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Title: Babycakes by Armistead Maupin ISBN: 0-06-092483-7 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 26 January, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.62 (13 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Beautiful, quirky, diverse, magical Baghdad by the Bay
Comment: The late, great SF Chronicle columnist Herb Caen coined the term Baghdad by the Bay for the city that captured his heart, San Francisco. And Armisted Maupin peopled his Tales of the City series (first serialized in the Chronicle in 1976) with a huge assortment of eccentric, quirky, diverse characters that capture your heart and keep you reading, reading, reading even when you know you should have turned off the light hours ago. Babycakes, in which ambitious Mary Ann (the wide-eyed innocent from the Midwest through whose eyes we earlier came to see an ingenue's view of live and love in the City) has a baby, was the first work of fiction to recognize the scourge of AIDS in SF.
Drop dead funny, bittersweet, and enchanting, Babycakes dangles intricate and outrageously interwoven plot threads in front of the readers, and it all just makes you want more, more, more.
Rating: 4
Summary: Another good read from Maupin
Comment: Yet another series of adventures for the delightful characters that populate Maupin's books, this time with a bittersweet twist: the reality of AIDS. Because Maupin's Tales of the City books are generally so lighthearted, zany and playful, when the story opens with Michael mourning his lover, it hits pretty hard.
Despite the slight bittersweetness, this installment of the series features all of Maupin's signature flourishes and his wonderful sense of humor.
If your looking for light, breezy stories and likable characters you couldn't find anywhere but San Francisco, then buy this series of books and get started reading. You'll quickly get addicted. For those of you San Franciscans past and present who've never read Maupin, he's worth a look. If nothing else his books will make you remember why San Francisco was once such an interesting and fun place to live and what's sorely missing from it today!
Rating: 4
Summary: A Turn at the Darker side of "Tales,"
Comment: When I picked up "Babycakes," I was on a happy high. I'd learned there was more than just the three "Tales" books with the characters I'd met and loved from the "Tales of the City" trilogy. I was all ready to jump into that delightful care-free world (albeit a little reticent to bump into something like Jim Jones again, who showed up in "Further Tales of the City" and is the only disbelief I was unwilling to suspend).
However, staying true to the reality of the movement and the 80s, I found AIDS, death, decay and the long slide down from the fun and energy from the first three books. I didn't mind, though it was a bit of slap in the face, and the death of a major character to AIDS before the book even begins was a real punch in the stomach.
Put simply, Maupin drove home, hard, how vivid the change was for those who had existed in the care-free seventies, who found themselves suddenly trapped in the shallow, AIDS-ridden eighties.
The characters are back in full company, with the death of one major character, and the introduction of a few others. The story still focuses mostly around Michael and Mary Anne to my mind, but the rest of the "Tales" folk are definately along for the ride. The topics darken up a bit, and reality is definitely in play this time. I reccommend it, but with the warning that you're not getting the same care-free tone of the "Tales" trilogy - for the seventies are over.
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Title: More Tales of the City (Showtime Tie-In Edition) by Armistead Maupin ISBN: 0060929383 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 June, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin ISBN: 0060964049 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 18 October, 1989 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Maybe the Moon : A Novel by Armistead Maupin ISBN: 0060924349 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 04 August, 1993 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Back to Barbary Lane: The Final Tales of the City Omnibus by Armistead Maupin ISBN: 0060166495 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 06 November, 1991 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: 28 Barbary Lane : A "Tales of the City" Omnibus by Armistead Maupin ISBN: 0060164662 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 01 September, 1990 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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