Much better than the previous book, in my opinion. Still very much a soap opera, and that's why I like it. ( )

Thack seemed to sort something out for a moment.
“Sometimes I watch him when he’s playing with Harry or digging in the yard. And I think: This is it, this is the guy I’ve waited for all my life. Then this other voice tells me not to get used to it, that it’ll only hurt more later. It’s funny. You’re feeling this enormous good fortune and waiting for it to be over at the same time.”
“You seem happy,” Brian ventured.
“I am.”
“Well … that’s a lot. I envy you that.”
Thack shrugged. “All we’ve got is now, I guess. But that’s all anybody gets. If we wasted that time being scared …”
“Absolutely.”

In my mind, this book represents an inflection point in this series. This is less a story than A Lesson, Cautioning Against Shallowness!

It came a cropper compared to the delirious delights of the earlier books, in my eyes, for that reason. One issue is that I've never for a single instant thought that the marriage of Mary Ann and Brian was in any way a good idea or destined to last. It's been doomed to failure from the get-go. So the end, as it's been coming on, hasn't been suspenseful to me so much as impatience-inducing and irritating. Pull your head out! I want to shout at Brian; Stop being such a user! I want to scream at Mary Ann.

So this wasn't a great release of tension but a sour puddle of spilled tea. Not a place for someone to enter the City. ( )

Back to being fast paced. Although, I'd have loved for the book to focus more on Mona and Mrs. Madigan and less on Mary Ann. ( )

Better 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! ( )

Okay 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. ( )