Sparkling, Witty and Touching!

Tales of the City, published as a book in 1976, started out as separate, short articles in a San Francisco newspaper serial. As a result, this book is a true depiction of the City in the 1970's. Many references to items of the 70's come along in the descriptions and the dialog of this story. The book contains several story lines, all centered on the denizens of 28 Barbary Lane, an old house that now consists of several rental apartments, occupied by young renters, all under the benelovent eye of the landlady, Mrs. Anna Madrigal.

The characters are brilliantly drawn by Maupin, and you end up liking almost everyone, even the not very nice ones. All the characters are 3 dimensional, each with his or her own failings, strong points, and flukes. And they nearly all have heart. It's all too complicated to go into detail in a review, but the reader really ends up caring about these people and what happens to them. The separate story lines all sort of intersect with each other from time to time, and I was left feeling joyous, and sad, and happy for having gotten to know each of the main characters. Mrs. Madrigal is my favorite, as I think she is for most readers.

The writing is so well done, and so wittty and funny, that it was a joy to listen to, especially with the superb narration by Frances McDormand. I am so glad that there are 8 more Tales of the City books for me to read/listen to and savor! One caveat: this book is set in 1970's San Francisco, as the hippie era was ending and the LGBT community was becoming more vocal. If free love, drugs and gays make you nervous, you probably should skip this one.

Otherwise, read/listen to this book!

55 people found this helpful

Finally... Maupin's Tales Narrated Professionally

Maupin's Tales of the City series is the most well preserved slice of popular culture ever captured in fiction. Tales and its sequels follow the loves and lives of nearly every imaginable type of person in post sexual revolution, pre-AIDS San Francisco.

These beloved books hold up because reading them is as good as time-travel back to the seventies. It is the seventies captured in real time as each chapter was first published in the S.F. Chronicle each day long before they were ever bound into a book.

The intricate overlapping lives and loves of the characters are what make these stories so delicious. (Calling them a "soap opera" does this work an injustice.) The repartee among the characters is priceless. If you've read these books you likely consider Michael "Mouse" Toliver, Mona, MaryAnn, and the very elegant Mrs. Madrigal amongst your best fictional friends. Of course an open mind is needed because relationships and sexuality of all types are major themes of these books. Prudes and/or the homophobic need not apply.

Unlike earlier versions Maupin allowed every single word of his books to be professionally narrated instead of doing just selected parts himself. As for the actual audio recordings, a woman narrator is appropriate since Mary Anne Singleton is the main protagonist. Frances McDormand reads with relish as if dishing gossip like a best friend. There is plenty of character in her voice without overacting. She does not attempt to mimic the delivery of Olypimia Dukkakis, Larua Linney et. al. from the HBO television series of this book which was a wise choice. The sound quality is superb. The intro by Rachel Maddow is short and all too sweet.

49 people found this helpful

A Wild and Crazy Bunch in San Francisco circa 1967

Would you consider the audio edition of Tales of the City to be better than the print version?

Yes, because Frances McDormand breathes real life into the characters and the entire story just pops. The vast diversity of the residents and friends that are a part of the house at 23 Barberry Lane make for a most interesting and rather hilarious look at life among the residents and their friends and lovers during a particularly unique time in the whole cultural scene going on in San Francisco, as well as the general flavor of this country as a whole. So much was going on in those days of civil rights, which blossomed into many other issues: gay and women's rights, the war in Vietnam, the period in my life when we really thought we were going to be a part of real changes for people in this country, that would focus on the rights of everyone and make equality and freedom a reality for all. And to a large extent, much did happen and new legislation enabled the inclusion of many folks given the civil rights and equality of everyone else. That is, to an extent. The mood in the country was one of unbounded optimism and it seemed the young people engaged people to talk about, discuss, protest!, and March for many issues. We were naive and wanted to believe that violence was not necessary in order to accomplish anything. A time of peaceful, nonviolence and protest marches to get the message out. This book takes place during the latter part of the 60's, when people were just starting to come out of the closet and San Francisco was the place to be no matter what your particular issue was. The general attitude of the citizens of this country during that time became more tolerant and open to new ideas and willing to at least tolerate discussion and activity that addressed civil rights for all, what freedom should or could or might mean. In general, people just seemed nicer. A kinder gentler America, especially in light of the state of affairs currently holding in Washington, which is representative of attitude of discord and division that has spread to an alarming degree. Times have changed certainly, and without trying to make a judgment call on life in these United States today, this book takes place during a period when the atmosphere and general attitude of the country was in a very very different place. Hope was very prevalent back in those hippie /dippie days, and as naive and silly it may seem now, it was a lot more pleasant place to be. People certainly engaged in debate and confrontation, but the meanness that seems so obvious today was nonexistent then. And this book gives the reader a wonderful story about a quirky, crazy bunch of folks that make this book a very pleasurable experience. The audio version of this book really brings all the various day to day experiences of the characters whether happy, sad, ridiculous, difficult or whatever life brings each day alive for me as I listen. It's a much fuller experience. I feel more emotionally attached and find myself more concerned about some of these characters. Listening to the narrator give voice to each person and does justice to Maupin's marvelous development of his characters . And the humor is not lost, nor the bitterness or irony either. In short, this was a great fun experience. I loved the characters, some more than others. But the overall experience gave me a much needed break from the reality of everyday living now. It was well written and the humor and innuendo added much. Highly recommend to anyone who is looking for a few hours of enjoyment as you meet and get to know an hilarious and absurd but also very honest and real group of people that are living their lives as best they can in San Francisco in the 60's.

People are more alike than not, so it is said. Just seems to be more so when listening to this book. The ugly side of humanity has always been a part of us all. Now that side of the human condition seems to have taken hold for the moment lets hope that we can all think about what life felt like when "make love, not war" was our mantra. Unrealistic perhaps, but just a bit if that thinking could go a long way today if included in all our experiences since we were so young and foolish!

15 people found this helpful

Frances falls short

I love Frances as an actress but not for reading this book. A limited range with the voices and characters. And there was a lot to work with here.

4 people found this helpful

The performance killed the story

There are so many characters and the narrator does the whole book in one voice making it very hard to separate and follow and became confusing

8 people found this helpful

I found it really hard to follow.

Would you be willing to try another one of Frances McDormand’s performances?

No. The narrator is what ruined this book for me. Terrible voices. No differentiation between characters. I never knew who was talking. I also find her voice irritating...sorry I know that is harsh.

3 people found this helpful

this book is pure joy

First I watched the new Netflix series which made me laugh and cry and feel all the feels, so I immediately downloaded this audiobook, pushed play and listened straight through until the end at 3 am. Next I went straight to audible and downloaded book 2 before even considering writing this review. I am completely hooked, totally invested. I love Maupin's characters who are rich, funny, smart, kind, outrageous... they are real and I want them to be my friends and family.

Tales of the City stars Mary Ann Singleton, a cute, naive and sweet young woman straight off the bus from Ohio. She arrives in San Francisco and quickly finds her way to Barbary Street where she becomes the tenant of Mrs. Anna Madrigal. Anna is wickedly sarcastic, intelligent and funny as hell. She is transgender; a woman who transitioned in the late 1960s long before most people even knew the word. She created a rooming house for outcasts and rejects (most of them gay) and they are her chosen family.'

The book is a tapestry of LGBTQ culture in the late 1970s. Some of the men are very promiscuous (and for readers who want to avoid R rated, gay love, this book will not appeal). Many of the characters are hippies, and all have secrets and stories to share. But most of all the book feels like a love story to a city and a culture. It is enthusiastic, charming, and delightful.

It is not the right book for everyone, but it is quite beautiful and I feel enriched by the experience of reading it.

2 people found this helpful

Pay close attention

At first, I was afraid it wouldn’t happen. But then, it did. I fell in love with these characters and their stories. I was worried because I’d heard so much about the book, but just wasn’t connecting with it. Names were being mentioned and I had lost track of who they were. That’s the secret to this book: pay attention. Don’t be distracted from it for a moment, or things will happen and new people will show up, and you’ll be left behind. I started it over, and that’s when I fell in love :)
(By the way, the Netflix show doesn’t do it justice!)

2 people found this helpful

A Polaroid Instant of 1970's San Francisco

The stories in Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City" (1978) were written in a magic time and a magic place. The smoldering gay rights movement had burst into flame with the Stonewall Riots in June 1969. Birth control pills were approved by the FDA in 1960 and widely accepted by the early 1970's. The U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973's Roe v. Wade 410 US 113. AIDS was beginning to work its way across the world, but it wasn't recognized until 1981.

1970's San Francisco was a sybaritic paradise. The Summer of Love of 1967 had finally been migrated to the upper class Bass Weejuns and Lilly Pulitzer crowd. Sex was plentiful and sexuality was ambiguous. Maupin, fresh from the U.S. Navy and Vietnam, was living in San Francisco and writing contemporary short stories originally published in Marin County's "The Pacific Sun." It's not a nostalgic look back, it's a true portrait in writing of a very short era.

Maupin has a great ear for dialogue, and most of his character development is through conversations. It's fun to find out what degree of separation each person has to each other, and how they are somehow held together by the glue that is Anna Madrigal and her homegrown marijuana and hand rolled joints.

The difference in communications really struck me. I'd forgotten a time when long distance calls cost so much that secretaries from the Midwest only called their parents once a month, writing actual letters, using pen, paper and 13 cent stamps between expensive calls.

There's a lot of sex in "Tales of the City", but the book isn't pornographic. Maupin sets the scene and the players - an expensive home and a grocery delivery boy; a funky apartment that's not in the Castro; a bathhouse on Ladies' Night. The rest is left to imagination.

The stories are a bit of a difficult follow on Audible because it's hard to tell when a new chapter starts. That's a problem that doesn't happen with the text version. Frances McDormand narrates, and well - she's Frances McDormand, the Academy Award winning actress for Fargo (1996) a movie that's as quirky as "Tales of the City."

[If this review helped, please press YES. Thanks!]

23 people found this helpful

Wildly entertaining

I read this book years ago when it first came out. I enjoyed the story and characters then, and decided to listen to the audible book. To be honest, I haven't listened to many audible books, my mind tends to wander which makes it hard to focus sometimes. I totally enjoyed the narration by Frances McDormand. She brought the characters to life, it was so entertaining, I was enthralled and it was my listening enjoyment during my daily walks. Great story, and great performance - a total win!

1 person found this helpful