GUNKY'S ADVENTURES

A widower gathers autobiographical tidbits that involve his beloved wife and others in his nonfiction debut.

Soon after his wife, Petruskha, lost her battle with cancer, Reuther found a letter she had left behind for him. She asked that he share his writings with the world. Honoring her wish, he offers 25 stories, each beginning with a different letter of the alphabet (following Petruskha’s opening “Afterlife Love Letter and Wish”) and referring to himself in the third person by his mother’s nickname for him, “Gunky.” His “adventures” are more akin to anecdotes but are frequently amusing. These date back to the ’60s, when a young Gunky heard a mysterious sound in the forest that his older brother was certain was the Russians. Years later, with a doctoral degree, Gunky spoke about his work in science—never precisely defined—in front of high schoolers. His comments on the nature of fire apparently captured the full attention of the youngsters but enraged the principal: “We work very hard here to enforce our no-smoking policy and you had the nerve not only to bring in a cigarette lighter but also to light it!” Some tales center on other people, with equally entertaining results. One involves a motorcycle gang that rode near Gunky’s childhood home and made his father nervous. But his mother slayed the bikers with kindness, a respect that the men dutifully reciprocated. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the book’s highlights are Petruskha-centric stories, from the couple’s meet-cute first encounter to the poignant account of Gunky’s final days with his wife. Each story opens with a poem, including “Xtraordinaire (Silent Sentinels),” which together make up a compact collection of poetry. Poems range from profound to playful, including parodies of the Doors’ “Light My Fire” and the Ghostbusters theme. At the same time, Reuther often writes in a prose-poem style. An example is the tale of his friend Bob, a man who spoke in two- to three-word sentences. Most paragraphs in the story end with a humorous two-word summary, such as “Ha, ha?”

A widower’s heartfelt and funny stories about his loving marriage.