[An American novelist, essayist, and critic, Feinberg was a member of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP). His final work, Queer and Loathing: Rants and Raves of a Raging AIDS Clone, was published near the time of his death in 1994. In the following review of Sure of You, Feinberg examines the influence of the AIDS crisis on the novel's characters and plot.]

Farewell to 28 Barbary Lane. Sure of You is the sixth and final volume in Armistead Maupin's remarkable Tales of the City series, an extended love letter to a magical San Francisco. The first five volumes were serialized in San Francisco newspapers. A master of compression, Mr. Maupin crams information into short, delectable, addictive chapters ideal for post-Vonnegut attention spans. I know I'm not the only one who was up until 2 in the morning with the latest installment, promising myself to stop after just one more chapter.

Mr. Maupin juggles plots adeptly. In past volumes he has written lurid subplots including cannibal cults and child pornographers with clip-on ties. Along the way we've learned some of the mysteries of Mrs. Madrigal, the transsexual hophead landlady of 28 Barbary Lane; we've watched Mary Ann Singleton's climb to success from small-town secretary to successful television talk show host; we've seen her husband, Brian Hawkins, change from a promiscuous bachelor to a doting father; and we've followed Michael (Mouse) Tolliver from sexual escapades and Jockey-short contests to coping with his HIV-positive antibody status while in a new relationship with Thack Sweeney.

John Updike's Rabbit novels are time capsules of Middle America of the past three decades; Mr. Maupin's series is a set of sociological snapshots of contemporary San Francisco with a gay slant. There is a veritable potpourri of pop references in the current installment, covering freeze-dried pets, Freddy Krueger of A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Singing Detective, safe sex for lesbians, bare-chest contests at the Eagle bar, AIDS deaths disguised as liver cancer on the obit page, Madonna and Sandra Bernhard talking about the Cubby Hole (a gay bar) with David Letterman, Act Up, Pee-wee Herman and Jessica Rabbit. But Mr. Maupin writes for everyone: gay, straight, single, married, hip or square. His most subversive act is to write in such a matter-of-fact manner about his gay characters. There is nothing exceptional or lurid about them: acceptance is a given. By focusing on Mrs. Madrigal's extended family of tenants on Barbary Lane, Mr. Maupin is able to capture the foibles of modern living through a variety of viewpoints. His writing is light as a souffle, whimsical, cozy and charmingly innocent.

At the start of Sure of You, the main characters have left 28 Barbary Lane; Mrs. Madrigal's "family" is breaking up. Michael lives with Thack in a house above the Castro, the gay section of San Francisco; Brian and Mary Ann live on the 23rd floor of a luxury high-rise. Mary Ann is offered a job in New York by the sophisticated Burke Andrew, a former lover.

"Burke, after all, was a practicing New Yorker, and the breed had a nasty way of regarding San Francisco as one giant bed-and-breakfast inn—cute but really of no consequence."

Through Burke she meets the Rands, a celebrated designer and his wife. She envies their evident style and questions the adequacy of her marriage with Brian. Without telling her husband, Mary Ann mentions the television offer to Michael and confides her doubts about her relationship. Michael, trying to remain neutral, is caught between Mary Ann and Brian. Meanwhile Mrs. Madrigal goes to Greece on her first vacation in years, with her daughter Mona.

Mary Ann and Michael have always been at the center of the Tales. I will admit that I have always been partial to Mouse. Still, I was amazed at how much I worried about him. Michael is taking AZT at four-hour intervals in this volume. When he forgets to call Anna before her departure to Greece, I was beside myself with concern. When he discovers the inevitable bruise on his calf, I bit my tongue. AIDS pervades the book. The mood is rawer, tenser, sadder than earlier books in the series, with an undercurrent of anger.

An author can take certain liberties in the final volume of a series. When the writer is no longer constrained by what may follow, anything can happen. Thus my agony was acute as I read Sure of You, knowing something irrevocable must happen. I can only say that Mr. Maupin does not cheat the reader, and Michael finally learns who his real friends are. Although Sure of You stands on its own, I urge readers to follow the inhabitants of Barbary Lane through the entire series: Tales of the City, More Tales of the City, Further Tales of the City, Babycakes, Significant Others.

I have no plans of leaving Manhattan for San Francisco, but I have to confess that I left my heart with Michael Tolliver. Thanks for the journey, Armistead Maupin.