t0astghost's reviews
25 reviews

Every Tales book I read I love Michael even more. He's arguably one of Armistead Maupin's best characters. Others have been regaled to second to his story, most likely because of his popularity. I'm sad there's less Anna Madrigal- she's another one of my favourites. Every mention of Jon I'm sad, but I wish more of Michael and Jon's relationship was shown, like Michael and Thack- love Thack too, by the way. I see Michael's small problems with him, but I often agree with Thack. He's proud and not afraid, something that comes out of the growth of gay liberation, but something important. Michael is also proud of his identity, and I loved

when he shut down Russell Rand after he attempted to seduce him despite his large straight persona.

Brian is extremely on and off, as he always has been for me. Mary Ann, however, has had her flaws on full display. I wish there were more leading women to shake off the feeling of villanized women, and her essential entire being is annoying. She's oblivious and unempathetic, sabotaging her friendships by not considering her action's effect on them, and at the same time being sad she's hurt them without being the bigger person. I hope there are better women in the next book, or else this will be another group of people Armistead Maupin cannot write properly.

If you ignore the ending, it's a great book. Interesting and funny, Armistead Maupin is great at writing these soap-opera-y books. For the time it was written, it was very diverse. Armistead Maupin is excellent at writing his own community, and the gay representation is better than some things produced now. But it shows the importance of diverse writers- he falls short writing lesbians, even further with people of colour. The ending dropped my rating a lot. I don't know why that was written. It's the beginning of a series of fun reads if you decide to continue reading past that part,

when the white woman (D'or) is revealed to have been faking being black to get more jobs. Theres so much wrong with that, I just can't. /spoiler>

Amazing worldbuilding and I really enjoyed the characters.