There was something very charming about the first 3 novels of Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin. Life in San Francisco in the late 70′s seemed fun and energetic and THE place to be. Mary Ann Singleton was the little naive girl moving to the big city from the Midwest. Michael Tolliver was the young gay man discovering himself and all the city had to offer. Brian was the womanizer having a field day with the single ladies in a town known for its gay revolution. Mysterious Mrs. Madrigal was the hen-mother to them all, nursing their pain, being the “confidant”, guiding them through the lessons of life. Then the next 3 novels of the series got bitter #86, I guess as a sign of the times with the arrival of AIDS and the devastation it had in that particular city as well as around the world.
And now, 20 years later, Mr. Maupin has decided to bring us back to his turf again. I was excited when I heard the book was on it’s way to the press at the beginning of the summer, but when I picked up a copy at the bookstore, I wasn’t as much. This was more of a stand-alone book than a continuation of the series: it was following only one character, instead of taking us through the lives of 5 or 6. It looked like it was going to be a bitter look at an older gay man’s life instead, so I didn’t buy it right away, I put it on the back burner and just picked it up a couple of weeks ago.
My fears were realized when it became clear that the story was going to be more about Tails than Tales. There were some situations that didn’t need such explicit details when it came to Michael’s escapades, but once I got to the thick of it, it turned out a bit more exciting, and the ending of it was fantastic. It turns out that all the main characters make appearances and I was happy that he resolved the whole Mary Ann Singleton storyline. I never liked how he made her a bitch at the end of the original series, for no real reasons why. It felt like he wanted to stop writing about the girl character and concentrate on the gay one. Don’t get me wrong I liked Michael too, but I didn’t want it to be all about him. I liked the formula of many different storylines, all the many different characters having their chance at shining.
Kudos. The author made me forget the bad times, he ended the last novel with all the loose ends tied up perfectly. It truly made-up for books 4, 5 & 6. (although book 5 was somewhat fun to read).
It was hard reading the book and not imagining Armistead Maupin as Michael Tolliver, both of them have seemed to have such a similar life…
I read the first 6 books back when I first moved to SF (1991). I agree that the first three were amazing, and the last 3 were bad. I especially didn’t like the changes in Mary Ann and Michael…I realize people change throughout their lives, but not to the extent that Maupin changed them (Mary Ann especially).
So this one is decent? Maybe I’ll pick it up for the nostalgia trip.
Michael remains whiny and insecure in old age, not always pretty. Michael likes to show off.
But when Michael goes and visits his mother and the story changes to biological family vs chosen family, the book takes a turn that I enjoyed. But you do have to get to the middle of it before that happens.