(hb; 2014: Book Nine in the Tales of the City series)
From the inside flap:
"Now ninety-two, and committed to the notion of 'leaving like a lady,' Mrs. Madrigal has seemingly found peace with her 'logical family' in San Francisco: her devoted young caretaker, Jake Greenleaf; her former tenant Brian Hawkins and his daughter, Shawna; and Michael Tolliver and Mary Ann Singleton, who have known and loved Anna for nearly four decades.
"Some members of Anna's family are bound for the otherworldly landscape of Burning Man, the art community in Nevada's Black Rock Desert where sixty thousand revelers gather to construct a city designed to last only one week. Anna herself has another Nevada destination in mind: a lonely stretch of road outside of Winnemuca where the sixteen-year-old boy she once was ran away from the whorehouse he called home. With Brian and his beat-up RV, she journeys into the dusty, troubled heart of her Depression-era childhood to unearth a lifetime of secrets and dreams, and to attend to unfinished business she has long avoided."
Review:
Days, the final book in the Tales series, has all the elements that made its better entries so involving and memorable: warmth, wit, a playful sense of naughtiness, a touch of mystery and a no-bullcrap tone that makes the Tales books feel less like reading and more like revisiting - catching up with - family members who may tick you off, but are (for the most part) worth seeing again.
What especially drew me into Days was Maupin's ability to seamlessly show real world parallels - similarities and progressions - between the past and the present, within his characters' lives, as well as the world around them.
Great wrap-up to a milestone series. Worth owning, this.
Showing posts with label Armistead Maupin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Armistead Maupin. Show all posts
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Beach Reading, by Mark Abramson
(pb; 2008: first novel in the Beach Reading series)From the back cover:
"Gay tourists are arriving in San Francisco by the planeload for the 'party of the decade' at the Moscone Center, a tribute to the late disco star Sylvester. On the same night as the dance party, evangelist Arlo Montgomery is bringing his nationwide crusade against gay rights to the Civic Auditorium a few blocks away. And Tim Snow's activist friends are planning a protest. For Tim, the fun - and the intrigue - are just about to begin."
Review:
Fun, smart, political novel, with lively characters and City evocative storytelling whose structure and effervescent style can be directly linked to Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City series - a link that Abramson acknowledges with a Babycakes mention, late in the novel.
That said, Beach Reading is more than a tautly written update of Tales; Abramson's "voice" shines through Maupin's template, more frenetic and equally rich in living (character-wise) City history.
Worth checking out, this.
Followed by numerous sequels, the first of which is Cold Serial Murder.
Monday, February 07, 2011
Mary Ann in Autumn, by Armistead Maupin
(hb; 2011: Book Eight in the Tales of the City series)
From the inside flap:
"Twenty years have passed since Mary Ann Singleton left her husband and child in San Francisco to pursue her dream of a television career in New York. Now a pair of personal calamities has driven her back to the city of her youth and into the arms of her oldest friend, Michael 'Mouse' Tolliver, a gardener happily esconced with his much-younger husband.
"Mary Ann finds temporary refuge in the couple's backyard cottage, where, at the unnerving age of fifty-seven, she licks her wounds and takes stock of her mistakes. Soon, with the help of Facebook and a few old friends, she begins to reengage with life, only to confront fresh terrors when her checkered past comes back to haunt her in a way she never could have imagined.
"After the intimate first-person narrative of Maupin's last novel Michael Tolliver Lives, Mary Ann in Autumn marks the author's return to the multicharacter plotlines and darkly comic themes of his earlier work. Among those caught in Mary Ann's orbit are her estranged daughter Shawna, a popular sex blogger; Jake Greenleaf, Michael's transgendered gardening assistant; socialite DeDe Halcyon-Wilson; and the indefatigable Anna Madrigal, Mary Ann's former landlady at 28 Barbary Lane."
Review:
Mary Ann in Autumn is as warm, fresh, joyous, City-centric and charming as the original Tales of the City novel, with a dark mystery element (much like the original novel, More Tales of the City and Further Tales of the City).
The mystery element in this gradual-passing-of-the-torches novel isn't such a mystery (a mild disappointment), but the writing is tight and witty, and the characters still feel like family, as usual, with a welcome return to form - as much as I liked Michael Tolliver Lives, I prefer Maupin's multicharactered storylines, which structure his best novels.
Readers familiar with Maupin's work will probably recognize Gabriel Noone, who gets a mention in Mary Ann. (Noone is the main character in one of Maupin's non-Tales books, The Night Listener - further proof of Maupin's ability to seamlessly bring his otherwise disparate characters together, and making his readers smile.)
I love this book. One of my favorite entries in this series. Worth owning, this.
Followed by The Days of Anna Madrigal.
From the inside flap:
"Twenty years have passed since Mary Ann Singleton left her husband and child in San Francisco to pursue her dream of a television career in New York. Now a pair of personal calamities has driven her back to the city of her youth and into the arms of her oldest friend, Michael 'Mouse' Tolliver, a gardener happily esconced with his much-younger husband.
"Mary Ann finds temporary refuge in the couple's backyard cottage, where, at the unnerving age of fifty-seven, she licks her wounds and takes stock of her mistakes. Soon, with the help of Facebook and a few old friends, she begins to reengage with life, only to confront fresh terrors when her checkered past comes back to haunt her in a way she never could have imagined.
"After the intimate first-person narrative of Maupin's last novel Michael Tolliver Lives, Mary Ann in Autumn marks the author's return to the multicharacter plotlines and darkly comic themes of his earlier work. Among those caught in Mary Ann's orbit are her estranged daughter Shawna, a popular sex blogger; Jake Greenleaf, Michael's transgendered gardening assistant; socialite DeDe Halcyon-Wilson; and the indefatigable Anna Madrigal, Mary Ann's former landlady at 28 Barbary Lane."
Review:
Mary Ann in Autumn is as warm, fresh, joyous, City-centric and charming as the original Tales of the City novel, with a dark mystery element (much like the original novel, More Tales of the City and Further Tales of the City).
The mystery element in this gradual-passing-of-the-torches novel isn't such a mystery (a mild disappointment), but the writing is tight and witty, and the characters still feel like family, as usual, with a welcome return to form - as much as I liked Michael Tolliver Lives, I prefer Maupin's multicharactered storylines, which structure his best novels.
Readers familiar with Maupin's work will probably recognize Gabriel Noone, who gets a mention in Mary Ann. (Noone is the main character in one of Maupin's non-Tales books, The Night Listener - further proof of Maupin's ability to seamlessly bring his otherwise disparate characters together, and making his readers smile.)
I love this book. One of my favorite entries in this series. Worth owning, this.
Followed by The Days of Anna Madrigal.
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Michael Tolliver Lives, by Armistead Maupin
(hb; 2007: Book Seven of the Tales of the City series)
From the inside flap:
"Having survived the plague that took so many of his friends and lovers, Michael [Tolliver] has learned to embrace the random pleasures of life, the tender alliances that sustain him in the hardest of times. Michael Tolliver Lives follows its protagonist as he finds love with a younger man, attends to his dying fundamentalist mother in Florida, and finally re-affirms his allegiance to a wise octogenarian who was once his landlady."
Review:
Warm, witty and (occasionally) vexing as the rest of the series, this time exclusively from the POV [point of view] of Michael Tolliver.
Shawna Hawkins, Brian's punk-blogger-stripper daughter, injects a lot of joy into the book.
Excellent read. Check it out.
Followed by Mary Ann in Autumn.
From the inside flap:
"Having survived the plague that took so many of his friends and lovers, Michael [Tolliver] has learned to embrace the random pleasures of life, the tender alliances that sustain him in the hardest of times. Michael Tolliver Lives follows its protagonist as he finds love with a younger man, attends to his dying fundamentalist mother in Florida, and finally re-affirms his allegiance to a wise octogenarian who was once his landlady."
Review:
Warm, witty and (occasionally) vexing as the rest of the series, this time exclusively from the POV [point of view] of Michael Tolliver.
Shawna Hawkins, Brian's punk-blogger-stripper daughter, injects a lot of joy into the book.
Excellent read. Check it out.
Followed by Mary Ann in Autumn.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Sure Of You, by Armistead Maupin
(pb; 1989: Book Six in the Tales of the City series)
From the back cover:
"A fiercely ambitious TV talk show host finds she must choose between national stardom in New York and a husband and child in San Francisco. Caught in the middle is their longtime friend, a gay man whose own future is even more uncertain..."
Review:
Less slapstick than its preceding novel, Significant Others, Sure of You is a worthy, if more serious (and possibly overdue) entry in the Tales of the City series.
Mary Ann Singleton is one of my least favorite Tales characters. Her personality, from Book One, has been edged with unnecessarily b*tchy judgments, and in Sure Of You her passive-aggressiveness is given full expression. This novel's focus on her character made me want her to be gone, already!
On the plus side, Thack Sweeney (Alcatraz guide and Michael's lover), introduced in Significant Others, is present; so is Polly Berendt, spiky Plant Parenthood nurserywoman (also from Significant Others).
Sure Of You also marks the series return of Burke Andrew, who last appeared in Further Tales of the City. In Sure Of You, he's a visiting media personality. His plot-necessary parts are mercifully brief.
Somber, still-excellent novel.
Followed by Michael Tolliver Lives.
From the back cover:
"A fiercely ambitious TV talk show host finds she must choose between national stardom in New York and a husband and child in San Francisco. Caught in the middle is their longtime friend, a gay man whose own future is even more uncertain..."
Review:
Less slapstick than its preceding novel, Significant Others, Sure of You is a worthy, if more serious (and possibly overdue) entry in the Tales of the City series.
Mary Ann Singleton is one of my least favorite Tales characters. Her personality, from Book One, has been edged with unnecessarily b*tchy judgments, and in Sure Of You her passive-aggressiveness is given full expression. This novel's focus on her character made me want her to be gone, already!
On the plus side, Thack Sweeney (Alcatraz guide and Michael's lover), introduced in Significant Others, is present; so is Polly Berendt, spiky Plant Parenthood nurserywoman (also from Significant Others).
Sure Of You also marks the series return of Burke Andrew, who last appeared in Further Tales of the City. In Sure Of You, he's a visiting media personality. His plot-necessary parts are mercifully brief.
Somber, still-excellent novel.
Followed by Michael Tolliver Lives.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Significant Others, by Armistead Maupin
(pb; 1987: Book Five in the Tales of the City series)
From the back cover:
"Tranquility reigns in the ancient redwood forest until a women-only music festival sets up camp downriver from an all-male retreat for the ruling class. Among those entangled in the ensuing mayhem are a lovesick nurseryman, a panic-stricken philanderer, and the world's most beautiful fat woman..."
Review:
Familiar characters -- many of them old fictional friends, by now -- continued to amuse, thrill, vex and warm the heart of this reader. Maupin writes with a sure head for evolving characters, plot and feels-like-real-life themes, many of them ongoing (the social dynamics of AIDS, coupledom and friendship, the necessity of humor in everything, et cetera).
One of more slapstick entries in the Tales of the City series. Check it out.
Followed by Sure Of You.
From the back cover:
"Tranquility reigns in the ancient redwood forest until a women-only music festival sets up camp downriver from an all-male retreat for the ruling class. Among those entangled in the ensuing mayhem are a lovesick nurseryman, a panic-stricken philanderer, and the world's most beautiful fat woman..."
Review:
Familiar characters -- many of them old fictional friends, by now -- continued to amuse, thrill, vex and warm the heart of this reader. Maupin writes with a sure head for evolving characters, plot and feels-like-real-life themes, many of them ongoing (the social dynamics of AIDS, coupledom and friendship, the necessity of humor in everything, et cetera).
One of more slapstick entries in the Tales of the City series. Check it out.
Followed by Sure Of You.
Monday, March 08, 2010
Babycakes, by Armistead Maupin
(pb; 1984: Book Four in the Tales of the City series)
From the back cover:
"When an ordinary househusband and his ambitious wife decide to start a family, they discover there's more to making a baby than meets the eye. Help arrives, in the form of a grieving gay neighbor, a visiting monarch, and the dashing young lieutenant who defects from her yacht. . . Babycakes was the first work of fiction to acknowledge the arrival of AIDS."
Review:
Babycakes is as warm, witty and quick-paced as the first three Tales books, with an elegiac edge (carnal betrayal, AIDS, impending middle age) sobering Maupin's life-affirming characters and storylines.
Worthwhile entry in the Tales of the City series.
Followed by Significant Others.
From the back cover:
"When an ordinary househusband and his ambitious wife decide to start a family, they discover there's more to making a baby than meets the eye. Help arrives, in the form of a grieving gay neighbor, a visiting monarch, and the dashing young lieutenant who defects from her yacht. . . Babycakes was the first work of fiction to acknowledge the arrival of AIDS."
Review:
Babycakes is as warm, witty and quick-paced as the first three Tales books, with an elegiac edge (carnal betrayal, AIDS, impending middle age) sobering Maupin's life-affirming characters and storylines.
Worthwhile entry in the Tales of the City series.
Followed by Significant Others.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Further Tales of the City, by Armistead Maupin
(pb; 1982: Book Three in the Tales of the City series)
From the back cover:
"The calamity-prone residents of 28 Barbary Lane are at it again in this deliciously dark novel of romance and betrayal. While Anna Madrigal imprisons an anchorwoman in her basement, Michael Tolliver looks for love at the National Gay Rodeo, DeDe Halcyon Day and Mary Ann Singleton track a charismatic psychopath across Alaska, and society columnist Prue Giroux loses her heart to a derelict living in a San Francisco park."
Review:
Another reader-charming entry in the warm, wild and briefly morbid Tales of the City series: worthwhile follow-up to Tales of the City and More Tales of the City.
Followed by Babycakes.
Further Tales of the City, the television mini-series, aired stateside on May 6, 2001. It was scripted by James Lecesne and book author Armistead Maupin (who also has a non-speaking cameo as "Man exiting Glory Holes").
Pierre Gang, who directed More Tales of the City, directed this.
Olympia Dukakis reprised her role of Anna Madrigal. Laura Linney reprised her role of Mary Ann Singleton. Whip Hubley reprised his role of Brian Hawkins (from More Tales of the City). Paul Hopkins reprised his role of Michael "Mouse" Tolliver (from More Tales of the City). Bill Campbell reprised his role of Jon Fielding.
Barbara Garrick reprised her role of DeDe Day Halcyon. Françoise Robertson reprised her role of D'orothea/Dorothy Williams (from More Tales of the City).
Mary Kay Place reprised her role of Prue Giroux (from Tales of the City).
Jackie Burroughs played Mona "Mother Mucca" Ramsey (whose character is absent from the book version of Further Tales of the City).
Sandra Oh played Bambi Kanetaka. In 2006, Oh played Anna, the grown-up version of DeDe Day Halcyon's daughter, in The Night Listener. (Anna's relationship to DeDe isn't mentioned in the movie version of The Night Listener, but it is in the book version of it.)
Joel Grey plays Guido. Parker Posey reprised her role of Connie Bradshaw Fetzner.
From the back cover:
"The calamity-prone residents of 28 Barbary Lane are at it again in this deliciously dark novel of romance and betrayal. While Anna Madrigal imprisons an anchorwoman in her basement, Michael Tolliver looks for love at the National Gay Rodeo, DeDe Halcyon Day and Mary Ann Singleton track a charismatic psychopath across Alaska, and society columnist Prue Giroux loses her heart to a derelict living in a San Francisco park."
Review:
Another reader-charming entry in the warm, wild and briefly morbid Tales of the City series: worthwhile follow-up to Tales of the City and More Tales of the City.
Followed by Babycakes.
Further Tales of the City, the television mini-series, aired stateside on May 6, 2001. It was scripted by James Lecesne and book author Armistead Maupin (who also has a non-speaking cameo as "Man exiting Glory Holes").
Pierre Gang, who directed More Tales of the City, directed this.
Olympia Dukakis reprised her role of Anna Madrigal. Laura Linney reprised her role of Mary Ann Singleton. Whip Hubley reprised his role of Brian Hawkins (from More Tales of the City). Paul Hopkins reprised his role of Michael "Mouse" Tolliver (from More Tales of the City). Bill Campbell reprised his role of Jon Fielding.
Barbara Garrick reprised her role of DeDe Day Halcyon. Françoise Robertson reprised her role of D'orothea/Dorothy Williams (from More Tales of the City).
Mary Kay Place reprised her role of Prue Giroux (from Tales of the City).
Jackie Burroughs played Mona "Mother Mucca" Ramsey (whose character is absent from the book version of Further Tales of the City).
Sandra Oh played Bambi Kanetaka. In 2006, Oh played Anna, the grown-up version of DeDe Day Halcyon's daughter, in The Night Listener. (Anna's relationship to DeDe isn't mentioned in the movie version of The Night Listener, but it is in the book version of it.)
Joel Grey plays Guido. Parker Posey reprised her role of Connie Bradshaw Fetzner.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
More Tales of the City, by Armistead Maupin
(pb; 1980: Book Two in the Tales of the City series)
From the back cover:
"The divinely human comedy that began with Tales of the City rolls recklessly along as Michael Tolliver pursues his favorite gynecologist, Mona Ramsey uncovers her roots in a desert whorehouse, and Mary Ann Singleton finds love at sea with the amnesiac of her dreams."
Review:
All the warmth, wit, bawdiness, and often-surprising twists that made Tales of the City such a joy to read are seamlessly recreated, with several of the first book's bizarre mysteries and hanging plotlines concluded in its follow-up -- even as new ones are tantalizingly offered to readers.
Vivacious, organic (as in: it reads like real-life) sequel to a landmark San Francisco-centric read.
Worth owning, this.
Followed by Further Tales of the City.
More Tales of the City, the television mini-series, aired stateside on June 7, 1998. It was scripted by Nicholas Wright, and directed by Pierre Gang.
Laura Linney reprised her role of Mary Ann Singleton. Olympia Dukakis reprised her role of Anna Madrigal. Nina Siemaszko replaced Chloe Webb in the role of Mona Ramsey. Jackie Burroughs played Mona "Mother Mucca" Ramsey. Paul Hopkins replaced Marcus D'Amico in the role of Michael "Mouse" Tolliver. Bill Campbell (billed as "William Campbell") reprised his role of Jon Fielding. Whip Hubley replaced Paul Gross in the role of Brian Hawkins. Colin Ferguson played Burke Christopher Andrew.
Barbara Garrick reprised her role of DeDe Day Halcyon. Françoise Robertson replaced Cynda Williams in the role of D'orothea/Dorothy Williams. Thomas Gibson reprised his role of Beauchamp Day.
Ian McKellen reprised his role of Archibald Anson Gidde. Paul Bartel reprised his role of Charles Hillary Lord. Parker Posey reprised her role of Connie Bradshaw. Suzanne Girard played [Brian's mysterious] "Woman at Blinds".
Book author Armistead Maupin played a "Priest".
From the back cover:
"The divinely human comedy that began with Tales of the City rolls recklessly along as Michael Tolliver pursues his favorite gynecologist, Mona Ramsey uncovers her roots in a desert whorehouse, and Mary Ann Singleton finds love at sea with the amnesiac of her dreams."
Review:
All the warmth, wit, bawdiness, and often-surprising twists that made Tales of the City such a joy to read are seamlessly recreated, with several of the first book's bizarre mysteries and hanging plotlines concluded in its follow-up -- even as new ones are tantalizingly offered to readers.
Vivacious, organic (as in: it reads like real-life) sequel to a landmark San Francisco-centric read.
Worth owning, this.
Followed by Further Tales of the City.
More Tales of the City, the television mini-series, aired stateside on June 7, 1998. It was scripted by Nicholas Wright, and directed by Pierre Gang.
Laura Linney reprised her role of Mary Ann Singleton. Olympia Dukakis reprised her role of Anna Madrigal. Nina Siemaszko replaced Chloe Webb in the role of Mona Ramsey. Jackie Burroughs played Mona "Mother Mucca" Ramsey. Paul Hopkins replaced Marcus D'Amico in the role of Michael "Mouse" Tolliver. Bill Campbell (billed as "William Campbell") reprised his role of Jon Fielding. Whip Hubley replaced Paul Gross in the role of Brian Hawkins. Colin Ferguson played Burke Christopher Andrew.
Barbara Garrick reprised her role of DeDe Day Halcyon. Françoise Robertson replaced Cynda Williams in the role of D'orothea/Dorothy Williams. Thomas Gibson reprised his role of Beauchamp Day.
Ian McKellen reprised his role of Archibald Anson Gidde. Paul Bartel reprised his role of Charles Hillary Lord. Parker Posey reprised her role of Connie Bradshaw. Suzanne Girard played [Brian's mysterious] "Woman at Blinds".
Book author Armistead Maupin played a "Priest".
Friday, October 02, 2009
Tales of the City, by Armistead Maupin
(pb; 1978: Book One in the Tales of the City series)
From the back cover:
"Anna: a mystical landlady, an Earth-Space Mother, the kind of woman F. Scott Fitzgerald would have kissed. Mary Ann: a child of Ohio who caught the last dream leaving Cleveland for the coast. Michael: a gay person singular who wanted another person plural with whom he could buy a Christmas tree. And Mona: a writer, a little lonely, a little looney, and a lotta lovable.
"Shooting sentiment and joy straight from the hip, Tales of the City tells what happened to reality when it moved to San Francisco."
Review:
Warm, witty, and occasionally bawdy and sad work, this. The characters come from wildly-varied backgrounds, allowing San Francisco -- which, true to the cliché, is a character itself -- to be seen from many different views.
The year is 1976. The hippie movement has largely burnt out, leaving the more street-savvy or idealistic characters (Anna Madrigal, Mona Ramsey, Michael Tolliver, Brian Hawkins) to deal with its bittersweet ashes. Idealism still abounds in the city, but it's taken a few bruises, and, accordingly, its adherents have become more practical in their attitudes, goals and methods.
Maupin wrote a celebratory, life-affirming work when he penned this. I've read this a couple of times before, and the third time was no less effective in sparking its effervescent, occasionally-shaded moods in me.
Worth owning, this.
Followed by More Tales of the City.
Tales of the City, the PBS television mini-series, aired stateside on January 10, 1994. Richard Kramer wrote the teleplay. Alastair Reid directed.
Laura Linney played Mary Ann Singleton. Olympia Dukakis played Anna Madrigal. Donald Moffat played Edgar Halcyon. Chloe Webb played Mona Ramsey. Cynda Williams played D'orothea/Dorothy Williams. Marcus D'Amico played Michael "Mouse" Tolliver. Bill Campbell (billed as "William Campbell") played Jon Fielding. Paul Gross played Brian Hawkins.
Barbara Garrick played DeDe Day Halcyon. Thomas Gibson played Beauchamp Day. Robert Downey Sr. (father of Robert Downey Jr.) played Edgar's doctor. Parker Posey played Connie Bradshaw.
Mary Kay Place played Prue Giroux. Ian McKellen played Archibald Anson Gidde. Rod Steiger played "Bookstore Owner". An uncredited Janeane Garofalo played "Coppola Woman". Paul Dooley played Herbert "Herb" L. Tolliver. Michael Jeter played Carson Callas. Paul Bartel played Charles Hillary Lord. Karen Black played herself. Country Joe MacDonald played Joaquin.
Book author Armistead Maupin, in an uncredited role, played "Writer in window".
From the back cover:
"Anna: a mystical landlady, an Earth-Space Mother, the kind of woman F. Scott Fitzgerald would have kissed. Mary Ann: a child of Ohio who caught the last dream leaving Cleveland for the coast. Michael: a gay person singular who wanted another person plural with whom he could buy a Christmas tree. And Mona: a writer, a little lonely, a little looney, and a lotta lovable.
"Shooting sentiment and joy straight from the hip, Tales of the City tells what happened to reality when it moved to San Francisco."
Review:
Warm, witty, and occasionally bawdy and sad work, this. The characters come from wildly-varied backgrounds, allowing San Francisco -- which, true to the cliché, is a character itself -- to be seen from many different views.
The year is 1976. The hippie movement has largely burnt out, leaving the more street-savvy or idealistic characters (Anna Madrigal, Mona Ramsey, Michael Tolliver, Brian Hawkins) to deal with its bittersweet ashes. Idealism still abounds in the city, but it's taken a few bruises, and, accordingly, its adherents have become more practical in their attitudes, goals and methods.
Maupin wrote a celebratory, life-affirming work when he penned this. I've read this a couple of times before, and the third time was no less effective in sparking its effervescent, occasionally-shaded moods in me.
Worth owning, this.
Followed by More Tales of the City.
Tales of the City, the PBS television mini-series, aired stateside on January 10, 1994. Richard Kramer wrote the teleplay. Alastair Reid directed.
Laura Linney played Mary Ann Singleton. Olympia Dukakis played Anna Madrigal. Donald Moffat played Edgar Halcyon. Chloe Webb played Mona Ramsey. Cynda Williams played D'orothea/Dorothy Williams. Marcus D'Amico played Michael "Mouse" Tolliver. Bill Campbell (billed as "William Campbell") played Jon Fielding. Paul Gross played Brian Hawkins.
Barbara Garrick played DeDe Day Halcyon. Thomas Gibson played Beauchamp Day. Robert Downey Sr. (father of Robert Downey Jr.) played Edgar's doctor. Parker Posey played Connie Bradshaw.
Mary Kay Place played Prue Giroux. Ian McKellen played Archibald Anson Gidde. Rod Steiger played "Bookstore Owner". An uncredited Janeane Garofalo played "Coppola Woman". Paul Dooley played Herbert "Herb" L. Tolliver. Michael Jeter played Carson Callas. Paul Bartel played Charles Hillary Lord. Karen Black played herself. Country Joe MacDonald played Joaquin.
Book author Armistead Maupin, in an uncredited role, played "Writer in window".
Monday, May 22, 2006
The Night Listener, by Armistead Maupin
(hb; 2000)
From the back cover:
“... Gabriel Noone, a writer whose late-night radio stories have brought him into the homes of millions. Noone is in the midst of a painful separation from his longtime lover when a publisher sends him proofs of a remarkable book: the memoir of an ailing thirteen-year-old boy who suffered horrific abuse at the hands of his parents.
“Now living with his adoptive mother, Pete Lomax is not only a brave and gifted diarist but also a devoted listener to Noone’s show. When Noone phones the boy to offer encouragement, it soon becomes clear that Pete sees in this heartsick middle-aged storyteller the loving father he has always wanted. Thus begins an extraordinary friendship that only grows deeper as the boy’s health deteriorates, freeing Noone to unlock his innermost feelings.
“Then, out of the blue, troubling questions arise, exploding Noone’s comfortable assumptions and causing his ordered existence to spin wildly out of control. As he walks a vertiginous line between truth and illusion, he is finally forced to confront all his relationships – familial, romantic, and erotic.”
Review:
Emotionally complex, incisive work from the author of the Tales of the City series. (Side-note: one of the characters in The Night Listener is Anna, Noone’s twenty-something Asian assistant. Anna is the adopted daughter of DeDe Halcyon-Day and D’or Wilson. DeDe and D’or were major characters in early Tales books.)
In The Night Listener, Maupin’s writing spans all moods: amusing, touching, laugh-out-loud funny, angry, sexual, melancholy – mostly melancholy, though, as Noone is mourning what seems to be the demise of a ten-year relationship with Jess, whose restless ways have driven him to move out. Whether or not that move is permanent, Noone and Jess don’t know. All they know is that they’re hurting (Jess shows this through his actions; we never “get inside” his head.)
As if Noone doesn’t have enough bulls**t to deal with, new issues are becoming apparent with his father, an outspoken man who’s more comfortable with jokes and talking about the Navy and geography than he is with emotional truths – even when they’re staring him right in the face.
Noone’s most prominent relationship is with Pete, who may or may not be a real person. About halfway through, The Night Listener becomes a thriller/mystery. Who is Pete Lomax, if he’s real? Is he really a split personality of Donna, his adoptive mother? Or is it the other way around? And if either situation is true, how dangerous are they?
Despite the slight genre shift midway through, Maupin maintains the warm feel of the novel's first half. The ending might disappoint anyone looking for a an action-oriented finish, but for those readers who appreciate a graceful, emotionally solid ending, this is stunning.
The Night Listener is scheduled for an August 4, 2006 stateside release.
Robin Williams plays Noone. Sandra Oh plays Anna. Rory Culkin plays Pete. Toni Collette plays Donna. Joe Morton plays Ashe. Bobby Cannavale plays Jess.
Patrick Stettner directed, from a script by co-authored by himself, Armistead Maupin and Terry Anderson.
From the back cover:
“... Gabriel Noone, a writer whose late-night radio stories have brought him into the homes of millions. Noone is in the midst of a painful separation from his longtime lover when a publisher sends him proofs of a remarkable book: the memoir of an ailing thirteen-year-old boy who suffered horrific abuse at the hands of his parents.
“Now living with his adoptive mother, Pete Lomax is not only a brave and gifted diarist but also a devoted listener to Noone’s show. When Noone phones the boy to offer encouragement, it soon becomes clear that Pete sees in this heartsick middle-aged storyteller the loving father he has always wanted. Thus begins an extraordinary friendship that only grows deeper as the boy’s health deteriorates, freeing Noone to unlock his innermost feelings.
“Then, out of the blue, troubling questions arise, exploding Noone’s comfortable assumptions and causing his ordered existence to spin wildly out of control. As he walks a vertiginous line between truth and illusion, he is finally forced to confront all his relationships – familial, romantic, and erotic.”
Review:
Emotionally complex, incisive work from the author of the Tales of the City series. (Side-note: one of the characters in The Night Listener is Anna, Noone’s twenty-something Asian assistant. Anna is the adopted daughter of DeDe Halcyon-Day and D’or Wilson. DeDe and D’or were major characters in early Tales books.)
In The Night Listener, Maupin’s writing spans all moods: amusing, touching, laugh-out-loud funny, angry, sexual, melancholy – mostly melancholy, though, as Noone is mourning what seems to be the demise of a ten-year relationship with Jess, whose restless ways have driven him to move out. Whether or not that move is permanent, Noone and Jess don’t know. All they know is that they’re hurting (Jess shows this through his actions; we never “get inside” his head.)
As if Noone doesn’t have enough bulls**t to deal with, new issues are becoming apparent with his father, an outspoken man who’s more comfortable with jokes and talking about the Navy and geography than he is with emotional truths – even when they’re staring him right in the face.
Noone’s most prominent relationship is with Pete, who may or may not be a real person. About halfway through, The Night Listener becomes a thriller/mystery. Who is Pete Lomax, if he’s real? Is he really a split personality of Donna, his adoptive mother? Or is it the other way around? And if either situation is true, how dangerous are they?
Despite the slight genre shift midway through, Maupin maintains the warm feel of the novel's first half. The ending might disappoint anyone looking for a an action-oriented finish, but for those readers who appreciate a graceful, emotionally solid ending, this is stunning.
The Night Listener is scheduled for an August 4, 2006 stateside release.
Robin Williams plays Noone. Sandra Oh plays Anna. Rory Culkin plays Pete. Toni Collette plays Donna. Joe Morton plays Ashe. Bobby Cannavale plays Jess.
Patrick Stettner directed, from a script by co-authored by himself, Armistead Maupin and Terry Anderson.
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