There is always a caveat with Maupin's books . . . "This is your life or your life if you lived in 1976 San Francisco". The readers, many as devout as pilgrims to the Promise Land, find with returning gravity to the turbulent and hedonistic lives of Mary Ann, Mrs. Madrigal, Michael and the smattering of others, whose passing fancies of a life sought out is eagerly aging and setting as the title suggests. Now those that had breezed Maupin's earlier work "Michael Toliver Lives" saw the character as witnessing his own life with a last shot at happiness with young boy "daddy lover" Ben. And it is Ben who is the only entrenched character in the day to day trials of modern San Francisco; the others including the matronly spoiled lesbian of DeDe Halcyon and her long time lover D'or survive in other folds of self indulgent obliqueness. Although, newly formed transgendered Jake and his absurd love for Jonah weave an unkempt portion, maintaining chaste holding than fully intimate lust. Not to say that Maupin should written smut, but something titillating may have drowned out the persistent hum of nothingness in this young man's head. Lastly, Mary Ann, whom you chose to see her how you want her to be; who at the start familiarly is a strong willed woman facing her earliest demons of failed mother and wife and who miraculously heals an earlier tragedy in one swift plucking and the strength with her lies in her ultimate fear that is presented in the climatic end. But all said and done, this is a good book, the writing is top notch, the characters fully flushed out, the setting moralizing strong but the story lacks the innocence, lacks the foundation, and lacks the surprise. Perhaps, this is the end of the lives of those wonderful characters that inhabited 28 Barbary Lane, and we as journeyman who longed to find those wonderful souls that Armistead Maupin created within us are actually exposed as a reflection of what we have become.