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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
This was the last book in the original Tale of the City series. Published in 1990, it ends the series on a depressing note. It's good that I have now Michael Toliver Lives to look forward to because if the series had really ended with this one. I would be a little pissed. Nothing is really resolved for anyone. Mary Ann and Brian's marriage explodes, their kid is a brat, Michael and Thack are happy together but with the AIDS sword over their heads with a false or not alarm that Michael has develop the disease. Mrs Madrigal and her daughter Mona spend a holiday in Greece where Mrs Madrigal maybe finds someone to spend her golden years with but nothing is even hinted at. I don't mind open ended conclusion but man, this book is missing like one or two chapters so maybe not everything is up in the air. Or maybe that is precisely what the writer wanted and set out to do. To completely turn upside down the cozy comfort of his most known universe and send the characters into the future without tying up the threads of their lives before moving own. I'm ambivalent about this sixth installment of the series.
Even though I know there ended up being more books, I'm glad this was the "end" of the series - it felt far more like the first book than any of the others, and more real. While I still hated Mary Ann (I will never understood how her character changed so much), I'm glad people finally admitted how terrible she was. And that led to some great conversations about loyalty and such.
This one had a depth that's been missing from the past few books. I enjoyed it.
emotional
sad
slow-paced
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
By far the best book in the series both for writing and content. Although Babycakes is the first book that addressed the AIDS crisis, this book explores the deeper impact. The Mary Ann and Brian storyline, although heartbreaking, feels authentic and is well written. This book has a level of maturity that is absent in the other books.
J'ai enregistré un livre sur BookCrossing.com !
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11692426
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11692426
In its sixth volume, Tales of the City is more insular and cynical than ever—and that’s only a good thing about half the time.
Where previous books in the series move their plot forward by bringing new characters to Barbary Lane, Sure of You does so by returning to the roots of the series, deepening the relationships of the characters we’ve come to care about over the course of a few hundred pages.
Everyone’s moved away from 28 Barbary Lane in the three years since the last volume: Brian and Mary Ann have a condo together and a daughter starting elementary school, and Michael and Thack have built a home for themselves, too.
This is where the volume’s central tension lies—in moving away, and in moving on, and in the consequences these actions have for our loved ones. It’s about endings and beginnings and the spaces between the two where, most often, nothing makes enough sense. Watching these characters come to terms with transition and loss is nothing new for long-time fans, but this time it’s the center holding everything together.
I appreciated this most about Sure of You; it doesn’t hatch a wacky plot to carry itself forward. The hijinks have been quelled significantly. And that’s not to say that I dislike the hijinks of the past, but this makes sense as an extension of that. It’s obvious that Maupin knows these characters like old friends, now. The brief, humorous interactions have, for the most part, been replaced with complex emotions and decisions. I left the book feeling more attached to the core cast than ever before.
But this shift in tone and plot also ends up making the book the least hopeful of the series yet, at times to an almost off-putting extent. Sometimes one character’s moment of hatred for another is so extreme that it made me want to leave the book behind. It’s like being stuck in the middle of a friend group that’s constantly bickering—who do you take sides with when you love the people on all sides of the argument? It felt like Maupin really did hate some of the things his characters did, and though they’re quite realistic, really, it’s not easy to read.
This volume was the ending to the series for a long while. I think I would have been upset with it as such. No one’s very content at its conclusion; there isn’t much in the way of closing remarks. It left me uneasy.
But, despite its cynicism, Sure of You is for the most part very enjoyable, especially in its moments of small beauty, which Maupin has always written well. It’s not easy to watch your friends moving on, but it is rewarding nonetheless.
Where previous books in the series move their plot forward by bringing new characters to Barbary Lane, Sure of You does so by returning to the roots of the series, deepening the relationships of the characters we’ve come to care about over the course of a few hundred pages.
Everyone’s moved away from 28 Barbary Lane in the three years since the last volume: Brian and Mary Ann have a condo together and a daughter starting elementary school, and Michael and Thack have built a home for themselves, too.
This is where the volume’s central tension lies—in moving away, and in moving on, and in the consequences these actions have for our loved ones. It’s about endings and beginnings and the spaces between the two where, most often, nothing makes enough sense. Watching these characters come to terms with transition and loss is nothing new for long-time fans, but this time it’s the center holding everything together.
I appreciated this most about Sure of You; it doesn’t hatch a wacky plot to carry itself forward. The hijinks have been quelled significantly. And that’s not to say that I dislike the hijinks of the past, but this makes sense as an extension of that. It’s obvious that Maupin knows these characters like old friends, now. The brief, humorous interactions have, for the most part, been replaced with complex emotions and decisions. I left the book feeling more attached to the core cast than ever before.
But this shift in tone and plot also ends up making the book the least hopeful of the series yet, at times to an almost off-putting extent. Sometimes one character’s moment of hatred for another is so extreme that it made me want to leave the book behind. It’s like being stuck in the middle of a friend group that’s constantly bickering—who do you take sides with when you love the people on all sides of the argument? It felt like Maupin really did hate some of the things his characters did, and though they’re quite realistic, really, it’s not easy to read.
This volume was the ending to the series for a long while. I think I would have been upset with it as such. No one’s very content at its conclusion; there isn’t much in the way of closing remarks. It left me uneasy.
But, despite its cynicism, Sure of You is for the most part very enjoyable, especially in its moments of small beauty, which Maupin has always written well. It’s not easy to watch your friends moving on, but it is rewarding nonetheless.
Great Lines: "So what if the world was fucked? There were ways to get around that, if you didn't make yourself a total slave to rage."
...and: "All we've got is now, I guess. But that's all anybody gets. If we wasted time being scared..."
The tales series wraps up in this book without wrapping the characters up in an unnaproachable way. You get the feeling that Michael will still be working at his nursery tomorrow, that Mary Ann's television show is just on in a few minutes, and that Thack will still be mad at the system tomorrow morning.
Mona gets only a bit of play (indeed, she sort of fades out a lot in the series, popping in and out), but in a wonderfully written way that gives her a nice soft denouement. To my mind, however, it's the character of Mary Ann that shows the sadness of the end of the series - she has done what she set out to do - rid herself of Cleveland, and unfortunately, in some ways, she has succeeded beyond all measure. It's hard to like her at the end of this book, but it's easy to understand her. Michael's continuing struggles with AIDS is exceptionally well written, at times the ghost of Jon is palpable, even when Michael is with his new lover Thack. And Brian's tender fatherhood is superb.
Mrs. Madrigal is, as always, the foundation of this strange family - a family of choice, not blood, something that truly resonates with me every time I read this series. I miss them as soon as I stop reading, and it always makes me want to just start over again, right away.
Thank you, Mr. Maupin, for a great reading experience.
...and: "All we've got is now, I guess. But that's all anybody gets. If we wasted time being scared..."
The tales series wraps up in this book without wrapping the characters up in an unnaproachable way. You get the feeling that Michael will still be working at his nursery tomorrow, that Mary Ann's television show is just on in a few minutes, and that Thack will still be mad at the system tomorrow morning.
Mona gets only a bit of play (indeed, she sort of fades out a lot in the series, popping in and out), but in a wonderfully written way that gives her a nice soft denouement. To my mind, however, it's the character of Mary Ann that shows the sadness of the end of the series - she has done what she set out to do - rid herself of Cleveland, and unfortunately, in some ways, she has succeeded beyond all measure. It's hard to like her at the end of this book, but it's easy to understand her. Michael's continuing struggles with AIDS is exceptionally well written, at times the ghost of Jon is palpable, even when Michael is with his new lover Thack. And Brian's tender fatherhood is superb.
Mrs. Madrigal is, as always, the foundation of this strange family - a family of choice, not blood, something that truly resonates with me every time I read this series. I miss them as soon as I stop reading, and it always makes me want to just start over again, right away.
Thank you, Mr. Maupin, for a great reading experience.