Entry tags:
Sex and drugs, but no rock 'n' roll
Book Review: Tales of the City, by Armistead Maupin
I was first introduced to this series of books by a friend when I was an undergraduate in the early 1990s, followed by a Channel 4 adaptation a few years later. Seeking some comfort reading, it seemed a good time to revisit the first book in the series. As a re-read, you are looking for something different: you'll remember a bit of the story, forgotten some of it, and discover new details. At least, that's how it was for me.
For example, I recall the series as a whole being mainly about Michael (Mouse) Tolliver; but this first book is more balanced between the many characters, and he isn't even strictly a resident of 28 Barbary Lane. If anything, the main characters are Mary Ann Singleton, the twentysomething seeking liberation from Cleveland, Ohio, and Anna Madrigal, the enigmatic fairy-godmother of a landlady. In the way that many stories deploy a sidekick to serve as our narrator or to be the human conduit between the reader and the detective genius, Mary Ann is our way in to 1976 San Francisco from the outside world of "normal life".
It's not literary fiction; it is an entertaining page-turner. In 1976, HIV/AIDS wasn't a thing, and my recollection is that the tone of the later books in the series in particular, is darker. It seems ridiculous that almost everywhere is treated as a cruising joint of some form or other; on the other hand, with hindsight there's enough written about trailer parks to highlight the serious wealth inequality in the area, something that's at least as much of an issue today. I don't recall the dubious taste Van Gogh references; I suspect some of them would have passed me by all those years ago. Whilst some things fell into place as expected, it turns out that not everything I had thought would be revealed is in the first volume. Overall, it was well worth the re-read and I expect to be returning to other books in the series in due course.
I was first introduced to this series of books by a friend when I was an undergraduate in the early 1990s, followed by a Channel 4 adaptation a few years later. Seeking some comfort reading, it seemed a good time to revisit the first book in the series. As a re-read, you are looking for something different: you'll remember a bit of the story, forgotten some of it, and discover new details. At least, that's how it was for me.
For example, I recall the series as a whole being mainly about Michael (Mouse) Tolliver; but this first book is more balanced between the many characters, and he isn't even strictly a resident of 28 Barbary Lane. If anything, the main characters are Mary Ann Singleton, the twentysomething seeking liberation from Cleveland, Ohio, and Anna Madrigal, the enigmatic fairy-godmother of a landlady. In the way that many stories deploy a sidekick to serve as our narrator or to be the human conduit between the reader and the detective genius, Mary Ann is our way in to 1976 San Francisco from the outside world of "normal life".
It's not literary fiction; it is an entertaining page-turner. In 1976, HIV/AIDS wasn't a thing, and my recollection is that the tone of the later books in the series in particular, is darker. It seems ridiculous that almost everywhere is treated as a cruising joint of some form or other; on the other hand, with hindsight there's enough written about trailer parks to highlight the serious wealth inequality in the area, something that's at least as much of an issue today. I don't recall the dubious taste Van Gogh references; I suspect some of them would have passed me by all those years ago. Whilst some things fell into place as expected, it turns out that not everything I had thought would be revealed is in the first volume. Overall, it was well worth the re-read and I expect to be returning to other books in the series in due course.