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Summary: More bizarre action for the residents of Barbary Lane
Comment: 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.
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Summary: I want to move to 28 Barbery Lane!
Comment: Oh those gay 70's days in San Francisco when "cherez la femme" ruled the original Pink Village. Armistead Maupin revealed a zany twist of relationships in the most liberal city during its most liberal times long before the late 90's tech boom. Tales of the City depicted just how much ahead of the times San Francisco has always been.
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Summary: Not as good as the first two, but entertaining nonetheless
Comment: This novel picks up five years after "More Tales of the City". but it doesn't really pick up until the second half of the novel, when the plot revolves around the mysterious Luke, a homeless man with a shack in Golden Gate Park. Mona Ramsey is not in this one and Anna Madrigal is hardly seen until halfway through the novel. I was surprised, as Anna is the focal point of the series and my favorite of the characters.
The basic plot of this novel continues the storyline that began in "More Tales..." when DeeDee Halcyon Day ran off to Guyana to join members of the People's Temple in Jim Jones' nightmarish utopia. When "Further Tales..." begins, the massacre at Jonestown had happened, leaving DeeDee's mother severely depressed and lonely (her husband Edgar died at the end of "Tales of the City", her son-in-law died in "More Tales...", and now she's despondent that her daughter seems to have died as well). Mary Ann Singleton is now the host of a daytime show where she introduces classic movies; and her relationship with the womanizing Brian has grown into couplehood. Michael Tolliver, we discover, is no longer with Jon and living out his fantasy of hooking up with cops, movie stars, and construction workers.
This novel rests on the entire fallout of the Jim Jones tragedy and it kept me up late as I wanted to read chapter after chapter. Armistead continues his brilliant pacing, dialogue, and intriguing twists, all elements that make this, like the others, an addictive reading pleasure. By the end, the situation involving the kidnapping of children and a wild goose chase resolves itself in an interesting manner, reminding me a little bit about how the first novel ended. To reveal any more is to give away the surprises, so this is one you should read to discover for yourself. Ultimately though, I think "More Tales from the City" is the best of the three I've read and I found this one a pale imitation. I do plan to read the other three novels in this series, because the characters are people I can visualize and have come to know as friends I'd love to have. I only wish that Anna played a larger role in this one.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Further Tales of the City...
Comment: This book started strong but couldn't continue. In my opionion, the ending was week and unpolished. It was as if the writer rushed his ideas and didn't take the time to come up with a creative ending to complement the beginning. However, I did like how the author created the various story lines. The reader doesn't constantly read about a character(s) because Maupin breaks them up by reverting to a new chapter that introduces a the storyline by which in the end they are all connect somehow.
BEWARE: This book does contains adult situations and material. Ex: marijuana smoking characters, homosexuality and lesbian relationships, reference to the Jim Jones and Jonesburg situation, kidnapping of adults and children, ect...
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Summary: More fun with the tenants of 28 Barbary Lane
Comment: MORE TALES OF THE CITY by Armistead Maupin
MORE TALES OF THE CITY is volume two in a 6 book series by Armistead Maupin. This second book picks up where the first book, TALES OF THE CITY, left off. The focal point is the apartment building located at 28 Barbary Lane, in the heart of San Francisco. The books depict life and love in the town that Tony Bennett left his heart in. The reader gets involved with a number of esoteric characters, and some ordinary ones too, that have somehow found their lives tangled together in the late 1970's.Mary Ann, who moved to San Francisco from the Midwest in TALES OF THE CITY, now sees SF as home. She and Michael (Mouse) have become good friends and they take off on a cruise together. Michael wants a lover, as does Mary Ann, and as they both happen to be two lonely adults they decide to hang out together and have fun in the sun. It's Mary Ann, however, that gets lucky on the cruise, although her new lover does have one problem: he has amnesia. Michael, in the mean time, is still pining away for his gynecologist love Jon, while Mary Ann and her boyfriend Burke get very cozy on the high seas.
Back home, Mrs. Madrigal, the landlady of 28 Barbary Lane, has a big secret that is revealed early on in the story. Her connections to her favorite tenant, Mona, and a prostitution house in Reno, seem rather far-fetched but it is one of the big shockers of TALES OF THE CITY.
Brian, another tenant, is in the midst of some weird love affair, where he makes contact with a woman in the building across the way while he spies on her with his binoculars. Who this woman ends up to be is another shocker.
The story of Dede Halcyon continues, and the mystery of D'orothea is also revealed, with her story and her relationship with her family gone into great detail. The two women become fast friends in this book, with the promise of future appearances in successive books.
The book comes to a bang of an ending with Mary Ann and her lover Burke trying to figure out who he really is, and this mystery leads them on a very wild adventure involving a cult!
MORES TALES OF THE CITY is yet another fun romp in the lives of these quirky people from 28 Barbary Lane. I enjoyed it as much as I did the first book, and am looking forward to reading the third book in the series, FURTHER TALES OF THE CITY. Armistead Maupin has a way of bringing these eccentric characters to life, which is the reason to read the rest of the series. Two thumbs up for MORE TALES OF THE CITY.
