Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Mary Ann in Autumn-Armistead Maupin

Mary Ann in Autumn
Armistead Maupin
Harper, Nov 2 2010, $25.99
ISBN: 9780061470882

Two decades have passed since Mary Ann left her husband and daughter in San Francisco for a TV career in New York. Meanwhile her ex-spouse Michael "Mouse" and Ben are married. Mary Ann's estranged daughter sex blogger Shawna is seeing professional clown Otto. Mary Ann\’s former landlady in San Francisco, octogenarian Anna Madrigal is still running wild.

As Mary Ann nears her sexagenarian birthday, she returns to the West Coast to inform Michael about some news she cannot share with anyone else. Staying at the cottage shared by Mouse and Ben, she finds solace in the garden as she relooks the errors of her life.

The latest Tales of the City (see Michael Tolliver Lives) is a terrific intelligent return to the Bay area twenty years after Mary Ann left and everyone moved on with their lives. The ensemble cast is full dimensional as Mary Ann in Autumn of her life is still seeking her muse, but with experience tries to rectify the errors of her youth whether any of those she hurt want her to or not. Like all of the Tales of the City, Armistead Maupin provides his trademark wit that affirms why this sagacious saga has had a TV miniseries based on it.

Harriet Klausner

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