The Complete Tales of the City

Tales of the City #1-6

by Armistead Maupin

TALES OF THE CITY is the first novel in a series of novels written by American author Armistead Maupin from 1978 to 2014, depicting the life of a group of friends in San Francisco, many of whom are LGBT. The story begins in San Francisco in 1976. A naïve young secretary, fresh out of Cleveland, tumbles headlong into a brave new world of laundromat Lotharios, pot-growing landladies, cut throat debutantes, and Jockey Shorts dance contests. The saga that ensues is manic, romantic, tawdry, touching, and outrageous—unmistakably the handiwork of Armistead Maupin. This set includes the first six (6) 1) Tales of the City (1976), 2) More Tales of the City (1980), 3) Further Tales of the City (1982), 4) Babycakes (1984), 5) Significant Others (1987), and 6) Sure of You (1989).

Genres: Fiction, Audiobook, LGBT

Hardcover

First published January 28, 1990

About the author

Armistead Maupin was born in Washington, D.C., in 1944 but grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. A graduate of the University of North Carolina, he served as a naval officer in the Mediterranean and with the River Patrol Force in Vietnam.

Maupin worked as a reporter for a newspaper in Charleston, South Carolina, before being assigned to the San Francisco bureau of the Associated Press in 1971. In 1976 he launched his groundbreaking Tales of the City serial in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Maupin is the author of nine novels, including the six-volume Tales of the City series, Maybe the Moon, The Night Listener and, most recently, Michael Tolliver Lives. Three miniseries starring Olympia Dukakis and Laura Linney were made from the first three Tales novels. The Night Listener became a feature film starring Robin Williams and Toni Collette.

He is currently writing a musical version of Tales of the City with Jason Sellards (aka Jake Shears) and John Garden (aka JJ) of the disco and glam rock-inspired pop group Scissor Sisters. Tales will be directed by Jason Moore (Avenue Q and Shrek).

Maupin lives in San Francisco with his husband, Christopher Turner.

Reviews

[Allison Hurd · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unexpected slice of life meets soap opera from the 70s and 80s. I know that San Francisco was proudly accepting at the time, but it's one thing to know it, and another to see someone get stories of closeted executives and AIDS into newspapers.

CONTENT WARNING: (just a list of topics) homophobia, adultery, drug use, cult leaders, rape, cannibals, AIDS

Things to love:

-The loving portrayals. It was so freaking refreshing to see LGBTQ people who weren't punchlines or paragons. These were people with flaws and goodness, drawn with empathy and insistence that we accept them as they want to be accepted. I really loved that.

-Mrs. Madrigal. Her in particular. I dare you to read this and not fall for her.

-Mouse. I was SO WORRIED for him. What a good friend and partner he was.

-The hijinks. Villains with doubles! Cruises! Cults that eat people! Nobility marrying for green cards because SF leather bars are superior to others! Everyone sleeping with everyone else in a wild orgy of bad decisions! Just when you think "it cannot possibly get any weirder" then Maupin kicks it up a notch. What a wacky ride.

-The heartfelt writing/narration. I listened to the author read it, and his delivery along with the writing infused everything with such love for these wayward babes that even when you wanted to shake them, you wanted to hug them.

-The coverage of issues. AIDS, women's liberation, immigration, sterility...there were a lot of topics here that got coverage when I don't remember a lot of other outlets covering it. Sure, it's "fiction" but there was so much rage, so much thought and nuance added that it was clear some of this was something like a morality tale for those who wanted to bury their heads in the sand.

Things that were a bit much:

-The hijinks. It was hilarious, but also a bit ridiculous. My God. I am not sure there was this much partner swapping in Days of Our Lives, and that's had so much more time for people to put their parts wherever.

-Mary Ann. By the end I wanted to strangle her. Good riddance!

Very glad to have read this finally. A truly insightful yet silly glimpse at American life in the 70s and 80s from a POV that even today we don't have enough of. 4.5 stars rounded down because goddamn I was ready to see the back of Mary Ann by the end. Bye, Felicia!

[Debbie Ginsberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK - the books are very good and when I re-read them individually they'll get a higher rating. But it took much longer than it should have to realize that the audio version I was listening to was abridged and dropped major plot elements.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely joyful author reading of the first 6 Tales of the City books, as Armistead is doing the reading he knows where to put the emphasis being the lovely storyteller that he is. The only exception to this was in Babycakes which is part set in England and his English accent was woeful and made the writing seem unusually clunky. I imagine now he lives here he would wince at this. That aside (and its a very small quibble), i totally loved listening to these, it brightened my walks in the cold of January and made me smile numerous times.

[Clare · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read all the Tales of the City books but I can't remember each one distinctly so I'm reviewing them en masse. I enjoyed them while I was reading them - Maupin's heart is clearly in the right place, the characters are loveable, and the adventures exciting and funny - but they didn't have a big impact on me the way they seem to have with some readers. I thought they were just light, enjoyable fare. Maybe as a straight person I missed the impact that a series of mainstream fiction with gay characters had, or maybe I just read them long enough after their publishing that the idea wasn't revolutionary anymore - for which I believe we have Maupin and his inhabitants of 28 Barberry Lane to thank. The work they did in furthering acceptance and tolerance is probably more significant than the actual literary quality of the books.

[Lizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this series in anticipation of an upcoming trip to San Francisco, and I was not disappointed. It was quirky, offbeat, and eccentric at times, but I quickly developed a fondness for the group of characters and their many interesting adventures. Although the San Francisco backdrop plays more of a roll in the first half of the series, it was still fun to hear about the changes and transformation of various neighborhoods over time. After reading this series, I definitely want to watch the follow-up on Netflix and revisit the beloved characters in a new time period.

[Helena Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audio narrated by the author. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this collection before falling asleep at night. I’m delighted there are three further titles available with a fourth one to be released later this year. The titles included in this collection are: Tales of the City, More Tales of the City, Further Tales of the City, Baby Cakes, Significant Others, and Sure of You.

[Rochelle Kaplan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable audiobook. Heartbreaking to relive the aids epidemic and the shocking way government and society turned their backs on anyone with aids. Some of the characters were two dimensional, but as the series continued the people became alive and I cared about what happened to most of them.

[Candi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part of the Great American Read. I listened to the first 2 books in series and that was more than enough for me. Partly entertaining, but like an ongoing soap-opera, I can only take it in small doses.

[Suzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun series to listen to that feels like Friends meets Rent. The stories of a group of young individuals living in San Francisco and all of their shenanigans made for a light enjoyable read.

[Trigger Warning Database]

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Homomisia
Rape
Cheating
Drug use
Cannibalism
AIDS crisis
Cults

[Aline · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

The prose is amazingly crafted, and the humor kept me satiated for a while, but I simply felt that by chapter 6, it should have been a less dizzying feeling to try to gather the main characters' relationships to each other. Unfortunately that wasn't the case for me. Might return and give this one another shot in the future.

[Tabitha]

This series is full of wonderfuly written, colourful characters and all of their complexities. If you want a fun series that will keep you busy for some time, this is the one for you!

[Kaitlin Mikalis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun Fictional Series set in San Francisco!

[Randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved getting to listen to this, but it was abridged and I feel like I missed something. I would really love to go back and read all the books sometime.

[Leslie]

Awesome!!

[Yelena · Rating 4 out of 5]

a

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great characters. I want to live in S.f.