"Tales of the City" 35 Years Later

 

by Pa Rock

Reader

I just finished reading the sixth volume in Armistead Maupin's wonderful "Tales of the City," a fictional series about the lives and interactions of a group of quirky individuals living in San Francisco in the 1970s and '80s.  Maupin is a wonderful storyteller whose writing flows, clear and confident, like an idyllic country stream.  His words entrance and his characters come alive on the page and quickly find their way into your heart.

This was my second reading of the classic series.  The first time I read it was in the very early 1990's just as my life was taking a sudden and drastic turn, a change in circumstances that left me feeling especially close to one of the characters in the San Franzcisco boarding house that Maupin so artfully crafted and populated.  My life has moved on and repaired itself, and I like to imagine that my fictional counterpart survived his trauma and has aged well.

The fine series of books was made into a 6-episode television series on PBS in the early 1990's not long after the final volume was completed.   In 2019 Maupin and some other writers penned a follow-up television series that encompassed nine episodes and updated the lives of the main characters.  The second series had the feel of a long-overdue family reunion.

Mrs. Madrigal and her "children," the people who reside in her boarding house at 28 Barbary Lane, are some of the best people most of us will ever meet.  If you've not yet had the pleasure, take the time to get acquainted.  They are friends who will still be tugging at your heartstrings thirty-five years on down the road.

(Note:  I understand Armistead Maupin has written four additional books since the original series was completed in 1989, and that those four volumes are now regarded as part of the series.  My next goal is to "catch up" and read those as well.  The friendships roll on.)