Further Tales of the City

Another cruise-ship plot? What is this, The Love-boat?

Actually, this is one of the best plots in the series. When I re-read it, I took the opportunity to look up Jim Jones and the People's Temple: I hadn't realised quite how conspicuously the leading lights of liberal San Francisco (Harvey Milk, Angela Davis, Maupin's colleagues on the Chronicle, etc.) were taken in by Jones. Maupin must have been stepping on some tender toes when he brought the subject of Jonestown up.

It is interesting, though, that when this one was adapted for television, they had to bring in a whole new plotline in order to give Olympia Dukakis enough to do to make it worth her while to play Mrs Madrigal. The plot of the book is very focussed on Mary Ann and DeDe, show more as well as bringing out Prue Giroux, who was only a very minor character before. Michael's plot is important, but seems to be almost independent of what all the other characters are doing. So this book is maybe stronger as a self-contained novel than as an episode in the cycle. show less

More laughing out loud, more thoughtful pauses when remembering some of the awful stuff that happened back in the day, more caring about this merry band of people who populated San Francisco in the 1970s. Maupin sticks a genuine mystery into this book, and there were moments when I did not know if I put the book down because I did not want to find out "what happens", or if I was too excited to read "what happens". How he pulls an impossible story together at the end is a wonder to behold. And the heroes are totally lovable!

Very light and entertaining soap opera tale. In this, we find MaryAnn, Michael, DeeDee living a grand adventure full of romance, silly chases with a pinch of religious extremist added. I'm not gonna go into the plot because, well, it's a silly plot and you don't watch or read soap opera for the plot. You read for the emotional rush and the laughters and the tears. There's plenty of those in these tales. This is the last of my reread of this series. I haven't read the next 3 books but I will. I addicted to the lives of these characters.

3.5 for content, 4 for enjoyment. I was home sick and desperate for cozy reading material when I remembered I had a stack of these in the basement.

Tales of the City is charming as always, and I really enjoyed Michael's storyline in particular; his search for emotional connection is sympathetic and heartfelt without being sentimental.

That said, for an ostensibly comic novel, there's a lot of darkness in this book. Most of it was deftly handled, but the main plot was slightly odd and dated, with the Jonestown massacre as a backdrop for a suspense narrative. I understand the impulse to explore a story that loomed large in San Fransisco at that time, but I'm still not quite sure if Maupin pulled it off.

Our heroes have entered the eighties, show more and while the references to culture and fashion make me smile, I want to wave my hands at them and shout, No! Go back, it's a trap! Hoping the author doesn't break our hearts too much in the next couple volumes (although it will be perfectly appropriate if he does). show less

I can't really believe it's taken me this long to find these gems, but sometimes it's the ones that lie undiscovered under your nose that prove the most surprising. These books detail the lives of a motley band of individuals who live in San Francisco on Barbary Lane under the watchful eye of the matriarchal Anna Madrigal. The pluses and minuses of these stories all stem from the fact that they were initially serialisations in a regular newspaper column. It makes them an addictive doddle to read - each book is divided into bite-sized chunks that have an element of self-containment mixed with a splattering suspense that leaves you wanting more. The characters are skilfully drawn and quickly come to life and become much-loved friend - a show more testament to Maupin's skill as a writer. They are each a little window onto life in San Francisco at the time - an interesting documentation of society there.

I guess, should you choose to, you could level the criticism that the interlinking storylines are all-to-convenient and readily wrapped up .... but I didn't find it problematic. It is an inherent quality of the original media they were published in and you have to allow for that format. I'm just glad to see them put together as a book so that they can be enjoyed by everyone. I think that if you cannot overcome objections to plot and structure, then these books were probably never meant for you. Personally, once I found them, I couldn't put them down and I'll certainly be looking forward to the next batch. show less

This is the third of six books in the Tales of the City series. Much of the same good stuff. Rapid plot development with tons of twists, satisfying character development and a whirlwind climax, with lots of humour and neat cultural references all over the place. Oh, and uniform fetishes. There's that, too. ^_^

There are still a couple of disconcerting things. Whereas the first book took place in the mid/late seventies and the second book was a direct sequel, the third book thrusts the characters suddenly into the early eighties. That took a while to deal with. Also noteworthy is the "writing out" of one of the major characters, which wasn't dealt with very well at all.

Further tales of the City jumps forward a few years from More Tales of the City, but most of our favourite characters are still there; the residents of 28 Barbary Lane; Anna Madrigal’s children. The improbable events and unlikely coincidences continue with unabated abandon, but this is part of the charm of the stories. But what holds the book together is the skilful way that Maupin involves all the regular characters in the main plot; and main plot there certainly is (with a Jonestown connection), a plot which keeps one guessing to the end.
It’s every bit as good as and possibly even funnier than its predecessors; highly recommended.