Tales of the City

It was a really interesting book! It was interesting to see what has changed and -maybe more so - what hasn't changed in certain pockets of society, particularly around the LGBTQ+ community. It really did feel like a time capsule, but it's interesting to see that many of individual issues still feel relevant today. Without spoiling the ending, I'll say that that “of an era” feel does mean that there are some bits that feel particularly problematic today. Not a book I would necessarily walk around recommending to people without some warning, but super interesting if you want to see an evolution of -in want a of better word- “liberal” society in America.

This is the story of a group of people in San Francisco in the 70's and 80's, of course, but it's also the story of a city. Mary Ann moves to San Francisco and soon takes up with a wide group of diverse characters, including her landlady who grows marijuana, her fellow tenants, her wealthy boss and his socialite daughter, the owner of a brothel, and all the various spouses and friends and lovers of her friends and neighbors. It makes for a Peyton Place of a novel, with lively conversations and wild actions of all these characters.

J'ai lu les fameuses et sympathiques Chroniques de San Francisco d'Armistead Maupin quand j'étais encore un jeune adulte, et j'avais pris énormément de plaisir à les lire. Je les recommande à tous les lecteurs qui aiment rire et être ému par un livre !

Sunny, soapy vignettes of a different San Francisco. There's a refreshing openness about the social issues of the day here. It's easy to imagine a higher-handed literary treatment of the same place and time, but I liked the the serial-newspaper-column format and the present-day setting (at the time) – Tales of the City is free from the judgement and editing of hindsight.

The stories themselves are pretty pulpy, and wrap up a little too neatly at times, but that doesn't take away from the book as an entertaining snapshot of SF in the seventies. Easy reading, and a nice change of pace from serious or satirical historical novels, which seem to be the only flavors out there.