Significant Others (Tales of the City, Book 5)

I loved this book and how it continues on with the characters from Barbary Lane. It's a few years later now than where the last book (Babycakes) left off and we are back in San Francisco. Mary Ann and Brian have moved to a nearby high rise and Mary Ann's career has taken off. Michael is running the nursery and could potentially have found a new boyfriend. DeDe and D'or go to a camp for women. It was an entertaining read with familiar characters and from a time that I remember vividly. Can't wait to read all the books in the series. This one was the 5th of 8 in the series.

You gotta read the whole set of books by Armistead Maupin (Tales of the City series). Truly wonderful characters, set in San Francisco. If you watched the British broadcast of Tales of the City, and loved it, then these books are for you! The last couple of books was written after the mini-series, so there's lots of laughs & heartaches from there. He writes beautifully, has some excellent wit, and deals with major problems in the process. I give it more stars than Amazon has, it's like you live there with those crazy characters. What a deal that is! Pick them ALL up and read them in the series, I promise you won't be sorry!

When I first started reading Significant Others, I didn't think I would like it. First off, two of the residents of Barbary Lane moved to another place, which kind of broke up the family feel of the story. The time is supposed to be either '85 or '86 and there is one main character who seems to be regulated to the background (I'm not talking about Mona). But as I kept on reading, the story lines sucked me back in. Maupin is a great story teller that keeps the reader hooked, even though the time is different, places are different, and the beloved characters are different. Remember, the story takes place nine or ten years after we've been introduced to the Barbary Lane family, and they're not the same people they were in '76. I'm not going to give away any secrets from SO. Just know that although the story and characters have evolved, Barbary Lane retains that human interaction/warmth(?) element, which seems to be the thread linking all of the Tales of the City books together. But on the other hand, SO does feel like a "darker" book. Perhaps it's because the characters have grown up. Maybe it's because they've become cynical. Maybe it was the disease that was devouring the city. Or maybe, I feel that SO is darker because I know it's the second to the last of the TOTC series...and the realization that nothing lasts forever, finally hit me.

As always, Armistead Maupin's writing is superb and his characters intriguing. The story line moves away from 28 Barbary and into the countryside, so we sort of lose touch with some of our favorite people. Even so, Maupin introduces us to some hilarious characters and situations - a women's camp and a high-falutin' men's retreat, both of which are populated with wild and crazy people. I simply loved the first three books in this series, which brought back all those good memories of San Francisco, but I'm also enjoying the "spreading out" of the setting and feel I'm getting to know more about the people who live in the city and what they do and what makes them who and what they are.

It continues the saga and is a delight to read. After the initial 3 Tales of the City, you kind of want to know what was next for the main characters and Maupin provides wonderfully. Each character is well defined and you come to feel you know these people. I'm glad he continued the saga even if these last 4 books will never be televised.