He continues relationships with many of the other characters of the earlier books, accounts for those who are not present, and creates new and engaging characters. He stumbles into a 'May-December' relationship with 33 year old Ben. This is his story of finding a new love and dealing with the life, death, and choices faced by middle-aged gay men. Michael, 'Mouse' of the earlier books, is now 55 and feeling it.
The characters are just as memorable and Maupin certainly plays with the language of the day. While still a beautiful and amusing photograph there are fewer of those serendipitous meetings probably because the book is written from Michael Tolliver's point of view where the earlier books were written from a omnipresent perspective. Michael Tolliver Lives is a little different from the others. Reading any of his previous Tales is like looking through a photograph album of another time. He writes about the time as he lives it and he does it damn well. Maupin firmly sticks a push pin in the point on the cultural timeline that he is trying to capture. I love the memorable characters, the way Maupin plays with the language of the day, and the surreal coincidental meetings that suggests San Francisco is nothing but a large village.
I am a big fan of Armistead Maupin and the Tales of the City books.
