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Summary: An Amazing Read!
Review: This is a fantastic book. It is campy, creative, suspensful, and a true joy to read. I first read it in 1994, and have revisited this book several times since then for its humor and spirit. The characters are so lively, and the drama laden turns in the lives of these neighbors will catch you by surprise! A great book for reading on the beach or by the pool-lighthearted and a true reflection of the spirit of San Francisco. Enjoy!
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Summary: A tale of my own
Review: I read the 'Tales' series in 1994. I remember cracking open the first book and falling in love within the first few pages. These were characters that I really wanted to get to know, here was a picture of gay love that wasn't veiled or shadowed.A week went by spent entirely with my new friends (interrupted only by an inconvenient search through the bookstores of Perth for an elusive copy of 'Further Tales'). I remember almost going into shock when I closed 'Sure of You', so strongly had Mouse and co. entered into my life. How could I return to my dull life after such pleasure and joy! Well I did, and a year later (the day I saw the 'Tales' mini-series at a film festival) I came out to my best friend. I realised that it was time to take some of that joy and freedom off the pages and the screen and into my own life. Six years later, I'm happy to report that there's many an interesting 'tale' to tell...
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Summary: A bit disappointed
Review: After reading all the rave reviews I was expecting something better. Although the book contains several memorable characters, it has a mediocre style, poor structure, and lack of focus. The "society" people were completely inscrutable and the chapters about them were a waste of time. But the worst sin of the book is that the Mary Ann character is nothing more than a plot device.
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Summary: EXCELLENT!
Review: I am going to just write a generic review.... I loved it and read all 6 in the series. This is the best one! The rest go a little into the left field stretching fiction pretty far. But even so I would recommend this book to everyone! (except maybe rednecks)
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Summary: BUY THE ENTIRE SERIES NOW!
Review: You'll complete them all in a week. An incredibly engrossing saga that is full of rich characterizations and page-turning hilarity and pathos....
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Summary: A very accurate capture of 1970's San Francisco.
Review: Tales of The City captures the very spirit of San Francisco in the 1970's, as the spirit of the city, which surely is represented by the nickname 'Frisco, died. The City was not moral, nor neat. The victorians were seedy, the City in decay. But, nonetheless, Maupin describes the city as it was; determined to have a good time as it always had. Maupin depicts the economic classes as if he knew them intimately, and portrays the provincialism as it exists, without making the City look the worse for it. I moved here in part because of these books, having awakened in me as they did, the memory of the San Francisco I knew, just after I cut the apron strings and was sent here by Uncle Sam. It is a different place today. Tales of The City captures it as it was. Yea, the people were lonely, they did a lot of drugs, had a lot of meaningless sex, and ended up in the 'eighties none the less. But didn't we all? The story is entertaining, especially when viewed for itself: it was a newspaper article. Unless your morality is a vague as your sexuality, Tales of The City will transport you to the recent past, in an age where we can't believe that history was actually being made, but it was, and we might have been there, but for some twist of fate, or geography. If it corrupts you...you were probably corrupted to begin with, and just waiting to be swept away.
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Summary: This series of Tales of the City, I can't put it down!!
Review: The characters were well presented, the plots were extreamly true to life and very beleivable, campy etc.. I loved the movies and the novels soo much I own all; but there is one thing I wish could happen, that Armistead Maupin would create a movie of 28 Barbery lane. Love them all :)
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Summary: It will make you laugh, cry and sleep in for work
Review: I first read Tales of the City when I moved to Asia from the UK and was a fairly naive 19 year old. I have since read the entire series 3 or 4 times each and these books are so compelling that you will want to read them again. I am now writing this nearly ten years later because I love the book so much I am going to buy a new copy.
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Summary: Soap operatic. (if you're not interested in visiting Frisco)
Review: As I do not plan to get to San Francisco in the near future, my opinion of the book is purely in regard to it as a yarn. Much as I enjoyed it, it struck me as soap-operatic at times. For example, the level of interconnectedness is hard to believe. I thought only Melrose Place could have a situation where the doctor whom A goes to just happens to have been the lover of A's father's secretary's neighbour and just happens to later sleep with A's husband. But perhaps the city is actually like that. More specific comments: Norman's secret is worse than soaps. But D'Orothea's secret is really really good -- imaginative, plausible, lateral thinking and a great comment on life in the fast lane.
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Summary: All You Ever Need to Know
Review: A friend of mine moved to San Francisco in the late 1980s to accept a new job. He didn't know much about the City and he had never lived here. He asked a mutual friend of ours to recommend a good guide book or history. Our friend recommended "Tales of the City" with the remark, "This is all you ever need to know!" I agree, the "Tales" series give you a look at a place and time that is at once specific and universal. Enjoy!
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