I had a hard time reading this book, but liked the characters. I switched halfway through to watching the tv show, which seemed to follow the book very closely, and was a much more enjoyable experience for me. 3 stars for the book. 4.5 for the show. ( )

I bought Tales of the City with little idea of what it was about aside from glowing reviews and a $2 price tag. The book turns out to be a pioneering novel that openly and honestly depicted the lives of gays and lesbians living in mid-1970s San Francisco. Originally serialized in the San Francisco Chronicle, the book has become a classic of the genre.

I found the stories themselves to be a bit melodramatic, populated by a fairly large number of cartoonish characters. It could be that there were just too many characters to give any one sufficient time to develop much depth. The authentic narrative of life in 1970s San Francisco was intriguing; I knew relatively little about the period.

I'd recommend the book for its perspective on the time and place, especially the attitudes and interactions of people in what was clearly a time of transition. ( )

Loved this book and have bought more in the series to keep up with the characters. ( )

I'm glad I finally read this, but am disappointed that the quality of the writing fell so below the hype. Still, I found myself caught up with the characters and enjoyed picturing all of the locations. ( )

I reread this book because I remembered enjoying it the first time I read it and because it is considered a gay classic. However, I didn't really enjoy reading it this time around. The characters are shallow, the situations absurd and the dialogue poor. The characters are just working towards saying a particular line, and they and the characters around them are made to say whatever it takes to get to that line as quickly as possible. I'm glad this book exists, and I'm grateful for the role it has performed for so many readers, but I won't be reading any others in the series, and for a gay-themed series, that's a pretty brutal indictment. Another such indictment is that much of the praise for the book quoted inside the cover calls it "Dickensian". Given that I have never enjoyed Dickens, it's no surprise that I didn't enjoy this soap opera. ( )