More Tales Of The City-Armistead Maupin (1979)

2nd Installment of the Series
Started: 2/29/2008
Ended: 3/14/2008
Synopsis:
This book, published originally as a newspaper column about six months after the original "Tales of the City" series, is notable mostly because it clarifies all the mysteries surrounding Anna Madrigal, the elusive landlady featured at the center of all the novels. When the truth about her identity comes out, explaining why Norman was after her in the first book and for whom he worked, prepare to be stunned. Though the truth has always been just out-of-reach regarding Mrs. Madrigal, you're not going to believe the doozy in store for you.
This book is also notable because it continues the story of Michael and Jon, featuring a touching scene in which Michael finally outs himself to his family.
As for Mary Ann, she opens up a bit more, which is a welcome, and deals with a rather twisted mystery. And DeDe evolves into a far more interesting individual with the help of D'or, of all people. This story takes place 8 weeks later from first book.


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>WARNING-SPOILERS BELOW<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Characters:
Mary Ann Singleton: Naive blonde 25 y/o from Cleveland, Ohio; works at Halcyon Communications as an executive secretary; is left $5000 from her deceased boss, Edgar Halcyon; decides to take an 11 day cruise to Mexico on the Pacific Princess; invites her close friend, Mouse along for the trip; meets and falls for Burke, an amnesiac, who can't remember his past; later quits Halcyon Communications because Beauchamp is such a dick to her at work
Anna Madrigal (aka Andy Ramsey): Transsexual landlady of 28 Barbary Lane; 56 y/o; exotically - if not off-puttingly - regal, Anna fosters a maternal relationship with each of her tenants, perhaps most aggressively with Mona Ramsey; fond of marijuana and grows it in the garden; grew up at the Blue Moon Lodge (a whorehouse where her mother lived & worked); ran away when she was 16y/o; revealed to have been born a male named Andy Ramsey but always knew she was a girl trapped inside; when he was 25 y/o he met Betty Borg and ended up marrying her; they had a daughter whom they named Mona (after Andy's own mother); however Andy was not happy with himself and deserted his family when Mona was just 2 y/o; at age 44 he went to Denmark and had a sex change; pushes for Mona and Brian to get together; revealed not to be Mona's real father (which she keeps from Mona)
Michael Tolliver (aka Mouse): Mona's best friend and roommate; proficiently confidant, albeit newly out, gay man, that has a sweet disposition and genuine compassion; from Orlando, Florida; parents are unaware that he is gay; asked by his close friend and neighbor, Mary Ann, to accompany her on a cruise to Mexico; runs into Jon Fielding at a gay bar in Acapulco and they start their relationship back-up; short time after he gets back home, Michael loses all feeling in his legs and Jon rushes him to the er; Jon fears he has Guillain-Barre syndrome that causes paralysis; soon he is completely paralyzed except for his mouth and eyes; during his stay at the hospital, he has Mary Ann dictate a letter to his parents in Florida, outing his gay lifestyle; Jon moves in at Barbary Lane to care for him; by book's end, starts to regain feeling in his body and begins his recovery back to health

Mona Ramsey (aka Judy): Mary Ann's spacey, bohemian neighbor; frizzy red hair; lives right below Mary Ann on the 2nd floor; an ex-advertising copywriter-presently unemployed; restless and a bit depressed after Mouse and Mary Ann leave for their cruise , Mona finds herself on a bus headed toward Reno in hopes to "find herself"; at the bus stop she meets Mother Muca and introduces herself as Judy; revealed to be Mrs. Madrigal's daughter and Mother Muca's granddaughter; after she returns to Barbary Lane decides to move downstairs with Mrs. Madrigal; begins romance with Brian after much pushing from Mrs. Madrigal
Beauchamp Day :DEAD:DeDe's narcissistic and philandering husband; handsome with blue eyes and black hair; assumed presidency of Halcyon Communications Ad Agency; snidely puts down his wife for being pregnant with twins (by someone else no less); loathes the idea of having children; burned alive when his car hit the side of the Broadway tunnel and it blew up
DeDe Halcyon Day: Prominent socialite in San Francisco and the daughter of Edgar Halcyon; in a contemptuous marriage to Beauchamp Day and is frequently admonished for her pregnant state; aware of her husband's infidelity but does not know he fucks men as well; worried about what people will say and think when she delivers twin Chinese babies; has moved out and separated from her husband, who does not seem to want the babies; moves in with her mother at Halcyon Hill in Hillsborough; becomes good friends with D'orothea who helps her on her new path in life; has her twins whom she names Edgar & Anna
Brian Hawkins: Lawyer-cum-waiter who also lives at 28 Barbary Lane; used to live across the hall from Mary Ann but has now moved to the rooftop apartment left vacant by the missing Norman Neal Williams; has chestnut curly hair with green eyes; seen as a womanizer by nearly everyone he knows, he spends most of his time cruising clubs and bars for women; becomes somewhat obsessed with a mysterious woman he watches with binoculars but eventually becomes involved with Mona
Frannie Halcyon: DeDe's mother and matriarch of Halcyon Hill; 59 y/o; mourns the recent death of her husband, Edgar; spends most of her days oblivious in an alcohol-induced haze; partial to Mai tais; nearing her 60th birthday, she contemplates getting some work done on her face until she hears about Pinus; at the resort, Helena gives her vitamin Q's that make her feel great; comes into her own sexually with the young male bucks at Pinus; becomes a cougar
Emma Ravenel: Frannie's maid/house servant; elderly, black and rail-thin; has worked for Frannie for years
Vita Keating:Frannie's friend; mid-40's; eccentric; refers Frannie to Pinus
Mother Mucca (aka Mona Ramsey): Nevada madam of the Blue Moon Lodge (a whorehouse); extremely old and ugly; invites Mona whom she meets on a bus to come stay with her for a week to answer phones while she "finds herself"; revealed to be Mrs. Madrigal's mother and Mona's grandmother; begins a new relationship with her son/daughter; but moves back to Nevada to care for her "girls"
The Blue Moon Lodge Girls: Charlene, Bobbi, Doreen, Bonnie, Debby, Marnie & Sherry
The A-Gays: William Devereaux Hill III, Charles Hillary Lord, Archibald Anson Gidde, Anthony Latimer Hughes, Edward Paxton Stoker Jr. and Richard Evan Hampton
Burke Andrew: Mary Ann & Michael meet him on their cruise; both are instantly attracted to him but don't know which team he plays on; strawberry blond with wide-spaced gray eyes; becomes romantically involved with Mary Ann; has a overwhelming fear of roses and walkways with railings; revealed that he has amnesia; lived in San Fransisco for 3 years but one day he was found by cops in the Golden Gate Park passed out; after discovering he had no memory-he moved back to Nantucket to live with his parents; was a reporter for the Associated Press in S.F. but quit; Mary Ann asks him to come back to S.F. and move into 28 Barbary Lane in hopes he will regain his memory by being in the city; turns out that he stumbled upon a religious cannibalistic cult while singing in the church choir; after they tried to feed him a human arm with a red rose tattoo on it, Burke just blocked out everything from his mind-causing his amnesia; after the cult story breaks the news, is approached by New York Magazine for a job; unable to pass the offer up, he asks Mary Ann to move to NYC with him which she sadly declinesLady Eleven (aka Betty Ramsey): Mystery woman on the 11th floor of the Superman building that Brian has been watching on a nightly basis with his binoculars; has resorted to each of them getting naked and watching each other pleasure themselves in their respective buildings; the A-Gays have taken to watching Brian jack-off in his roof-top apartment; revealed to be Betty Ramsey, who has been staying in SF longer than she has led her daughter believe; threatens Mrs. Madrigal that she will tell Mona that her real father was a contractor she had a one-night stand with; Mrs. Madrigal turns it around and forces Betty to keep her whore mouth shut or she will reveal Betty's sexual perversions to Mona, including her "peep show" with Brian
Bobbi: Whore at the Blue Moon Lodge; nervous-looking blonde in her mid-twenties; befriends Mona during her stay
Charlene: Whore at the Blue Moon Lodge; oldest of all the girls; mid-thirties; jealous of Mona and her relationship with Mother Mucca
Arnold & Melba Littlefields: Married couple that share a table with Mary Ann & Michael on the cruise ship; both in their forties; always wearing matching clothes; believes that Mary Ann & Michael are married; from Dublin, California
Helena Parrish: Mysterious elderly woman that Vita refers to Frannie; calls Frannie about a possible affiliation with Pinus when she turns 60 y/o; meets with Frannie telling her to think about joining the exclusive club for elderly women; after Frannie agrees to "check-out" Pinus, she drives her to the resort and inducts her into the "club"

Bruno Koski: Beauchamp's coke dealer that he hires to "take care" of DeDe's pregnancy without harming her; hires Douchebag to do the actual job but calls her off when he hears that Beauchamp is killed in an auto accident and won't be paying

Douchebag (aka Heidi): 12 y/0 punk with green hair chopped short; Koski hires her to "take care" of DeDe's pregnancy

D'orothea Wilson: Ex-model; used to live and have a romantic relationship with Mona; however Mona moved out when she uncovered D'orothea's secret that she was not black, but was taking pills that darkened her skin; apparently she got more modeling jobs as an exotic model; meets a very pregnant DeDe at a local restaurant and the two become fast friends; was fired by Beauchamp because she had missed a few jobs (when her skin would become lighter-she would skip out on job assignments until the pills took their darkening affect on her skin); helps DeDe through her pregnancy

Chip Hardesty: Dentist; one of Brian's friends that he would go cruising for pussy with
Charles Hillary Lord: A-Gay; wants to start the first gay nursing home called "The Last Roundup"

Bluegrass: Pinus houseboy assigned to Helena, but she gives him to Frannie because she likes her so much; gold-haired

Sybil Manigault: Pinus member; into nature

Birdsong: Pinus houseboy; 24 y/o with a lean body, curly black hair and astoundingly blue eyes; wears a dusty-rose terry cloth jumpsuit, unzipped to the waist

Tyrone (aka Transplant Guy): Mystery guy with a noticeable hair transplant; Mary Ann & Burke run into him at the flower mart; Burke and him seem to recognize one another; works at the hospital florist shop, where Mary Ann runs into him to buy flowers for Mouse; Mary Ann also discovered that he sings in the choir at Grace Cathedral where she suspects Burke may have sung in the choir

Thelma: Michael's night nurse; also from Florida; fond of Michael and Jon

Jack Lederer: Writer for the Associated Press; Mary Ann questions him about Burke because they use to work together (if only for 5 months); learns that Jack had run into Burke just months before he became an amnesiac and Burke had hinted that he was a free lancer and working on a bizarre story involving transubstantiation (the change of the substance of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ); turns out the cult was eating human appendages as the Body of Christ
My Review: Love this series! After I finish reading each book, I have been watching the show on DVD. Looking forward to the third book!

Book Score:9/10