Babycakes (Tales of the City Series, V. 4) by Armistead Maupin
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Book Reviews of Babycakes (Tales of the City Series, V. 4)
Book Review: Actually this was the FIRST "Tales of the City" book I read
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this in a public library back in 1984. It looked very colorful (the 1984 book cover was a LOT different than the 1994 reprint) so I took it out. I had no idea there were three earlier books but had no trouble understanding the characters and situations. Author Maupin gives you enough background to get into it. Needless to say I LOVED this. As with the others there are multiple plots going all at once--Mary Ann and Brian want a baby but she's unsure about it; Mouse is grieving his dead lover Jon and ends up taking a trip to the UK; hunky UK visitor Simon and Mary Ann become VERY attracted to each other; Mona pops up again in England and a charming kid (Wilfred) falls for Michael in the UK. The chapters here are longer than the previous books and plots are more involved but I was never bored or confused. This was definetely better than "Further..." which went TOO far with the Jim Jones plot. If u like the first three you should like this. Recommended.Book Review: A wonderful journey goes abroad
Summary: 5 Stars
Reading the 'Tales of the City'-Series was such a wonderful experience I could easily repeat it as much as I could. Maupin's style is so great and terrific, it's strange I hadn't heard of him that much, before I read it.The characters are surely some of the best ones ever created in literary history. The developement of the storyline is so surprising and unexpectable it's breath-taking. The twists and turns are so effective, because you seem to know the characters so well, and never had thought... well, you have to explore the secrets by yourself. I have never seen such a developement of characters. The same persons are totally different in the last book than in the first one. It's great.
I won't rate every book differently, although they are very different. But they are so great alltogether and so well-connected it's hard to tell them apart.
This is wonderful stuff!
Book Review: Beautiful, quirky, diverse, magical Baghdad by the Bay
Summary: 5 Stars
The late, great SF Chronicle columnist Herb Caen coined the term Baghdad by the Bay for the city that captured his heart, San Francisco. And Armisted Maupin peopled his Tales of the City series (first serialized in the Chronicle in 1976) with a huge assortment of eccentric, quirky, diverse characters that capture your heart and keep you reading, reading, reading even when you know you should have turned off the light hours ago. Babycakes, in which ambitious Mary Ann (the wide-eyed innocent from the Midwest through whose eyes we earlier came to see an ingenue's view of live and love in the City) has a baby, was the first work of fiction to recognize the scourge of AIDS in SF.Drop dead funny, bittersweet, and enchanting, Babycakes dangles intricate and outrageously interwoven plot threads in front of the readers, and it all just makes you want more, more, more.
Book Review: Marvellous!
Summary: 5 Stars
"Babycakes" is one of the most touching novels in the "Tales of the City" series as it marks the end of the seemingly fun-filled pre-AIDS era, and the beginning of death, despair and tragedy. It's deliciously comic whilst at the same time having essences of profound sadness on every page. Freud would have a field day analysing the symbolic significance of the endless rain that drones on throughout most of the book. More sombre and more political than his first three novels Babycakes is firmly planted in the period of the very early eighties. Maupin is a topical writer and seems to draw influence from his immediate surroundings and the time in which he lives. Although almost twenty years have passed since the early 80s the relevance and importance of his subject matter remains undiminished by time.Book Review: The best yet
Summary: 5 Stars
I think this is the best yet of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City. In addition to favourite characters Michael alias Mouse, Mary-Ann and Brian, Mona and Mrs Madrigal, we have a handsome young English sailor who jumps ship (the Britannia no less), a gay English lord, and a delightful young aborigine Londoner. If you haven't guessed some of the action takes place in England.
I read this some time after reading the preceding Tales of the City books, but very quickly picked up with the familiar characters. Full of unlikely coincidences, Babycakes is not just as funny, possibly even the funniest so far, but is also especially heart-warming with so many endearing individuals, Michael really wins our hearts as does his mischievous young aborigine friend.