients into the pot, the result is a sumptuous tale of love, need, and self-discovery. Thirty years ago, the tablet belonged to Will Barnett, a farm boy in New Mexico who found himself inexplicably drawn to his troubled uncle, Sean. Through Will's writings, the reader literally feels Will's thoughts about Sean evolve from curiosity to an odd but real love. After discovering Will's crush, Sean takes on the role of mentor, gently helping his nephew understand the implications of his feelings, and setting him on the path to finding a love of his own. As the other components of Mr. Donaghe's recipe are revealed, Will's story unfolds with the beauty and simplicity of a rose attaining full bloom.

Masterfully written, Uncle Sean is a realistic tale of one family's struggle with a harsh environment, Vietnam era politics, and the homosexual taboo. The characters are well defined and multidimensional, the setting is so real it made me crave a drink of cold water and the shade of an Elm tree, and the pace is comfortably quick. This book will remain in my library, and I expect to read much more of Mr. Donaghe's work.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ron Does It Again, January 23, 2002

By 

Mark Ian Kendrick (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Uncle Sean (Paperback)

Ron Donaghe has done it again with his latest novel, Uncle Sean. It wasn't so much the plot that fascinated me with this latest story, but rather his brilliant use of voice. Ron not only captured a 14 year old's voice, but he also used an uneducated one, as well. Then he shifts the voice just enough for us to see Will in various stages of growing up. This is what good writing is all about: the ability to time-shift and make us believe. Well, Ron certainly made me believe. In addition, Ron is such a good storyteller that he had me actually believe (at first) that he had indeed torn down a barn and had found the tablet, the letter and the spiral notebook. I'm really looking forward to the sequel to this story entitled 'Lance', which continues with Will's relationship with his new boyfriend.