Visiting The City

Reading MARY ANN IN AUTUMN by Armistead Maupin is like visiting old friends. I remembering reading the Tales Of The City books in the 80s and falling in love with them. I even thought of them as "literature." Maybe I know better now, or maybe I don't, for I still love these characters so well, and want to stay "in touch" with them. I liked 2007's "Michael Tolliver Lives" well enough even though most didn't, though I must admit it was pretty self-indulgent, and the character of Mouse didn't seem so sympathetic there. Well, Mr. Maupin goes back to his roots in this latest installment of the series, which sees the reader playing catch up with most of the characters from TOTC. It is focused on Mary Ann, once the ingenue, now going into the "autumn" of her life. We get rounded up into her life, her dilemma, on where she is at this point in time. There are some very sweet side-stories, my favorite the little slice-of-life romance Jake Greenleaf has with a Mormon boy. Mouse is a lot less insufferable this time, maybe because there's a lot less for him to do. All the characters are tied together by an unbelievable murder-mystery plot that really turns me off, but a friend told me, "A murder mystery is not what you paid for," so I am reconsidering my disgust. It's a fun read still.