Chamblee54

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This is a repost from 2017. The events of the last seven years make “Tales of the City” look like Dick, Jane, and Sally … The plot lines in “Tales of the City” can be tough to figure out. The books have been *coming out* since 1978, which is several lifetimes ago. I read the first installment, Tales of the City, sometime in the eighties, thought it was fun, and went on about my way. At some point, I got copies of More Tales of the City and Further Tales of the City. Significant Others turned up at a yard sale, with the step grandson rescuing the step grandpa at a radical women’s retreat. Good clean fun.
Babycakes and Sure of You, the last two books of the original series, will be discussed today. It can be tough to make sense of the plot. Michael Tolliver goes from the “Whore of Babylon” to model HIV+ citizen. Mary Ann goes from the naive Ohio girl to a popular TV personality. Mrs. Madrigal is Mrs. Madrigal, and San Francisco is San Francisco.
I found Babycakes in a box of free books at a faerie gathering. Merry part, merry meat again. BC is set early in the Reagan Presidency. Michael’s bf, Jon, died of AIDS in 1982. Michael goes to England, and runs into an old friend, Mona. It is a complicated, and tough to believe, story. You have to put away your skepticism, and go with the story. It is a good story, and fun to read. This is why I read.
Sure of You was the last book of the original series that I was sure I had not read. The library had it. SOY is set in 1988, and this is a key part of the story. AIDS is running wild. Michael has a pill box with a beeper. Everywhere you turn, men are dead and dying. I lived my version of 1988 in Georgia.
There were some interviews with Armistead Maupin during this era. He is very angry, and into outing celebrities. The name Tom Selleck was prominently mentioned. This anger shows up in SOY. Michael goes to a black tie reception with Mary Ann. A famous designer, who might be Calvin Klein, hits on Michael. There is an angry lecture about being in the closet. The improbability of Calvin Klein hitting on a plant store owner is not mentioned.
On page 107, the designer’s wife says something to Mary Ann about Ivana Trump. The TV personality wants to know what Mrs. Trump is like in real life. Thirty seven later, the late Ivana Trump is the ex wife/kidsmomma of the President of the United States elect. Maybe those plots were not as far fetched as what really happens. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.