Michael Tolliver Lives

By: Armistead Maupin

Narrated by: Armistead Maupin

The seventh novel in the beloved Tales of the City series, Armistead Maupin’s best-selling San Francisco saga.

Inspiration for the Netflix Limited Series, Tales of the City

Nearly two decades after ending his groundbreaking Tales of the City saga of San Francisco life, Armistead Maupin revisits his all-too-human hero Michael Tolliver—the fifty-five-year-old sweet-spirited gardener and survivor of the plague that took so many of his friends and lovers—for a single day at once mundane and extraordinary... and filled with the everyday miracles of living.

Pleasantly surprised

I frankly had no idea what this book was about when I downloaded it. I was pleasantly surprised. It turned out to be and extremely entertaining listen. Maupin has created a very interesting set of characters whose humanity and humanness will lift your spirits.

Worthy epilogue to Tales

If you're a fan of the Tales of the City books (as I am), you will thoroughly enjoy revisiting the main characters that you have missed all these years since the last novel was completed. Now, they are roughly 20 years older, and Maupin presents them as characters living with new interests, concerns and conflicts. I would have to agree that Michael Tolliver Lives is not quite up to the same extraordinary level of the first 6 books, but it is nevertheless a thoroughly enjoyable, engrossing, and moving read. Superbly read by the author.

Persistence Is Rewarded

I liked hearing the ongoing saga of characters whom I had become fond of through previous audiobooks. The author's books make for great listening as he's such a good storyteller. That said, as a Southern, conservative, heterosexual female, I was initially repelled by the first-person, graphic descriptions of male organs and homosexual love-making. Also, the narrator didn't fit my image of Michael Tolliver whom I'd liked a lot in earlier books. Finally, I didn't like the knee-jerk liberal, political stances and broad-brushed disrespect toward those holding more conservative views. However, for several reasons, I came back to the book and listened all the way to the end. I basically had become fond of the characters and wanted to hear more about their lives. Michael Tolliver as depicted by Maupin is good natured, has a self-deprecating sense of humor, and is devoted to his husband Ben. All the characters are described in a colorful, entertaining, very human way. The interpersonal values prized by the author and exemplified most perfectly in the life of Anna Madrigal are healthy, wholesome values. Finally in a strange way, the first-person narration and overly graphic sex talk, although initially off-putting, provided me with a much greater understanding of the variety of gay life styles and issues.

Sweetly Unsentimental

Michael "Mouse" Tolliver has always been the voice of reason in AM's The Tales of the City, but he comes to full maturity in this latest effort: Michael Tolliver Lives. Michael, once unabashedly youthful, has slipped into upper middle age with all the vigor and wit we'd expect. He lives comfortably with his much younger lover in the shadow of 28 Barberry Lane in what could be described as a "new" life, but the past is unalterably present.

This novel shakes him and things up when he's forced to choose between his logical and biological family. In doing so, Michael and the reader come to realize the heart has room to hold dearly more than we had ever thought.

There is sadness in Michael Tolliver Lives, as well as sweetness and sentiment and beautiful prose. With the wisdom that comes from experience, AM provides a resolution that makes for powerful insight into the human condition.

I loved this book and all it represents. Read it and and weep (or maybe smile!).

Friends indeed

I originally read the Tales series in the 80's. Some of this reading occured on city buses during my comute. I can remember bursting into laughter and turning redfaced on the bus. This book was certainly a return to old friends, a joyful experience. And a reminder that no matter how far we travel, we can always go home.