The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 1 August 2007
by Armistead Maupin
The third book in the Tales of the City series returns us to Barbary Lane in San Francisco, and the adventures of its residents and their friends. Here, Maupin focuses on the career woes of Mary Ann Singleton and her beau Brian; the romantic adventures of Michael Tolliver, looking for love as he matures; and the dark adventures of DeDe Halcyon Day, who has returned from Guyana with a true horror story to tell. Recall that this book came out a few years after the Jonestown massacre, and you begin to get a hint at the darkness Maupin brings to the story. At first, these short chapters, which were once published as columns in the San Francisco Chronicle, serve as entertaining vignettes of the times and of that city. But, when the story of Guyana breaks, the remainder of the novel turns dark and then into an adventure across Alaska. It remains an entertainment, though some of the story requires some leaps of logic. Maupin's writing is engaging and spare. The story fairly zips along to its bumpy conclusion. As a chapter in the long narrative that is the Tales of the City series, it is a fun read. The Jonestown disaster was a pivotal event in the psyche of San Francisco at the time, along with the killings of Mayor Moscone and Harvey Milk in 1978. Maupin captures some of the mood in the city at that time. There is something of Mark Twain in his style (Twain, himself, was at one time a chronicler of San Francisco). A twisted yarn is being spun for our entertainment.
Also by Maupin: [Tales of the City]
[More Tales of the City]
[Babycakes]
[Significant Others]
[Sure of You]
[Michael Tolliver Lives]
[Mary Ann in Autumn]
See also: [Armistead Maupin by Patrick Gale]