Michael Tolliver, the sweet-spirited Southerner in Armistead Maupin’s classic Tales of the City series, is arguably the most beloved gay character in fiction. Now, almost twenty years after ending his groundbreaking saga of San Francisco life, Maupin revisits his all-too-human hero, letting the 55-year-old gardener tell his story in his own voice. Having survived the plague that took so many of his friends and lovers, Michael has learned to embrace the random pleasures of life, the tender alliances that sustain him in the hardest of times, Michael Tolliver Lives follows its protagonist as he finds love with a younger man, attends to his dying fundamentalist mother in Florida, and finally reaffirms his allegiance to a wise octogenarian who was once his landlady. While Maupin insists that this book is not, strictly speaking, a continuation of Tales of the City, a reassuring number of familiar faces appear along the way. As usual, the author’s mordant wit and ear for pitch-perfect dialogue serve every aspect of the story-- from the bawdy to the bittersweet. Michael Tolliver Lives is a novel about the act of growing older joyfully and the everyday miracles that somehow make that possible.
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Book Description
The long-awaited new novel in the internationally bestselling Tales of the City sequence.
From the Inside Flap
Michael Tolliver, the sweet-spirited Southerner in Armistead Maupin’s classic Tales of the City series, is arguably the most beloved gay character in fiction. Now, almost twenty years after ending his groundbreaking saga of San Francisco life, Maupin revisits his all-too-human hero, letting the 55-year-old gardener tell his story in his own voice. Having survived the plague that took so many of his friends and lovers, Michael has learned to embrace the random pleasures of life, the tender alliances that sustain him in the hardest of times. Michael Tolliver Lives follows its protagonist as he finds love with a younger man, attends to his dying fundamentalist mother in Florida, and finally reaffirms his allegiance to a wise octogenarian who was once his landlady. While Maupin insists that this book is not, strictly speaking, a continuation of Tales of the City, a reassuring number of familiar faces appear along the way. As usual, the author’s mordant wit and ear for pitch-perfect dialogue serve every aspect of the story – from the bawdy to the bittersweet. Michael Tolliver Lives is a novel about the art of growing older joyfully and the everyday miracles that somehow make that possible.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By E. Goodman
Format:Hardcover
This book gets three stars - mainly because it takes us back to San Francisco, to familar faces and lets us catch up with old friends. I think that's how this book shoudl be viewed, and nothing more. On it's own, it is not a masterpiece, there is no earth shattering storyline, but it throws you enough nice surprises to keep TOTC fans happy. My problem with the book is simple - it is obsessed by the fact that Michael and Ben have an age gap. I don't really care - Armistead Maupin (who has a real life younger husband) obviously does. Finally, the sex scene is uncecessary, the first six books did not need graphic sex scenes so why does this one? I do look forward to more, as I enjoyed catching up with my old friends, but I hope they are not all written from Michael's point of view, as you get the impression you are hearing Maupin's views, thoughts and ideas rather than those of one of the series' most beloved characters.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Tales of the City are my favourite series of books ever, in the whole world. Maupin takes an excruciatingly long time to write novels and this is only his third since he 'ended' the Tales of The City series all those years ago. Luckily for us, he felt the need to update us on the doings of Michael Tolliver, or Mouse as he is affectionately known in the books. It is no good starting this book if you've never read the others, as the story and characters are as comfortable as an old pair of slippers and you really need to know the back plot to make sense of it. In the first few books, the plot line was often enough to carry you through not being familiar with the characters, but here we are just catching up with old friends and tying up some loose ends. Despite this if you like, 'lack of action', Maupin still has all the characteristics that make him such an excellent writer, compassion, love and tolerance, along with the ability to create wonderful characters and a thoroughly believeable world. It was worth the wait.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The other reviewers are right - this definitely is not a Tales of the City book. In terms of structure it is much, much closer to Maupin's later works "Maybe The Moon" and "The Night Listener".
I say this because unlike the other Tales books there is a single narrative, instead of a collection of sub-stories going on all at once. Personally, I enjoyed this book, but then I also enjoyed the two books mentioned above. Yes, I missed the excitement of following several intertwining stories that I so enjoyed in the earlier Tales books, but it does a pretty good job of holding its own.
There are some downsides to it - about three quarters of the way through you get a lot of rushed, un-necessary run-downs on what the old characters are up to now, which just seems shallow and detrimental to the novel as a whole, as well-loved characters from earlier titles are just brought up without adding to the story in the slightest. Maupin also repeated the unthinkable and killed off a much-loved character "off-screen", just like he did between Further Tales and Babycakes. I won't say who or how as that would take away from reading it, but it bothers me that he can be so blasé in killing off characters we all liked without even chronicling it properly in one of the stories.
Other than these shortcomings, it's still a good read and Maupin still has a great way with words. The story has plenty of Anna Madrigal in it which is never a bad thing, and Michael's biological family are portrayed well and have a good storyline. There are some likeable new characters such as Ben and Jake who the reader could easily warm to just as much as we did with the old characters if Maupin decides to continue the series in the future.
In summary, no it's not a Tales book, and no it's not Maupin's finest hour. But it is thoroughly readable and a welcome return from some of the characters so well-loved the first time around. I'd give it three-and-a-half stars if that were possible, but as it's not I'll give it four.
I say this because unlike the other Tales books there is a single narrative, instead of a collection of sub-stories going on all at once. Personally, I enjoyed this book, but then I also enjoyed the two books mentioned above. Yes, I missed the excitement of following several intertwining stories that I so enjoyed in the earlier Tales books, but it does a pretty good job of holding its own.
There are some downsides to it - about three quarters of the way through you get a lot of rushed, un-necessary run-downs on what the old characters are up to now, which just seems shallow and detrimental to the novel as a whole, as well-loved characters from earlier titles are just brought up without adding to the story in the slightest. Maupin also repeated the unthinkable and killed off a much-loved character "off-screen", just like he did between Further Tales and Babycakes. I won't say who or how as that would take away from reading it, but it bothers me that he can be so blasé in killing off characters we all liked without even chronicling it properly in one of the stories.
Other than these shortcomings, it's still a good read and Maupin still has a great way with words. The story has plenty of Anna Madrigal in it which is never a bad thing, and Michael's biological family are portrayed well and have a good storyline. There are some likeable new characters such as Ben and Jake who the reader could easily warm to just as much as we did with the old characters if Maupin decides to continue the series in the future.
In summary, no it's not a Tales book, and no it's not Maupin's finest hour. But it is thoroughly readable and a welcome return from some of the characters so well-loved the first time around. I'd give it three-and-a-half stars if that were possible, but as it's not I'll give it four.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Mouse that Roared
Back in the late 80s I got hooked on Armistead Maupin's series 'Tales of the City' which followed the lives and loves of a group of friends and neighbours living in San Francisco. Read more
Published 14 months ago by boingboing
3.0 out of 5 stars
Middling Mouse
A slight, almost plotless story, not much point to it or life in it.
Nice enough to catch up on some of the rather two dimensional characters- and the picture painted of the... Read more
Nice enough to catch up on some of the rather two dimensional characters- and the picture painted of the... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Troy Beal
5.0 out of 5 stars
Delightful
Michael Toliver, the adorable young man from Maupin's Tales of the City, has survived what seemed to be his inevitable doom from the gay plague some twenty years ago and has... Read more
Published on 20 Feb 2011 by Benjamin
4.0 out of 5 stars
Light reading
Like most people, I loved Tales of the City but, for some reason, I missed this book when it first came out a couple of years ago. Read more
Published on 5 Jun 2009 by viciousidol
5.0 out of 5 stars
Trip down memory lane!
I, too, bought this book and then put it on the shelf for a few weeks. I was afraid that it wouldn't do justice to my memories of Tales Of The City. Read more
Published on 18 Oct 2007 by K. Cleavely
4.0 out of 5 stars
Tying up the loose ends
For me this is definitely a new Tales of the City book. Maupin writes with his usually flowing and easy to read style, concentrating on the late middle aged Michael Tolliver and... Read more
Published on 4 Oct 2007 by Amsterdamned
2.0 out of 5 stars
A complete downer even if you were taking Viagra
Well, I am with the people who bitterly regret that Armistead Maupin put pen to paper to continue with the lives of the former residents of Barbary Lane. Read more
Published on 23 Aug 2007 by J. Cooper
3.0 out of 5 stars
Still got it....just.
So, it's not part of the Tales of the City series. Well that what Mr Maupin would have you believe and I guess his right. Read more
Published on 12 Aug 2007 by N. Baker
2.0 out of 5 stars
If it leads you to read the original 'Tales' then great, otherwise not...
I so wanted to like this book. I took it away with me on holiday so I had the perfect space to enjoy it, but I only vaguely enjoyed it compared with the pacy, witty, interwoven... Read more
Published on 7 Aug 2007 by S. J. Bradley
5.0 out of 5 stars
the family you choose
Yes, Armistead did it again. Although this is not strictly a follow up to the Tales of The City series, the title couldn't be more self-explanatory: Michael Tolliver Lives... Read more
Published on 2 Aug 2007 by bagoas
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