Michael Tolliver Lives

In 1989, after six Tales of the City novels and much acclaim, Maupin left behind the world of 28 Barbary Lane that he first created as a newspaper column chronicling life in San Francisco in the 1970s and ’80s. For his many fans (gay and straight), those novels perfectly capture the zeitgeist of the last gasp of ’70s hedonism and the onset of the greed-is-good ’80s. Now he’s revived the characters, and it feels rather like bumping into an old friend after many years; it’s nice to catch up, even if the conversation leaves you a bit wistful for the glories of days gone by. This time out, in a dramatic shift, the novel is narrated by Michael “Mouse” Tolliver, now in his fifties and musing on his past and ever-shrinking future.

Maupin’s fans have lived with Michael through the death of his partner Jon, an AIDS diagnosis and a second chance at love. We learn that lover didn’t last, either, and Michael is now married to Ben, a guy 20 years younger. Michael’s mother, the recipient of his famous coming-out letter (in More Tales from the City), is on her deathbed. Anna Madrigal, Michael’s transgendered former landlady and spiritual mother figure, is amazingly still around and bringing a little grace and wisdom into every situation. Michael’s straight pal Brian is dealing with the fact that his daughter has become a blogger chronicling the sexual rainbow of San Francisco (rather like a modern-day Maupin, in fact).

Maupin still shows a gift for throwing in a wide-ranging set of references and homages in an offhanded way (in one particularly packed passage, he breezily name-checks Bettie Page, W.H. Auden, Arthur Bowen Davies, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and Maupin’s old standby, Vertigo). What’s missing is the Dickensian plotting and the sense of sweep that the Tales novels had. Writing in Michael’s voice makes sense (many fans have reasonably assumed that Southern-born San Franciscan Michael was always an alter ego for Maupin), but it removes some of Maupin’s wry third-person commentary. Still, it’s nice to visit with old friends.—Hank Sartin