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Tales of the City
- Narrated by: Armistead Maupin
- Length: 18 hrs and 19 mins
- Abridged Audiobook
- Categories: LGBTQ+, Literature & Fiction
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Publisher's Summary
Inspiration for the Netflix Limited Series, Tales of the City
A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick
The first novel in the beloved Tales of the City series, Armistead Maupin's best-selling San Francisco saga.
For almost four decades Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City has blazed its own trail through popular culture - from a groundbreaking newspaper serial to a classic novel, to a television event that entranced millions around the world. The first of nine novels about the denizens of the mythic apartment house at 28 Barbary Lane, Tales is both a sparkling comedy of manners and an indelible portrait of an era that changed forever the way we live.
Critic Reviews
"Maupin, with all his elegance and charm, has found a place among the classics." (The Observer)
More from the same
What listeners say about Tales of the City
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Dan
- 02-16-07
a collection of abridged books
While it's highly welcome to have TOTC on Audible, this omnibus is a collection of the abridged versions of all the books. Minor but important plot points that add depth and understanding to the characters are missing.
51 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Paula
- 08-25-07
too continuous
Good listen but there are no indications to where one book ends and another starts. I understand that they are continuous but it would still be good to know if this is Tales of the City or More Tales of the City...
6 people found this helpful
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- Maya
- 06-12-12
The charm was edited out
What was most disappointing about Armistead Maupin’s story?
As I see it, the beauty of the books is in the city and its characters. In order to get the books short enough, so much of that was cut, leaving the books gray and boring in comparison. In my opinion, it's better to avoid the series altogether that listen to it like this.
3 people found this helpful
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- Darrell
- 11-29-11
Captures an Era
Love the portrayal of the times, the great characters, and the serendipity. Maupin has an eye for contemporary society and its quirks.
2 people found this helpful
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- THOMAS
- 09-03-11
I guess that time is gone, now
I lived in San Francisco at the end of the time when this novel was serialized in The Chronicle newspaper. I remember reading it with some puzzlement at first, and later with a sense of enjoyment. I had an apartment that looked into Trader Vic's parking lot, and I would spend Friday evenings sitting on the fire escape watching the comings and goings: Tales of the City reminds me of those moments. However, absent that social scene, that society, that oddly innocent moment, I'm not sure the stories really stand up well today. At times it seems almost elegiac, which was not the original intent. Something unfortunate seems to have happened to the dreams, the beliefs, the energy we had back then, which is not the novel's fault, yet it somehow affects how one thinks of it today. The narration is all right, not affected by overdone "voices", but it isn't wonderful either.
2 people found this helpful
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- OSUCBN
- 07-23-19
this is an abridged version
love the books. This hits highlighta but omits much of the charm of the unabridged version. I'm disappointed
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- rockawaybirder
- 08-17-18
The Best
Even after all these years and multiple hearings I still love it. It’s in my favorites.
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- Cassandra Noonan
- 06-15-18
A collection of forever favorites
Such an amazing collection of stories of the characters and scenes that will make anyone from the Bay area yearn for a visit back - one of the only books I've read to tackle the Aids epidemic with taste and humor too
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- John Masters
- 04-12-11
A Special Place, A Special Time, Great Stories
Any additional comments?
I have read the entire series as books multiple times. These are pretty much the only books I've read more than once. I feel like I know the characters, and I just love the stories. It's a vignette of gentle stories about the lives of a set of interesting characters, and how those lives intersect, even in a large city like San Francisco. Now, when doing yard work, I love listening to them as audio books. If you want something that's fun, interesting, and quirky....this is the book (this is the series) for you. I can't say enough good about my friends at Barbary Lane.
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- Beezus
- 11-20-08
The perfect trashy read
I think this book is a wonderful trashy distracting read for anyone who think they could enjoy a fabulously dated but yet still timeless soap opera of wayward queers and their friends in SF. This book got me through a couple thousand miles of really boring driving. Get it... their good washing the dishes or driving real far or taking a nice long bath alone stories.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall

- Rhiannon
- 02-15-07
Barbary
I first read the Tales of the City series about 15 years ago and I have visited the residents of Barbary Lane every couple of years since. As a 'newish' member of Audible I seized the opportunity to reacquaint myself with Mrs. Madrigal, Mary Ann, Brian, Mona and my overall favourite character, Mouse. Maupin?s characters are most definitely 3-D, flawed but endearing. Set in San Francisco, this audiobook charts the ebb and flow of the character?s relationships from the early 1970s to the 1980s. Although I was really pleased to have all six books in one audiobook, it was noticeable that some substance of the books was missing and the technical details don?t mention if it is an abridged version (hence the 4 rather than 5 stars). This is a great listen if you aren?t particularly prudish or if you love San Francisco and if both apply then I guarantee you?ll enjoy it.
12 people found this helpful
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Overall

- Thames
- 11-25-11
BEST AUDIOBOOK ON AUDIBLE
I have owned this audiobook now for two years and have listened to Tales of the City more than twenty times in that space of time! Maupin's characters are colourful, humorous and wonderfully real. I can't recommend this audiobook more!
3 people found this helpful
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- Jockette61
- 06-05-11
Unexpectedly abridged.... but TOTC rocks!
Like another said, the original details didn't make it clear this recording is ALL six books, so about 2-3h per book (seems to have been updated now on audible site). Much of the detail is therefore lost, and if I hadn't read the books (MULTIPLE times) before, I think I might have found it a bit choppy to follow. I was very disappointed to start with on listening to this abridged version, however..... it is still Maupin, its still the TOTC characters, and I LOVE the books. The narrator doesn't always do some of the characters justice, nor the highs and lows of the story..... but its still one of my favourite written series and I can fill in the gaps in my own mind as I listen.
3 people found this helpful
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- MsRanPan
- 12-29-12
Just get it!
Gay or straight, young or old just get it. Just get it! It entertaining, real, sad, happy. It brings incite and reality. It shows the good, the bad, the ugly and the true. It's real. Get it!
1 person found this helpful
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- Ayse
- 10-17-11
Gee, it is nice to be back home!
It has been sometime (around 20 years) I have read the legendary "Tales of the City". It made me move all the way from Turkey to San Francisco, and I have enjoyed every bit of the stay for four years. So, after all this time, it was a pleasure to go back to Barbary Lane!
I highly recommend that you get all three of them, it is easy listening, though at first the reader seems to be bored and does not read very enthusiastic, but after sometime he gets into it as well.
It is once again very interesting to find out how Bay Area has set the trend for the rest of the world some 30 years ago!
3 stars because it is abridged and someone with more soul could make the stories and characters livelier.
Yet, it is a classic!
1 person found this helpful
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- Kate
- 10-14-10
I still love these stories...
I read this series about 8 years ago, and loved it. I was so excited to see the entire series in one audiobook...it makes it excellent value for money. And it didn't disappoint - it was wonderful to listen to the tales again!! The only reason I have given this 4 stars instead of 5 is the narration. I liked the narrators voice, but it was funny when he did the girls voices!
I hope Night Listener and Maybe the Moon will be available soon!!
1 person found this helpful
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- Welsh Mafia
- 08-18-08
Easy to fall in love with this City
San Francisco is a magical city, full of surprises, but never disappointment, sometimes its impossible to see what's over the next hill - but the roads all lead in straight lines and the intersections lead you back to familiar territory and landmarks.
From Ghirardelli Square to Russian Hill and on to the downtown it's easy to jump aboard at any time and let Armistead Jones Maupin guide you through the sights, sounds and smells of the city. I guarantee you'll want to visit once you walked around The Bay.
A real pleasure of a book, which frequently made me laugh along the road and brought back the pleasure of being in San Francisco - highly recommended.
1 person found this helpful
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- Jayne
- 10-02-07
Ooooh I'm loving this.
As a 'Tales of the City' virgin I bought this book on impulse and I'm loving it. I love audiobooks and plug myself in at every opportunity and this has made running/walking/cycling/even hoovering a pleasure to be eagerly anticipated! I like long books as it really gives you the opportunity to immerse yourself and at 18 hours this definitely qualifies! It is easy to see that it is based on a newspaper serial and that it covers several books as there are several distinct storylines. Basically, a saga, it covers relationships (of course!) - gay and straight; friendship; AIDS; child abduction; transubstantiation hmmmmm, what else - what else do you want!
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- Mrs K
- 05-14-13
Addictive
I hadn't heard of this title until it was on Radio 4 book of the week and I was hooked, the fabric of this book is rich in both characters and there are plenty of them along with the storylines. Listening to this audio has been one of lives little pleasures and I will truly miss them 5 Stars all the way.
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- Helen
- 04-13-13
Difficult
For me this was a nominated book by a book club, so not my choice. I found the style difficult and was surprised to learn it was made into a tv series after being written, when it seemed more the other way round! Too much chopping and changing from character to character, so I never felt like I knew any of them and this made it difficult to be interested in what was happening to them.