Tales of the City is an interesting read. For me, it was fun but it wasn’t as in depth about the characters and their lives as I expected. Perhaps that was because of its initial serialised format but I found the jumping between characters and issues in their lives superficial.

The story is about a group of people who live in a boarding house in San Francisco in the 1970s – gay and straight. It must have groundbreaking at the time but characters of any sexuality are pretty normal in books these days. There are also a lot of drugs, sex and amazing coincidences between the residents and their friends and acquaintances. Initially it’s seen through the eyes of Mary Ann Singleton, who moves to San Francisco for a new and exciting life. She’s very innocent, but soon learns from her neighbours and friends. She works with Mona, who isn’t quite sure of what she wants and spends a fair bit of time in a sixties haze. Her friend Michael is actively looking for Mr Right anywhere as well as enjoying the gay life. Brian is open to any woman while their landlady Mrs Madrigal offers wisdom and a joint as needed.

The secondary characters are just as fascinating. Mary Ann’s boss shares a secret with Mrs Madrigal and they become unlikely friends, while his wife aimlessly drinks and worries about society. His daughter has her own issues as a bored society wife while his son in law tries out everything the city has to offer. There’s a mysterious man living in the top flat and he has a secret that will make him and break others.

There is a lot going on between the characters. The story rivals a soap opera at times with who is sleeping with who and some of the things that go on (fat farms, underwear competitions, delivery boys that give a bit extra, people who definitely aren’t what they seem). It is wonderfully inventive and glues you to the page wondering what on earth can happen next. The writing isn’t super literary but Maupin knows how to keep the plot moving. One thing that did annoy me was conversations where I lost track of who was speaking as there is little he/she said to give the reader hints.

Did I love the characters and the series? Probably not enough to carry on with the series but I did care enough to read the Wikipedia entries to see what happened to each of the characters. The characters are fun, but there isn’t much depth or maturity to them. There also isn’t much description of San Francisco or the boarding house nor the characters’ thoughts. A lot is left to the reader to make connections between other scenes. It was fun, but not necessarily memorable. Perhaps it was more groundbreaking when first released.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com ( )

I had a hard time reading this book, but liked the characters. I switched halfway through to watching the tv show, which seemed to follow the book very closely, and was a much more enjoyable experience for me. 3 stars for the book. 4.5 for the show. ( )

I bought Tales of the City with little idea of what it was about aside from glowing reviews and a $2 price tag. The book turns out to be a pioneering novel that openly and honestly depicted the lives of gays and lesbians living in mid-1970s San Francisco. Originally serialized in the San Francisco Chronicle, the book has become a classic of the genre.

I found the stories themselves to be a bit melodramatic, populated by a fairly large number of cartoonish characters. It could be that there were just too many characters to give any one sufficient time to develop much depth. The authentic narrative of life in 1970s San Francisco was intriguing; I knew relatively little about the period.

I'd recommend the book for its perspective on the time and place, especially the attitudes and interactions of people in what was clearly a time of transition. ( )

Loved this book and have bought more in the series to keep up with the characters. ( )

I'm glad I finally read this, but am disappointed that the quality of the writing fell so below the hype. Still, I found myself caught up with the characters and enjoyed picturing all of the locations. ( )