Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
Yet the people who like and read YA(or NA)'s ages are often as varied as the people's ages who don't like it and won't read it. These labels seem to be less of an "aimed at age group 'X'" affair, and more of a "aimed at readers who enjoyed the last cult hit with the label 'X'" kind of thing to me. In other words, the wording of the label itself is basically meaningless--except in a branding sort of way. And if it's all about the ages of the characters.... well.... who was Dickens targeting with Oliver Twist? Or Joyce with Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man? Huck Finn? Crane and that young man sporting a "red badge of courage"?
My problem with these labels is that they bring absolutely nothing to the descriptive table—regardless of the potential buyer/reader's age; "What kind of book is it... what's it about?" "Oh, it's New Adult." It's meaningless unless you already know the secret hand-shake of that particular cultural circle.
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I read YA when I want to read a coming of age story or a story with a teenaged protagonist. YA romance is about relationships between teens (i.e. is not going to involve marriage, although YA problem novels may); YA SF tends to have teenage protagonists and dilemmas, etc. The books (except fantasy) tend to be shorter and more focused, and often easier to read; and the books that don't cross genres tend to concentrate on the problems faced by teenagers. It's pretty clear what to expect and there is no secret handshake involved. FTR, I am in the mommy porn demographic but I read nearly anything.
New Adult seems to be too much of a new genre to really figure out yet, but I have to admit that good college/college age stories are pretty rare (or were back when I was interested in reading about that age range). Dunno why that is. I'd hope some good college stories come out of this New Adult genre.