Babycakes (Paperback)

by Armistead Maupin (Author) "SHE WAS FIFTY-SEVEN YEARS OLD WHEN SHE SAW SAN Francisco for the first time..." (more)
Key Phrases: rock widow, kid nodded, sunrise service, Mary Ann, Miss Treves, San Francisco (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
"An extended love letter to a magical San Francisco."
--New York Times Book Review

When an ordinary househusband and his ambitious wife decide to start a family, they discover there's more to making a baby then 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. Bittersweet and profoundly affecting, Babycakes was the first work of fiction to acknowledge the arrival of AIDS.

"Armistead is a true original. His tales are bang up-to-date. They will surprise and maybe even shock you, but, I promise, they will make you laugh."
--Ian McKellen

"Maupin has a genius for observation. His characters have the timing of vaudeville comics, flawed by human frailty and fueled by blind hop."
--Denver Post

"Armistead Maupin's San Francisco saga careens beautifully on."
-- New York Times Book Review --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Armistead Maupin's other novels are Maybe the Moon (1992) and The Night Listener (2000). His Tales novels first appeared as daily serials in San Francisco newspapers, starting in 1976. Tales of the City became a controversial but highly acclaimed miniseries on PBS in 1994, followed by More Tales of the City on Showtime in 1998. Maupin wrote the narration for the HBO documentary The Celluloid Closet. As a librettist he collaborated in 1999 with composer Jake Heggie on "Anna Madrigal Remembers" for mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade and the classical vocal ensemble, Chanticleer. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 316 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins Publisher (October 1989)
• ISBN-10: 0060964073
• ISBN-13: 978-0060964078
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,125,769 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Turn at the Darker side of "Tales,", July 2, 2001

By	Jonathan Burgoine "bookseller" (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Babycakes (Tales of the City Series, V. 4) (Paperback)

When I picked up "Babycakes," I was on a happy high. I'd learned there was more than just the three "Tales" books with the characters I'd met and loved from the "Tales of the City" trilogy. I was all ready to jump into that delightful care-free world (albeit a little reticent to bump into something like Jim Jones again, who showed up in "Further Tales of the City" and is the only disbelief I was unwilling to suspend).

However, staying true to the reality of the movement and the 80s, I found AIDS, death, decay and the long slide down from the fun and energy from the first three books. I didn't mind, though it was a bit of slap in the face, and the death of a major character to AIDS before the book even begins was a real punch in the stomach.

Put simply, Maupin drove home, hard, how vivid the change was for those who had existed in the care-free seventies, who found themselves suddenly trapped in the shallow, AIDS-ridden eighties.

The characters are back in full company, with the death of one major character, and the introduction of a few others. The story still focuses mostly around Michael and Mary Anne to my mind, but the rest of the "Tales" folk are definately along for the ride. The topics darken up a bit, and reality is definitely in play this time. I reccommend it, but with the warning that you're not getting the same care-free tone of the "Tales" trilogy - for the seventies are over.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marvellous!, October 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Babycakes (Tales of the City Series, V. 4) (Paperback)

"Babycakes" is one of the most touching novels in the "Tales of the City" series as it marks the end of the seemingly fun-filled pre-AIDS era, and the beginning of death, despair and tragedy. It's deliciously comic whilst at the same time having essences of profound sadness on every page. Freud would have a field day analysing the symbolic significance of the endless rain that drones on throughout most of the book. More sombre and more political than his first three novels Babycakes is firmly planted in the period of the very early eighties. Maupin is a topical writer and seems to draw influence from his immediate surroundings and the time in which he lives. Although almost twenty years have passed since the early 80s the relevance and importance of his subject matter remains undiminished by time.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My second-favorite in the series, October 1, 2000

By	A.J. Chodan (Rochester, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Babycakes (Tales of the City Series, V. 4) (Paperback)

Further Tales went a little too far into the absurd. Babycakes is MUCH better in this regard. Strange things happen, but it's not entirely impossible to suspend disbelief.

And like More Tales (my favorite of the series), Babycakes deals sensitively with a number of controversial issues. I was particularly impressed that (unlike some gay authors) Maupin shows the same sensitivity to and in-depth look at the problems his heterosexual characters face (i.e. Brian's infertility) as the problems of his gay characters.

I was a bit upset by the off-stage death of a major character in the series from AIDS, but Maupin write well about the affect the death had on his partner and the others who were close to him.