Sure of You
4/5
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Currently unavailable
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About this ebook
"A quietly understated masterpiece." —USA Today
The sixth novel in the beloved Tales of the City series, Armistead Maupin’s bestselling San Francisco saga.
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. Wistful and compassionate yet subversively funny, Sure of You is a pitch-perfect novel in Maupin’s legendary series.
Armistead Maupin
Armistead Maupin is the author of the Tales of the City series, which includes Tales of the City, More Tales of the City, Further Tales of the City, Babycakes, Significant Others, Sure of You, Michael Tolliver Lives, Mary Ann in Autumn, and The Days of Anna Madrigal. His other books include the memoir Logical Family and the novels Maybe the Moon and The Night Listener. Maupin was the 2012 recipient of the Lambda Literary Foundation’s Pioneer Award. He lives in London with his husband, Christopher Turner.
Read more from Armistead Maupin
Logical Family: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Night Listener: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Write That Down!: The Comedy of Male Actress Charles Pierce Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
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Reviews for Sure of You
373 ratings7 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I'm almost sure that my reading of this one suffered for the fact that I hadn't read the earlier works, but still, in the first half of the book, I'm not sure how reading the rest of the series would have changed my reactions all that much--simply, I was bored, and couldn't bring myself to care about the characters. Their superficiality and inconsiderateness might have been meant to come across as humorous...but for me, they were just annoying and thoughtless. Having read the earlier books, I might have been better able to quickly catch onto the backstories...but the more I learned, the less I wanted to know. All that said, the second half of the book moved much more quickly--and, strangely enough, as the characters moved apart, I had a bit more patience for them. In the end, though, I can't say that the book really ever pulled me in to a space where I wanted to go on or wanted more from Maupin in the future. Chances are, I won't be searching out more of his work, but I certainly won't be searching out more of the series.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ok, this one left me cold. I'm not sure what Maupin felt he was up to at this point, but much of the charm that made me enjoy the previous 5 books in this series went right out the window. He turned all of the characters into hideous unkind people who did nothing but act horribly to each other. Michael & Thack - Thack was an ass.....& if I am supposed to care about Michael, the Michael I thought i knew would never put up with that! Mary Ann & Brian - are you kidding me??? I mean what happened to likable innocent Mary Ann from the first 5 books.....walks away from her husband....and child!! for a better job???? She lied, held back life-altering info from her family......an impostor I say!!! Thank God for Mrs. Madrigal!!! The only redeeming one in the whole bunch. Cuz lord knows her daughter Mona is still a negative Nancy...at least she has been consistent. I realize these books were from a different time, and the political tone towards the raging AIDS crisis of the time was always lurking, but it came out in this one rather unpleasantly, sort of sucking all the fun out of the players. Bad stuff happened in all the previous books and they all charmingly found their way, but not in this one. Too much selfish bitterness, lack of compassion & unhappiness for the finale of a quirky funny series that i thoroughly enjoyed up until now. I feel like i should give a 2-star, but the writing is still capable of keeping me flipping those pages frantically, so i'll add the 1/2-star. Just was not as happy as i wanted to be when i got to the next page. Feeling let down.....
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Okay so it's mainly my fault. I constantly make the mistake of believing books that say they are 'stand alone' but part of a series. I'm not sure I ever read one that was truly stand-alone. Reading this was like accompanying a friend to a party where most of the guests are known to your friend but not to you. You end up trapped in some corner hearing about Hilda's chilblains and Edward's bad back, all the time secretly wondering exactly who Hilda and Edward are. Though it's soundly written, and has a clear plot which is outlined on the back cover, it becomes clear that the plot will not be the book's main focus; instead its function is to update a loyal readership on the latest comings and goings of some beloved characters, chilblains and all. It was the only way I could explain the Greece sections (most of which made no sense to me). There was a brief glimmering of drama towards the end, centring on some tragic news a character receives (what a ghoul I am), but even this is short lived. As a stand-alone book, this didn't quite cut it for me.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Definite sense of an ending: the family at 28 Barbary Lane is breaking up, the seventies are a distant memory, and Mary Ann is turning into even more of a monster than she was in Babycakes. Maupin is evidently in a hurry to get rid of the whole bunch of them and start writing something else again. All the same, this is a good, solid novel that stands up by itself, not just a winding-up session for the series.The Greek interlude is quite amusing (and it's nice to have Mona back for a few pages); presumably Maupin didn't know when he put in the bit about Mrs Madrigal going to see the birthplace of Michael Dukakis's father that she would be played in the TV adaptation of the first three books by Dukakis's cousin?
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Better to review these together as my comments will almost certainly apply equally.
If you're not already aware of the Tales of the city books, then you're missing a treat. I think they were originally written as a newspaper serial, so the chapters are short & snappy. All the characters interlink, some directly, some in the most haphazard manner, but always in an amusing and touching way.
Mostly they are centred on Mrs Madrigals house in Barberry Lane, San Francisco and her wierd & wonderful tennants. They fall in and out of love, find they are related in random ways. In particular, there is a strong thread of non-traditional(desperately searching for a better work here, but just can't put my finger on one) relationships and how AIDS ravaged the gay community in San Francisco.
These two books are the last in the original series (although he has written a couple more since - along the lines of a 20 years on catch up for a couple of characters) and follow the usual pattern. I guess they're really a written Soap Opera, but so much better.
Always a delight to read & always a very quick read as you can't put them down until you find out what happens & how all the the threads are going to come together. Better search out the 20 year catch ups now! - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Maupin's delightful and fascinating characters find their way through San Francisco in the late 70s. AIDS and social awareness has crept into the lives of the inhabitants of Barbary Lane. The party is winding down. People are growing up.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Maupin’s Tales of the City series (this is No.6) set in San Francisco is easy to read, gently amusing, lightweight, often sentimental and saccharine. Probably a big influence on TV shows like Friends and Sex In The City. More recently, Alexander McCall Smith has successfully emulated Maupin's achievement of writing his novels in the 44 Scotland Street series as daily newspaper instalments (in The Scotsman).