As I may have mentioned, up until now, I had only read through the last third of the Tales of the City once, as they got released. So, this makes my second read of Mary Ann in Autumn, and I was amazed at how much I missed the first time through.
Unlike Book 7, Book 8 is back to the more rambling narrative following around several characters instead of being a first person narrative. Which is good, since it introduces us better to some of the newer or better aged characters that we caught glimpses of in the last volume. In particular, transman Jake Greenleaf, who's become transson to Anna, as well as a particular caretaker of her. Mind you, most of his narrative here involves his attraction to a Mormon missionary who needs a man to help him through his desire for other men. (Given how bad Jake's dysmorphia is, there's a lot of underlying irony here.)
We also get more of Shawna, Brian and Mary Ann's adoptive daughter, who writes a sex blog of sorts, although a chance meeting with a homeless woman helps her transition into some new styles of writing and a less Bettie Page look. (Her story crosses into her adoptive mother's towards the end, and we'll return to that here in a bit.)
However, as the title suggests, most of the narrative revolves around Mary Ann. Mary Ann is headed back to San Francisco, ready to divorce her husband following him leaving his Skype up while having a European affair with her life coach. This is right after telling him she might be pregnant, but she hasn't told him the real diagnosis of uterine cancer. Thus her return to the City, since she and Michael have evidently mended fences quite a bit. Michael and Ben put her up in their guest cottage until the surgery and during her recovery. In a surprise to both of them, Ben and Mary Ann bond, with Ben getting her on FaceBook, and taking her along on a trip to the plot of land they've bought near Tahoe where they plan on eventually building a getaway home.
Mary Ann also picks up a bit of a stalker via FaceBook, who reveals himself in the final reel.
There's quite a bit of sadness in here, as Anna gives Jake money to get his hysterectomy, the same surgery that Mary Ann is dreading, as we see Michael trying to become more of the man he wants to be, rather than who it is he wants to transition out of (again, Michael and Ben are open in their marriage, but one of Ben's tricks giving him fruit from the farmer's market sets off a large amount of jealousy). We also see Shawna and Mary Ann beginning steps towards becoming a bit closer, as the actual story of her homeless woman is directly related to Mary Ann's stalker.
The major theme here is is transition, as Mary Ann at 57 tries to change her life again, as Michael and Ben try to become the people they want themselves to be, as Shawna transitions from riot grrl to more standard writing, as Anna prepares for her time to come, as Jake learns more about what it means for him to be a man. That ride is not without bumps, but in many ways, particularly returning to themes from the beginning and wrapping up a mystery from 1976, the ride is well worth the final destination.
As a side note, my next entry will be a book I'm starting as part of an online book discussion, which may or may not add to my review, since the reread of Song of Achilles with them really makes me want to go back and redo that entry.
Showing posts with label Tales of the City. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tales of the City. Show all posts
Saturday, October 12, 2019
Friday, September 27, 2019
The Redemption of Mary Ann
As we begin the final push on Tales of the City, I should point out a few things. As the last third released, I was able to read them as they came out, a luxury I didn't have with the first 6. (The original miniseries on PBS released in 1993. I had the first 3 down by mid 1994, and finished what at the time was the end in 1995.) However, I've only ever read the last third once a piece, and only one was released since I started this blog.
Which brings us to Michael Tolliver Lives, Armistead Maupin's 2007 return to the folks of Barbary Lane. Michael has the odd presentation of being written in First Person, with Michael/Mouse narrating the book in 2007. Oddly, that decision drew a bunch of criticism at the time, as did his claim that it really wasn't part of Tales. The latter he retracted, but most reviews still kvetch about the narrative style. Of course, some of those same reviews also complain that a book narrated by an aging boomer (who technically isn't, but really is) queer who lives north of the Castro is virulently anti-W. Bush.
As we open on Michael, we find that he and Thack are no longer a couple, Thack having moved to Chicago sometime prior. Instead, thanks to the magic of the "dating apps", Michael instead met Ben on a site designed for folks to meet Daddies. We get sordid details of their relationship, from its open nature to getting married at the courthouse during that odd period when San Francisco recognized gay marriage even though no one else really did. (It's kind of odd that so much has changed in 15 years. I had forgotten much of what is contemporary in the book, and I LIVED through it.) Michael sold his half of Plant Parenthood to Brian, who's 61 and looking to retire and drive a Winnebago cross country, even as his daughter Shauna is becoming an internet celebrity. Mrs. Madrigal no longer lives on Barbary Lane, having had a stroke prior to the start. Instead, she lives in a complex with Michael's new business partner, Jake Greenleaf, a female to male transsexual living with two women going the other direction.
We find out Mona died of breast cancer off screen as well, and Mary Ann is seemingly off the radar, mostly retired in Connecticut. But, honestly, most of the regulars aren't the focus until towards the end, as much of this volume concerns Michael's relationship with his mother in Orlando.
Momma, it seems, is in the Gospel Palms nursing home, dying of emphysema. As such, Michael and Ben make a trip back to Orlando, where we get to see his brother and wife and his likely queer grandson. Momma tells Michael a bit about wanting to leave his father, which she did at one point for a 10 day stretch. Michale and his brother don't have much in common, since his brother has evidently embraced Jesus in a big way along with his wife and mother. (The sister-in-law runs a Christian puppet show.) The gays of Orlando aren't particularly as progressive as those in San Fran either, although Michael and Ben do wind up having a menage a trois with Momma's hair dresser, Patreece. Momma, like so many mothers of gay men, has a way of loving her son without really acknowledging who he's sleeping with. Momma does ask Michael to sign her living will, since she has no desire to be kept alive like Terry Schiavo. (In her defense, Momma has come a long way over the series, and honestly, even if it takes Michael time to realize it, she does love him and is proud of him and his husband, even if her framework is a lot different than his.)
Anyway, when Mrs. Madrigal has a heart attack, we get to see Mary Ann again, and we see the renewal of bonds that we thought had ended back in 1989. While she and Brian are not great, and her daughter is a bit off....
By far the thing that sticks with me very hard here is the idea of the logical family vs the biological family, something I also struggle with on occasion. (Boiled down, logical family are the friends who we choose as our own brothers and sisters vs whatever fate has declared to be our blood relatives.) It's obvious Michael and his family have very little in common, but his logical family more than makes up for it in terms of support.
I also find myself saddened by some of the things Michael encounters in the modern era; those that survived the plague now get to balance the possibility of AIDS taking them out, but also old age taking its toll on top of it. We hear bits and pieces of those who, convinced they were going to die, making bad financial decisions and now having to deal with them,; we hear of the dot com bubble and what it did to housing costs in the Bay and how even after the bubble popped, the rent kept on rising.
As much as some people hate this volume, I personally enjoy how it shows how things change over time and how we all progress with the calendar.
Which brings us to Michael Tolliver Lives, Armistead Maupin's 2007 return to the folks of Barbary Lane. Michael has the odd presentation of being written in First Person, with Michael/Mouse narrating the book in 2007. Oddly, that decision drew a bunch of criticism at the time, as did his claim that it really wasn't part of Tales. The latter he retracted, but most reviews still kvetch about the narrative style. Of course, some of those same reviews also complain that a book narrated by an aging boomer (who technically isn't, but really is) queer who lives north of the Castro is virulently anti-W. Bush.
As we open on Michael, we find that he and Thack are no longer a couple, Thack having moved to Chicago sometime prior. Instead, thanks to the magic of the "dating apps", Michael instead met Ben on a site designed for folks to meet Daddies. We get sordid details of their relationship, from its open nature to getting married at the courthouse during that odd period when San Francisco recognized gay marriage even though no one else really did. (It's kind of odd that so much has changed in 15 years. I had forgotten much of what is contemporary in the book, and I LIVED through it.) Michael sold his half of Plant Parenthood to Brian, who's 61 and looking to retire and drive a Winnebago cross country, even as his daughter Shauna is becoming an internet celebrity. Mrs. Madrigal no longer lives on Barbary Lane, having had a stroke prior to the start. Instead, she lives in a complex with Michael's new business partner, Jake Greenleaf, a female to male transsexual living with two women going the other direction.
We find out Mona died of breast cancer off screen as well, and Mary Ann is seemingly off the radar, mostly retired in Connecticut. But, honestly, most of the regulars aren't the focus until towards the end, as much of this volume concerns Michael's relationship with his mother in Orlando.
Momma, it seems, is in the Gospel Palms nursing home, dying of emphysema. As such, Michael and Ben make a trip back to Orlando, where we get to see his brother and wife and his likely queer grandson. Momma tells Michael a bit about wanting to leave his father, which she did at one point for a 10 day stretch. Michale and his brother don't have much in common, since his brother has evidently embraced Jesus in a big way along with his wife and mother. (The sister-in-law runs a Christian puppet show.) The gays of Orlando aren't particularly as progressive as those in San Fran either, although Michael and Ben do wind up having a menage a trois with Momma's hair dresser, Patreece. Momma, like so many mothers of gay men, has a way of loving her son without really acknowledging who he's sleeping with. Momma does ask Michael to sign her living will, since she has no desire to be kept alive like Terry Schiavo. (In her defense, Momma has come a long way over the series, and honestly, even if it takes Michael time to realize it, she does love him and is proud of him and his husband, even if her framework is a lot different than his.)
Anyway, when Mrs. Madrigal has a heart attack, we get to see Mary Ann again, and we see the renewal of bonds that we thought had ended back in 1989. While she and Brian are not great, and her daughter is a bit off....
By far the thing that sticks with me very hard here is the idea of the logical family vs the biological family, something I also struggle with on occasion. (Boiled down, logical family are the friends who we choose as our own brothers and sisters vs whatever fate has declared to be our blood relatives.) It's obvious Michael and his family have very little in common, but his logical family more than makes up for it in terms of support.
I also find myself saddened by some of the things Michael encounters in the modern era; those that survived the plague now get to balance the possibility of AIDS taking them out, but also old age taking its toll on top of it. We hear bits and pieces of those who, convinced they were going to die, making bad financial decisions and now having to deal with them,; we hear of the dot com bubble and what it did to housing costs in the Bay and how even after the bubble popped, the rent kept on rising.
As much as some people hate this volume, I personally enjoy how it shows how things change over time and how we all progress with the calendar.
Saturday, September 7, 2019
Every ending is a new beginning
Sure of You, which until the late 00's was the end of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, remains a painful book to read.
We're in 1988 San Francisco, with Michael and Thack now living together at the north end of the Castro, and Mary Ann and Brian still in their luxury condo atop the Summit, while Mrs. Madrigal still runs her house on Barbary Lane.
As we open, Michael and Brian are partners in ownership of Plant Parenthood, while Mary Ann has a morning show that's part Oprah and part Springer. Mrs. Madrigal is getting ready to go to Lesbos with her daughter Mona for a month or so.
Burke Andrew, last seen running from the cannibal Episcopals in book two, is back in town, offering Mary Ann a syndicated show based in New York.
What follows is the end of Brian and Mary Ann, mixed with Michael's fear about what his 600 T-cells mean in the face of something on his leg, and a few interludes on the beaches of Lesbos.
The problem is that we never really see what has become of Brian and Mary Ann, since their ending is almost bloodless, even as they hurt each other. We see Michael trying to play peacemaker, and Thack becoming more militant as the dying continues. (Seriously, he builds a trellis with hopes of getting pink roses to make a triangle shape on it.) We see Bill Rivera again, last seen in the bushes with Father Paddy at the end of book three.
We also get something similar to ________ ________ back in book three, as we meet the Rands, he a fashion designer, she an admin at the rehab clinic he went through. Rand, who raises money for AIDS with Liz Taylor, but professes his heterosexual love for his wife everywhere he can, is also sleeping with every man who will say yes. That friction between personal and public life really lies like a shark under the waters of the plot, as we discuss the end of Arch Gidde, who died suddenly of "Liver Cancer".
I'm happy we as a society have seemingly gone well beyond this "Hide the faggots in the closet" mentality, but here's a striking reminder of how we swept the dying under a rug and pretended they didn't exist. Something that many of us missed due to age or being dead.
I still cry at the end, even knowing how it all comes out. It hurts. It's not the howling pain that consumed book four, but more the pain and anger of those who have been denied any kind of dignity or acknowledgement of who they are or their personhood.
We're in 1988 San Francisco, with Michael and Thack now living together at the north end of the Castro, and Mary Ann and Brian still in their luxury condo atop the Summit, while Mrs. Madrigal still runs her house on Barbary Lane.
As we open, Michael and Brian are partners in ownership of Plant Parenthood, while Mary Ann has a morning show that's part Oprah and part Springer. Mrs. Madrigal is getting ready to go to Lesbos with her daughter Mona for a month or so.
Burke Andrew, last seen running from the cannibal Episcopals in book two, is back in town, offering Mary Ann a syndicated show based in New York.
What follows is the end of Brian and Mary Ann, mixed with Michael's fear about what his 600 T-cells mean in the face of something on his leg, and a few interludes on the beaches of Lesbos.
The problem is that we never really see what has become of Brian and Mary Ann, since their ending is almost bloodless, even as they hurt each other. We see Michael trying to play peacemaker, and Thack becoming more militant as the dying continues. (Seriously, he builds a trellis with hopes of getting pink roses to make a triangle shape on it.) We see Bill Rivera again, last seen in the bushes with Father Paddy at the end of book three.
We also get something similar to ________ ________ back in book three, as we meet the Rands, he a fashion designer, she an admin at the rehab clinic he went through. Rand, who raises money for AIDS with Liz Taylor, but professes his heterosexual love for his wife everywhere he can, is also sleeping with every man who will say yes. That friction between personal and public life really lies like a shark under the waters of the plot, as we discuss the end of Arch Gidde, who died suddenly of "Liver Cancer".
I'm happy we as a society have seemingly gone well beyond this "Hide the faggots in the closet" mentality, but here's a striking reminder of how we swept the dying under a rug and pretended they didn't exist. Something that many of us missed due to age or being dead.
I still cry at the end, even knowing how it all comes out. It hurts. It's not the howling pain that consumed book four, but more the pain and anger of those who have been denied any kind of dignity or acknowledgement of who they are or their personhood.
Friday, August 23, 2019
Oh yeah, this is where Mary Ann gets evil
Hey, it's the second part of the twofer, with Volume 5 of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, Significant Others.
Again, we're mid 80's and dealing with AIDS and its impact on San Francisco. Michale has been diagnosed as HIV antibody positive and has been mostly virginal since that result. His friends are trying to change that. So, when he meets Thack on Alcatraz as part of a dying friend's bucket list, a new relationship gets planted. Mary Ann, on the other hand, is now running her own local version of Donahue, and is going to appear on Entertainment Tonight. Brian's uptight nephew arrives in town, leading to Brian to find one of his old conquests to deflower him. Mrs. Madrigal is trying to save the wooden steps leading up to Barbary Lane. Mona is dating a post mistress in England. DeDe and D'or are headed to Wimminwood, while DeDe's mother's husband Booter is headed to the Bohemian Grove. We meet Wren Douglas, the plus sized model, who ends up getting hired by Booter for an extended weekend.
Things get complicated as Brian ends up heading north with Thack and Michael as he deal with his own HIV scare (This alone leads to one of the most painful exchanges in the book), Booter's friend dies, sending him drunk in a canoe down river, and DeDe and D'or start fighting about trends in feminism and lesbianism of the era. (DeDe, being a Dowry Dyke, is a lot more conservative than Radical D'or, D'or wants to go topless, DeDe doesn't, DeDe pulls a security shift at the festival and winds up letting rednecks in who trash the place, D'or lusts after lesbian poet Sabra....)
With Booter floating down the river, he misses an appointment with Wren, who calls in Thack and Michael to find out what happened. Brian ends up joining Wren and finally working through many of his issues by talking with her. Booter winds up at Wimminwood, captive of Rose, the authoritarian head of security.
It all eventually works, out, and Brian does eventually tell Mary Ann what happened. The one question I wind up with has to do with Sabra, whom I assume is a cypher, much the way ____ _____ was for Rock Hudson a few books back. The question is whom she's supposed to be.
This installment has a bit more humor than the other two books in the middle third, but it also has a bunch of meditations on love and loss, and occasional new beginnings. Probably the best of the middle three.
Again, we're mid 80's and dealing with AIDS and its impact on San Francisco. Michale has been diagnosed as HIV antibody positive and has been mostly virginal since that result. His friends are trying to change that. So, when he meets Thack on Alcatraz as part of a dying friend's bucket list, a new relationship gets planted. Mary Ann, on the other hand, is now running her own local version of Donahue, and is going to appear on Entertainment Tonight. Brian's uptight nephew arrives in town, leading to Brian to find one of his old conquests to deflower him. Mrs. Madrigal is trying to save the wooden steps leading up to Barbary Lane. Mona is dating a post mistress in England. DeDe and D'or are headed to Wimminwood, while DeDe's mother's husband Booter is headed to the Bohemian Grove. We meet Wren Douglas, the plus sized model, who ends up getting hired by Booter for an extended weekend.
Things get complicated as Brian ends up heading north with Thack and Michael as he deal with his own HIV scare (This alone leads to one of the most painful exchanges in the book), Booter's friend dies, sending him drunk in a canoe down river, and DeDe and D'or start fighting about trends in feminism and lesbianism of the era. (DeDe, being a Dowry Dyke, is a lot more conservative than Radical D'or, D'or wants to go topless, DeDe doesn't, DeDe pulls a security shift at the festival and winds up letting rednecks in who trash the place, D'or lusts after lesbian poet Sabra....)
With Booter floating down the river, he misses an appointment with Wren, who calls in Thack and Michael to find out what happened. Brian ends up joining Wren and finally working through many of his issues by talking with her. Booter winds up at Wimminwood, captive of Rose, the authoritarian head of security.
It all eventually works, out, and Brian does eventually tell Mary Ann what happened. The one question I wind up with has to do with Sabra, whom I assume is a cypher, much the way ____ _____ was for Rock Hudson a few books back. The question is whom she's supposed to be.
This installment has a bit more humor than the other two books in the middle third, but it also has a bunch of meditations on love and loss, and occasional new beginnings. Probably the best of the middle three.
Saturday, August 3, 2019
Love in the time of a different plague
Part two of the twofer.
Book 4 of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, Significant Others, starts the second third of the 9 volume series and brings us into the early years of the AIDS crisis. Which unfortunately means we hit one of the more controversial aspects of the series, as Michael's lover Jon dies a few months prior to the beginning of the book. We'll return here in a second. We start with Queen Elizabeth arriving in San Francisco following a night on the QEII with Ron and Nancy Reagan.
Her Majesty flies to San Francisco due to bad weather, although her ship sails in later to take her to Seattle. However, her arrival does mean Mary Anne, now hosting Bay Window on the TV, has to cover anything Queen related, leading to some stress in her marriage with Brian. Brian, who's having issues at his wait job, wants a baby. Mary Anne does as well, but she's found out Brian is sterile. Not that she's told Brian any of this.
Anyway, the widow Michael is mourning, and the rain isn't helping matters. Ned shuts down the greenhouse for a month and takes Michael and a few other friends to Death Valley camping.Which gives a bit of a peek into the lives of gay men in San Francisco as the dying begins. (Like one random waiter discussing how he's quit cruising Folsum Street in favor of cashmere bars for safety, or a discussion while camping about the sudden impetus to use condoms.)
While covering the Queen's departure, Mary Anne meets Simon, a radioman from on board the ship who has gone AWOL. Simon eventually works out an apartment swap with Michael, sending Michael to London for a month. (Simon also bears a striking resemblance to Brian, which becomes important later.)
We get reintroduced to Mrs. Madrigal's daughter Mona, briefly at first, as she works in a copy shop in Seattle.
Michael's adventures in London eventually lead to him finding Mona in Easley-on-Hill as she's set to get a green card marriage to the current Lord Roughton who wants to move to San Francisco.
Brian and Mary Anne have a huge fight after it becomes known Mary Anne has been sleeping with Simon, but it works out as Mary Anne's friend Connie dies in childbirth and leaves them her baby, Shawna.
This middle third is really rough in several places, and what up until book 7 came out was a really ugly ending to a good series. While this book does have some shining moments, it lacks some of the lightheartedness that the first three had. (This is not to say the darkness is new, but it's much more visceral here.)
Book 4 of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, Significant Others, starts the second third of the 9 volume series and brings us into the early years of the AIDS crisis. Which unfortunately means we hit one of the more controversial aspects of the series, as Michael's lover Jon dies a few months prior to the beginning of the book. We'll return here in a second. We start with Queen Elizabeth arriving in San Francisco following a night on the QEII with Ron and Nancy Reagan.
Her Majesty flies to San Francisco due to bad weather, although her ship sails in later to take her to Seattle. However, her arrival does mean Mary Anne, now hosting Bay Window on the TV, has to cover anything Queen related, leading to some stress in her marriage with Brian. Brian, who's having issues at his wait job, wants a baby. Mary Anne does as well, but she's found out Brian is sterile. Not that she's told Brian any of this.
Anyway, the widow Michael is mourning, and the rain isn't helping matters. Ned shuts down the greenhouse for a month and takes Michael and a few other friends to Death Valley camping.Which gives a bit of a peek into the lives of gay men in San Francisco as the dying begins. (Like one random waiter discussing how he's quit cruising Folsum Street in favor of cashmere bars for safety, or a discussion while camping about the sudden impetus to use condoms.)
While covering the Queen's departure, Mary Anne meets Simon, a radioman from on board the ship who has gone AWOL. Simon eventually works out an apartment swap with Michael, sending Michael to London for a month. (Simon also bears a striking resemblance to Brian, which becomes important later.)
We get reintroduced to Mrs. Madrigal's daughter Mona, briefly at first, as she works in a copy shop in Seattle.
Michael's adventures in London eventually lead to him finding Mona in Easley-on-Hill as she's set to get a green card marriage to the current Lord Roughton who wants to move to San Francisco.
Brian and Mary Anne have a huge fight after it becomes known Mary Anne has been sleeping with Simon, but it works out as Mary Anne's friend Connie dies in childbirth and leaves them her baby, Shawna.
This middle third is really rough in several places, and what up until book 7 came out was a really ugly ending to a good series. While this book does have some shining moments, it lacks some of the lightheartedness that the first three had. (This is not to say the darkness is new, but it's much more visceral here.)
Thursday, June 20, 2019
In Guyana
I finished Further Tales of the City earlier as part of my goal to re-read the series prior to July's vacation. While this one continues the story, it's also the beginning of a more novel like structure for the narrative verses mini stories connecting over a longer period.
And what a story this one is. Unlike the previous volume, with the cannibal Episcopals, this one involves the aftermath of Jonestown, brought through by gay Cuban refugee DeDe Halcyon Day, who joined the People's Temple with her lover D'orothea at the end of the last volume.
As we begin this one, Jon and Michael are no longer together, but Michael is working with Ned at God's Green Earth, a nursery. Ned is the former lover of ______ ______, a movie star who's very closeted. (By all accounts, this was a cypher for Rock Hudson.) Michael is going through a Country Western phase, offset by the ABBA loving cop Bill Rivera, his friend with benefits.
Mona has moved to Seattle, because it's the eighties, so she never shows up.
Mary Ann is now dating Brian, who still is waiting tables and feeling bad about not making as much as Mary Ann, who has a job hosting afternoon movies and selling bargains during her promos.
Ah yes, and Prue Giroux, the shallow gossip columnist from Western Gentry who's dog Vuitton goes missing ion the park, meets Luke, a bum living in a shack in the park. Her Priest (and source of much gossip, Father Starr) sets them up to go on a cruise to Alaska to meet and have a socially acceptable way to have a romance.
Problem being this is the same cruise DeDe send her mother and her children on while she searches for something. That something would be the convoluted plot twist that Jim Jones had a body double who was the one who had the Congressman shot and then ordered the suicide pact. The real Jim Jones is back in San Francisco and living in a shack in the park.
Which all leads to "Luke" kidnapping the twins in Sitka, leading to a long wild goose chase across the Aleutians by Mary Ann and DeDe.
It should be noted that Jon is the doctor on the cruise ship, and Frannie manages to more or less get him to go see Michael.
Which, of course, his arrival happens as the Barbary men and Mrs. Madrigal have taken Mary Ann's coworker hostage to keep her from breaking the DeDe story based on Mary Ann's notes left at the station as she raced to Alaska.
Oh, we also get Michael's Gay Men's Chorus tour, his affair with _____ _____, and the marriage of Brian and Mary Ann.
Eventually we'll get into the next book, at which point you'll all get to hear me complain about Jon's off page death as AIDS enters San Francisco officially.
And what a story this one is. Unlike the previous volume, with the cannibal Episcopals, this one involves the aftermath of Jonestown, brought through by gay Cuban refugee DeDe Halcyon Day, who joined the People's Temple with her lover D'orothea at the end of the last volume.
As we begin this one, Jon and Michael are no longer together, but Michael is working with Ned at God's Green Earth, a nursery. Ned is the former lover of ______ ______, a movie star who's very closeted. (By all accounts, this was a cypher for Rock Hudson.) Michael is going through a Country Western phase, offset by the ABBA loving cop Bill Rivera, his friend with benefits.
Mona has moved to Seattle, because it's the eighties, so she never shows up.
Mary Ann is now dating Brian, who still is waiting tables and feeling bad about not making as much as Mary Ann, who has a job hosting afternoon movies and selling bargains during her promos.
Ah yes, and Prue Giroux, the shallow gossip columnist from Western Gentry who's dog Vuitton goes missing ion the park, meets Luke, a bum living in a shack in the park. Her Priest (and source of much gossip, Father Starr) sets them up to go on a cruise to Alaska to meet and have a socially acceptable way to have a romance.
Problem being this is the same cruise DeDe send her mother and her children on while she searches for something. That something would be the convoluted plot twist that Jim Jones had a body double who was the one who had the Congressman shot and then ordered the suicide pact. The real Jim Jones is back in San Francisco and living in a shack in the park.
Which all leads to "Luke" kidnapping the twins in Sitka, leading to a long wild goose chase across the Aleutians by Mary Ann and DeDe.
It should be noted that Jon is the doctor on the cruise ship, and Frannie manages to more or less get him to go see Michael.
Which, of course, his arrival happens as the Barbary men and Mrs. Madrigal have taken Mary Ann's coworker hostage to keep her from breaking the DeDe story based on Mary Ann's notes left at the station as she raced to Alaska.
Oh, we also get Michael's Gay Men's Chorus tour, his affair with _____ _____, and the marriage of Brian and Mary Ann.
Eventually we'll get into the next book, at which point you'll all get to hear me complain about Jon's off page death as AIDS enters San Francisco officially.
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Winnemucca Woman
Finished Armistead Maupin's More Tales of the City this morning prior to my ultrasound, and again felt the pleasure of enjoying a good read. (Goal is to make it through all 9 volumes before July, but going on Library copies from this point forwad, since I've managed to lose my collection.)
Anyway, while some of the darkness we got a small peak at in the first volume pops up here, it's not nearly as much of a character as it winds up being in later volumes. I mean, really, the worst we get to deal with is the Cannibal Episcopal Cult at Grace Cathedral, and even that is not quite as bad as later events.
We start on Valentine's Day as Michael and Mary Ann make resolutions for their love lives. As it turns out, Mary Ann's boss (who was having an affair with their landlady in the last volume) left her a substantial gift in his will, allowing her and Michael to take an 11 day cruise on the Pacific Princess to Acapulco. Much to the chagrin of new boss Beauchamp, who's busy dealing with the revelation that his wife DeDe is giving birth to twins from a Chinese father. DeDe's mother, Frannie, on the other hand, is dealing with turning 60 when she gets a surprise for her birthday. Mona is having issues with being alone, so she hops a bus to Reno and instead gets suckered in to working phones at a whorehouse in Winnemucca. Brian, now living in Norman Neil Williams's little house on the roof, is busy watching a woman with binoculars in another building. And Mrs. Madrigal remains as she has been, with hers being one of the largest revelations in the book.
On the cruise, Mary Ann meets and falls in love with Blonde himbo Burke, who has amnesia about his 3 years in San Francisco. Michael resigns himself to being alone until he hits the only gay bar in Acapulco and runs into his former lover Jon. Sparks fly, and by the time they reach San Francisco, all of 'em are happily coupled again.
DeDe manages to befriend D'orothea unexpectedly after she leaves Beauchamp. Beauchamp, upset over the scandal of her children hires someone to beat her up to terminate the pregnancy. (The fact he's cruising the bathhouses looking for men is evidently less of a concern to him than his wife's mixed heritage babies.)
Burke, as it turns out, has issues related to his amnesia like a feal of fenced walkways and puking at the sight of roses. He also remembers a strange rhyme in his sleep and recognizes a man with a hair transplant.
Mona, out in Winnemucca, discovers her name in of the books, calls San Francisco, and the big secret comes out. Mother Mucca, nee Mona Ramsay, is her grandmother. Mrs. Madrigal is actually Mona's father (sort of).
Mrs. Madrigal does try to get Mona and Brian together, but the lady across the city causes issues.
Michael comes down with Guillain-Barre and winds up hospitalized while his mother writes him letters about she and her husband joining Anita Bryant's Save Our Children. Which does lead to a very powerful moment when Michael writes home to mom and dad, discussing his own homosexuality.
By the end, we find out Burke's amnesia was due to trying to break open a story about a cult eating human flesh during Communion, we find out Brian's nightly appointment was actually Mona's mother, we find out what the anagram in Mrs. Madrigal's name is, and we get to see Michael and Jon happy for the moment. (Spoiler: this doesn't last. They're divorced and reconcile in the next book, then Jon dies off page in book 4.)
While this volume ramps up the soap opera nature of the narrative, it's still so much fun to read.
Anyway, while some of the darkness we got a small peak at in the first volume pops up here, it's not nearly as much of a character as it winds up being in later volumes. I mean, really, the worst we get to deal with is the Cannibal Episcopal Cult at Grace Cathedral, and even that is not quite as bad as later events.
We start on Valentine's Day as Michael and Mary Ann make resolutions for their love lives. As it turns out, Mary Ann's boss (who was having an affair with their landlady in the last volume) left her a substantial gift in his will, allowing her and Michael to take an 11 day cruise on the Pacific Princess to Acapulco. Much to the chagrin of new boss Beauchamp, who's busy dealing with the revelation that his wife DeDe is giving birth to twins from a Chinese father. DeDe's mother, Frannie, on the other hand, is dealing with turning 60 when she gets a surprise for her birthday. Mona is having issues with being alone, so she hops a bus to Reno and instead gets suckered in to working phones at a whorehouse in Winnemucca. Brian, now living in Norman Neil Williams's little house on the roof, is busy watching a woman with binoculars in another building. And Mrs. Madrigal remains as she has been, with hers being one of the largest revelations in the book.
On the cruise, Mary Ann meets and falls in love with Blonde himbo Burke, who has amnesia about his 3 years in San Francisco. Michael resigns himself to being alone until he hits the only gay bar in Acapulco and runs into his former lover Jon. Sparks fly, and by the time they reach San Francisco, all of 'em are happily coupled again.
DeDe manages to befriend D'orothea unexpectedly after she leaves Beauchamp. Beauchamp, upset over the scandal of her children hires someone to beat her up to terminate the pregnancy. (The fact he's cruising the bathhouses looking for men is evidently less of a concern to him than his wife's mixed heritage babies.)
Burke, as it turns out, has issues related to his amnesia like a feal of fenced walkways and puking at the sight of roses. He also remembers a strange rhyme in his sleep and recognizes a man with a hair transplant.
Mona, out in Winnemucca, discovers her name in of the books, calls San Francisco, and the big secret comes out. Mother Mucca, nee Mona Ramsay, is her grandmother. Mrs. Madrigal is actually Mona's father (sort of).
Mrs. Madrigal does try to get Mona and Brian together, but the lady across the city causes issues.
Michael comes down with Guillain-Barre and winds up hospitalized while his mother writes him letters about she and her husband joining Anita Bryant's Save Our Children. Which does lead to a very powerful moment when Michael writes home to mom and dad, discussing his own homosexuality.
By the end, we find out Burke's amnesia was due to trying to break open a story about a cult eating human flesh during Communion, we find out Brian's nightly appointment was actually Mona's mother, we find out what the anagram in Mrs. Madrigal's name is, and we get to see Michael and Jon happy for the moment. (Spoiler: this doesn't last. They're divorced and reconcile in the next book, then Jon dies off page in book 4.)
While this volume ramps up the soap opera nature of the narrative, it's still so much fun to read.
Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Golden Years
I hadn't been planning on revisiting Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City quite this early, but I needed something in a hurry, so I grabbed it off the shelf again for a quick trip back to Bicentennial San Francisco. While I doubt my July trip to the city will find the magic within this particular volume and its subsequent sequels, it's so much fun to visit.
We start with Mary Ann Singleton, Cleveland native, as she decides to quit her job at the fertilizer company and move to the City by the Bay. Mind you, she telephones her parents from the city to tell them this as her mood ring turns blue... She moves in with her friend Connie briefly until she can secure an apartment and a job. Connie is very... kitchy. She has a pet rock. She introduces Mary Ann to the Marina Safeway dating game and the Dance Your Ass Off club. Eventually, Mary Ann finds Mrs. Madrigal and her rooming house at 28 Barbary Lane on Russian Hill. Mrs. Madrigal grows marijuana with names like Barbara Stanwyck in her garden. She also has a hidden past that we only get hints of in this volume.
In the house, we also have Mona and her eventual roommate Michael. Mona works as a creative copy at Halcyon Communications, although she ends up quitting when one of the clients says some really rude things to her. Michael is gay (shocking in 1976 San Francisco), and his horrible love life forms part of the narrative. In this volume, he meets gay gynecologist Jon at gay skate night, then eventually loses him when Jon walks in on him dancing in his jockey shorts at Endup.
We have Brian Hawkins, a former civil rights lawyer now waiting tables at Perry's. He's straight and making the most of the meet market that is San Francisco.
Eventually we get Norman Neil Williams, who... well, he's really not very nice.
Mixed in with this, we meet Edgar and Frannie Halcyon, Mary ann and Mona's boss and his wife; Beauchamp and DeDe Day, Edgar's daughter and son-in law; and D'orothea, Mona's ex lover who she winds up moving in with again.
All of these lives wind up mixing with each other, as Beauchamp ends up sleeping with both May Ann and Jon, Edgar and Mrs. Madrigal have a nice affair as he deals with renal failure, Brian and Mary ann date briefly, Brian and Michael become good friends, Norman falls off a cliff, D'orothea turns out not to be as black as she pretended to be. (I never said it wound up being politically correct.)
As I recall, I wound up reading the first three in high school after watching the miniseries based on book 1. I read what was the last 3 much later in college, and what's now the final 3 as they were released. My love for them remains strong, even now. Reading the first volume again reminded me of how much I loved the interconnected nature of the narrative, a gay character (who, even if he is referred to as a twink) I could relate to, and the idea that friendship is found in strange places.
We start with Mary Ann Singleton, Cleveland native, as she decides to quit her job at the fertilizer company and move to the City by the Bay. Mind you, she telephones her parents from the city to tell them this as her mood ring turns blue... She moves in with her friend Connie briefly until she can secure an apartment and a job. Connie is very... kitchy. She has a pet rock. She introduces Mary Ann to the Marina Safeway dating game and the Dance Your Ass Off club. Eventually, Mary Ann finds Mrs. Madrigal and her rooming house at 28 Barbary Lane on Russian Hill. Mrs. Madrigal grows marijuana with names like Barbara Stanwyck in her garden. She also has a hidden past that we only get hints of in this volume.
In the house, we also have Mona and her eventual roommate Michael. Mona works as a creative copy at Halcyon Communications, although she ends up quitting when one of the clients says some really rude things to her. Michael is gay (shocking in 1976 San Francisco), and his horrible love life forms part of the narrative. In this volume, he meets gay gynecologist Jon at gay skate night, then eventually loses him when Jon walks in on him dancing in his jockey shorts at Endup.
We have Brian Hawkins, a former civil rights lawyer now waiting tables at Perry's. He's straight and making the most of the meet market that is San Francisco.
Eventually we get Norman Neil Williams, who... well, he's really not very nice.
Mixed in with this, we meet Edgar and Frannie Halcyon, Mary ann and Mona's boss and his wife; Beauchamp and DeDe Day, Edgar's daughter and son-in law; and D'orothea, Mona's ex lover who she winds up moving in with again.
All of these lives wind up mixing with each other, as Beauchamp ends up sleeping with both May Ann and Jon, Edgar and Mrs. Madrigal have a nice affair as he deals with renal failure, Brian and Mary ann date briefly, Brian and Michael become good friends, Norman falls off a cliff, D'orothea turns out not to be as black as she pretended to be. (I never said it wound up being politically correct.)
As I recall, I wound up reading the first three in high school after watching the miniseries based on book 1. I read what was the last 3 much later in college, and what's now the final 3 as they were released. My love for them remains strong, even now. Reading the first volume again reminded me of how much I loved the interconnected nature of the narrative, a gay character (who, even if he is referred to as a twink) I could relate to, and the idea that friendship is found in strange places.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Abyssinia
I posted about Tales of the City back in October not long after finding out that Book 9, The Days of Anna Madrigal, would be released this year. Happily, the book indeed got released, and I finished the book Sunday on my lunch break. Amis tears. If I were a drag queen, my mascara would be running.
It's a very touching book and a fitting end to a series that started in the 70s and has continued sporadically since then.
As Days starts, we find the nonagenarian Mrs. Madrigal living quietly in San Francisco, being helped by FTM trans person Jake (who's hysterectomy was one of the plots in the last book, Mary Ann in Autumn). A phone call from Brian Hawkins informs us that he's found a new woman to ride around in his Winnebago cross country. We find out shortly thereafter that this mystery woman is someone we met back in Significant Others. Wren Douglas, the World's Most Beautiful Fat Woman, as she used to be known, is now Mrs. Brian Hawkins. Brian and Wren end up taking Mrs. Madrigal across state borders to Winnemucca, Nevada, where a young Mrs. Madrigal grew up as Andy Ramsey at the Blue Moon Brothel.
In the mean time, Jake, Amos (Jake's cis-gendered partner), Shawna (Brian and Mary Ann's adopted daughter), Michael, and Ben (Michael's much younger boyfriend) plot a trip further south in Nevada to Burning Man. Jake has created an art car to honor Mrs. Madrigal as a pioneer in the trans community. Shawna wants to get pregnant at Burning Man, preferably with Ben's sperm. Michale is worried he's too old and fat to enjoy himself. He's also grossed out by Shawna's sperm request.
And between all of these plots, Mrs. Madrigal keeps flashing back to being 16 at the Blue Moon, revealing her past. And oh wow, what a humdinger that is. Margaret, Mother Mucca's good friend and older call girl, helps Andy find himself, usually with turquoise pedicures and shimmering nightgowns. We meet Lasko, the handsome Basque and Mexican boy who works at the local Pharmacy, when not in school or helping at his parents' restaurant. Andy had a bit of a crush on Lasko, who he once watched running in native costume at a festival. Lasko...oh Lasko. The love story here is like so many young loves short and very poignant. While I can't say I ever went to quite the extremes Andy and Lasko did, I understand all too well the desire to hurt someone you care about because you yourself are hurting. I'm not sure I needed that reminder of my misspent youth.
At Burning Man itself, we find out Mary Ann is also there, eventually bringing back some of the magic from the earlier books, where coincidence abounds. (There are a few passages where Brian tried to explain the magic of coincidence that permeates the series. While it's slightly unbelievable, it's also quite charming.) And the serendipity effect is still blossoming here, what with Jake's trying to be ex-gay boyfriend from the last book being strongly hinted at being dressed as a satyr at Burning Man, as well as pretty much falling in at all the right places towards the climax of the novel.
One thing I both loved and hated was the ending. It's quite enigmatic. While I assume one thing, it's written in such a way that many other things might also be true. And, as sad as I am that the series in ending (again), this is as good of an ending as we could have wished for. At least it doesn't end with a sympathetic character going off the deep end and moving to New York.
It's a very touching book and a fitting end to a series that started in the 70s and has continued sporadically since then.
As Days starts, we find the nonagenarian Mrs. Madrigal living quietly in San Francisco, being helped by FTM trans person Jake (who's hysterectomy was one of the plots in the last book, Mary Ann in Autumn). A phone call from Brian Hawkins informs us that he's found a new woman to ride around in his Winnebago cross country. We find out shortly thereafter that this mystery woman is someone we met back in Significant Others. Wren Douglas, the World's Most Beautiful Fat Woman, as she used to be known, is now Mrs. Brian Hawkins. Brian and Wren end up taking Mrs. Madrigal across state borders to Winnemucca, Nevada, where a young Mrs. Madrigal grew up as Andy Ramsey at the Blue Moon Brothel.
In the mean time, Jake, Amos (Jake's cis-gendered partner), Shawna (Brian and Mary Ann's adopted daughter), Michael, and Ben (Michael's much younger boyfriend) plot a trip further south in Nevada to Burning Man. Jake has created an art car to honor Mrs. Madrigal as a pioneer in the trans community. Shawna wants to get pregnant at Burning Man, preferably with Ben's sperm. Michale is worried he's too old and fat to enjoy himself. He's also grossed out by Shawna's sperm request.
And between all of these plots, Mrs. Madrigal keeps flashing back to being 16 at the Blue Moon, revealing her past. And oh wow, what a humdinger that is. Margaret, Mother Mucca's good friend and older call girl, helps Andy find himself, usually with turquoise pedicures and shimmering nightgowns. We meet Lasko, the handsome Basque and Mexican boy who works at the local Pharmacy, when not in school or helping at his parents' restaurant. Andy had a bit of a crush on Lasko, who he once watched running in native costume at a festival. Lasko...oh Lasko. The love story here is like so many young loves short and very poignant. While I can't say I ever went to quite the extremes Andy and Lasko did, I understand all too well the desire to hurt someone you care about because you yourself are hurting. I'm not sure I needed that reminder of my misspent youth.
At Burning Man itself, we find out Mary Ann is also there, eventually bringing back some of the magic from the earlier books, where coincidence abounds. (There are a few passages where Brian tried to explain the magic of coincidence that permeates the series. While it's slightly unbelievable, it's also quite charming.) And the serendipity effect is still blossoming here, what with Jake's trying to be ex-gay boyfriend from the last book being strongly hinted at being dressed as a satyr at Burning Man, as well as pretty much falling in at all the right places towards the climax of the novel.
One thing I both loved and hated was the ending. It's quite enigmatic. While I assume one thing, it's written in such a way that many other things might also be true. And, as sad as I am that the series in ending (again), this is as good of an ending as we could have wished for. At least it doesn't end with a sympathetic character going off the deep end and moving to New York.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
When we were young and our Mood Rings were blue...
National Coming Out Day is October 11th, and I'm only about halfway through my current read, so YAY survey/synopsis!
I'll preface this by saying I had never heard of this series until TV guide spotlighted the PBS premier of the mini-series based on book 1, Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin. I watched the series, and wound up enraptured by the full on 70's in California story. As I recall, I had an appointment with my shrink in Dayton not long after, and wound up buying the first three books at the old Books & Company I'd visit after sessions.
The story starts with Mary Ann Singleton, on vacation in San Francisco from Cleveland, calling home and explaining to her parents that she's decided to stay in San Francisco. A few chapters later, after taking us shopping at Safeway for more than veggies, Mary ann winds up moving in to 28 Barbary Lane on Russian Hill, under the management of one Mrs. Anna Madrigal. Along with the other tenants; Brian, the straight himbo who waits tables at Perry's and Mona Ramsey, an aging hippie who works at Halcyon as an advertising executive, a sort of family forms. As the novel progresses, we meet Michael, Mona's new roommate, who's ex boyfriend Mary Ann tried to pick up at the Safeway. We also meet Norman Neil Williams, who has the roof apartment and sells vitamins.
By the end of the first book, Mary Ann has had an affair with Beauchamp Day, who is married to her boss's daughter, DeDe. Beauchamp has also been screwing around with Michael's on again, off again lover, Jon Fielding, who's also DeDe's gynecologist. (DeDe gets knocked up by the Asian grocery delivery boy.) DeDe's father, Edgar, has been having an affair of his own with Mrs. Madrigal, even if he doesn't like her marijuana habits. (She has plants growing in the yard with names like Barbara Stanwyck. She also has joints at the ready for all of her "children".) Mona has moved in with D'orothea, an African American model, but that ends in disaster when Mona invites D'or parents to Christmas dinner. Brian, in the meantime, has hooked up with several women. (As a character, he really doesn't grow much until the next book.) Oh, and Mary Ann has found out Norman Neil Williams has been investigating Mrs. Madrigal, stars in child porn, and manages to drop him off a cliff.
The next two books expand on these characters. More Tales of the City starts with Mary Ann and Michael on a cruise and ends with a cannibal Episcopal cult. Further Tales of the City winds up with a bunch of Jim Jones in Guyana aftermath. (Given I read this one before I had ever been on the internet, I had to do a bit of research. I was familiar with some of it, but there's a heck of a lot involved.)
Now, to a high school senior dealing with a bunch of issues related to coming out, these books were awesome. Gay characters abounded, and a virtual array of possibilities were explored by pretty much everyone. Plus there's an awesome letter that Michael writes to his mother during the Anita Bryant affairs. They gave hope to a fairly lonely gay young man who had a few issues of his own at the time.
I didn't pick up the next three books until my sophomore year in college. See, book 3 ends right on the cusp of the time that so many gay men in San Francisco started getting odd cancers. Book 4, Babycakes, picks up after AIDS has pretty much destroyed gay life as portrayed in the previous books. I cried for about 30 minutes after starting, since it seems Jon died between books. Out of all of the things in the series, having Jon die off screen was probably the one thing that made me angry. Anyway, Significant Others and Sure of You round out the next three books. Which basically turn Mary Ann into a shrew. After she marries Brian,things...don't go well. They have a kid via adoption, but Mary Ann, who becomes something of a TV personality. We see Michael not only survive AIDS, but thrive as a gay man entering his 40's. And fall in love again. We see Mrs. Madrigal growing older. We learn that everything changes over time. And we end in 1989.
Which, as I read these in 1996, I was really upset by the way things ended. I mean, on one hand, Michael, to me and so many other gay men, was proof that we're not alone in our feelings of insecurity and that we can survive just about everything. But when Mary Ann ceases to be a likable character, it's a bit like losing an old friend. And given that book 6 was the last in the series for quite some time...
Then 2007 rolled in and Michael Tolliver Lives hit the shelves. It was a bit different than what preceded it, since it was written in first person. We see Brian and Mary Ann's daughter all grown up, meet a trans man, and see Michael who's survived AIDS and the dot-com boom as he tries to choose between his biological family and his family of choice. We also meet Mary Ann again, living in Connecticut, and find out a bit of what happened to her after 28 years or so. In the end, Michael's decisions make sense and hit right in the feels.
And in 2010, Mary Ann in Autumn brought us back to San Francisco, again with the multiple perspectives, and added some closure on one very old plotline in the process. We deal with Mary Ann's fear for her health, and her attempts to fix relationships she messed up years ago.
These two did much to repair the anger I felt after Sure of You. It was almost like a reunion of sorts, where you find that tiem healed a bunch of wounds you'd forgotten you had.
And now, I get to add The Days of Anna Madrigal to my watch list, since it will be the last. Sort of a trilogy of trilogies, I guess. It's going to be odd realizing that this will probably be the last time we see a family that's been around in fiction for 35 years, but it helps that the final act has rectified some of the worst moments of earlier years. I only hope that we get a happy ending, or at least one that is fulfilling here.
I'll preface this by saying I had never heard of this series until TV guide spotlighted the PBS premier of the mini-series based on book 1, Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin. I watched the series, and wound up enraptured by the full on 70's in California story. As I recall, I had an appointment with my shrink in Dayton not long after, and wound up buying the first three books at the old Books & Company I'd visit after sessions.
The story starts with Mary Ann Singleton, on vacation in San Francisco from Cleveland, calling home and explaining to her parents that she's decided to stay in San Francisco. A few chapters later, after taking us shopping at Safeway for more than veggies, Mary ann winds up moving in to 28 Barbary Lane on Russian Hill, under the management of one Mrs. Anna Madrigal. Along with the other tenants; Brian, the straight himbo who waits tables at Perry's and Mona Ramsey, an aging hippie who works at Halcyon as an advertising executive, a sort of family forms. As the novel progresses, we meet Michael, Mona's new roommate, who's ex boyfriend Mary Ann tried to pick up at the Safeway. We also meet Norman Neil Williams, who has the roof apartment and sells vitamins.
By the end of the first book, Mary Ann has had an affair with Beauchamp Day, who is married to her boss's daughter, DeDe. Beauchamp has also been screwing around with Michael's on again, off again lover, Jon Fielding, who's also DeDe's gynecologist. (DeDe gets knocked up by the Asian grocery delivery boy.) DeDe's father, Edgar, has been having an affair of his own with Mrs. Madrigal, even if he doesn't like her marijuana habits. (She has plants growing in the yard with names like Barbara Stanwyck. She also has joints at the ready for all of her "children".) Mona has moved in with D'orothea, an African American model, but that ends in disaster when Mona invites D'or parents to Christmas dinner. Brian, in the meantime, has hooked up with several women. (As a character, he really doesn't grow much until the next book.) Oh, and Mary Ann has found out Norman Neil Williams has been investigating Mrs. Madrigal, stars in child porn, and manages to drop him off a cliff.
The next two books expand on these characters. More Tales of the City starts with Mary Ann and Michael on a cruise and ends with a cannibal Episcopal cult. Further Tales of the City winds up with a bunch of Jim Jones in Guyana aftermath. (Given I read this one before I had ever been on the internet, I had to do a bit of research. I was familiar with some of it, but there's a heck of a lot involved.)
Now, to a high school senior dealing with a bunch of issues related to coming out, these books were awesome. Gay characters abounded, and a virtual array of possibilities were explored by pretty much everyone. Plus there's an awesome letter that Michael writes to his mother during the Anita Bryant affairs. They gave hope to a fairly lonely gay young man who had a few issues of his own at the time.
I didn't pick up the next three books until my sophomore year in college. See, book 3 ends right on the cusp of the time that so many gay men in San Francisco started getting odd cancers. Book 4, Babycakes, picks up after AIDS has pretty much destroyed gay life as portrayed in the previous books. I cried for about 30 minutes after starting, since it seems Jon died between books. Out of all of the things in the series, having Jon die off screen was probably the one thing that made me angry. Anyway, Significant Others and Sure of You round out the next three books. Which basically turn Mary Ann into a shrew. After she marries Brian,things...don't go well. They have a kid via adoption, but Mary Ann, who becomes something of a TV personality. We see Michael not only survive AIDS, but thrive as a gay man entering his 40's. And fall in love again. We see Mrs. Madrigal growing older. We learn that everything changes over time. And we end in 1989.
Which, as I read these in 1996, I was really upset by the way things ended. I mean, on one hand, Michael, to me and so many other gay men, was proof that we're not alone in our feelings of insecurity and that we can survive just about everything. But when Mary Ann ceases to be a likable character, it's a bit like losing an old friend. And given that book 6 was the last in the series for quite some time...
Then 2007 rolled in and Michael Tolliver Lives hit the shelves. It was a bit different than what preceded it, since it was written in first person. We see Brian and Mary Ann's daughter all grown up, meet a trans man, and see Michael who's survived AIDS and the dot-com boom as he tries to choose between his biological family and his family of choice. We also meet Mary Ann again, living in Connecticut, and find out a bit of what happened to her after 28 years or so. In the end, Michael's decisions make sense and hit right in the feels.
And in 2010, Mary Ann in Autumn brought us back to San Francisco, again with the multiple perspectives, and added some closure on one very old plotline in the process. We deal with Mary Ann's fear for her health, and her attempts to fix relationships she messed up years ago.
These two did much to repair the anger I felt after Sure of You. It was almost like a reunion of sorts, where you find that tiem healed a bunch of wounds you'd forgotten you had.
And now, I get to add The Days of Anna Madrigal to my watch list, since it will be the last. Sort of a trilogy of trilogies, I guess. It's going to be odd realizing that this will probably be the last time we see a family that's been around in fiction for 35 years, but it helps that the final act has rectified some of the worst moments of earlier years. I only hope that we get a happy ending, or at least one that is fulfilling here.
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