Why I'm Still Not on Board with New Adult

This topic has been done just about to death, and, believe me, I understand it if you want to move right along from this post because you're sick of the endless commentary. I've had a lot of discussions on Twitter about this, and really wanted the freedom to organize my thoughts in more than 140 characters.

Just to be clear, before I start, I have nothing against the books themselves. Reading is great, and I support all reading. This is about classification of books, not the books themselves, okay?

What I Like About It
Now, listen, I'm not saying that I hate the idea behind new adult or that I don't think these books should have been written or anything like that. I do think that with new adult, there's a recognition of a span of life that hasn't been covered enough in fiction. There's really not all that much contemporary literature (that I've found) about being a single person in college/late teens/early 20s, and dealing with the unique issues of that age group. I specify single, solely because I think getting married young and, even more, having children sort of changes the game a bit.

There certainly are books about people age 18-25, but most of the ones I've found were romances or "chick lit," all about young women finding love and hot sex. Thus far, that's all new adult has really offered up.

There's SO MUCH MORE going on in life than that, and, based on my life, very little of that happening anyway. Plus, there's not nearly enough fiction about heroines who are in no way ready to settle down or books about what college is actually like. A great example of the latter done well is Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, which, incidentally is marketed as YA, since it doesn't involve hot sex. Now, new adult could certainly evolve, and will need to if it's going to legitimize, but, so far, there's been little that didn't fall in the romance genre.

More books about the experiences one undergoes entering adulthood are definitely needful, but I want to see this across genres, and I don't want it to be all based on the age of the main character.

What's My Age Again?
There's a move to determine what the appropriate audience for a book is based on the protagonist's age, and I don't agree with that. There are obvious examples where that simply does not work, like Room by Emma Donoghue, which is about a young child, but obviously not for young readers. Or, what about books written from multiple perspectives, some teen and some adult, like Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin?

For me, the only dividing up by age group that makes sense (which doesn't mean other methods aren't valid, just that I don't personally understand them), aside from reading level, is by the issues covered. For example, a teen goes through a lot of life changes that an adult does not, like a lot of first experiences, school, and that first sort of coming of age. A new adult would go through college, that first step away from home or the first living space without parents.

Also, this = adulthood. Freedom to do stupid stuff, since you bought the furniture.

The problem with this, though, is that you can come of age anytime. At no point are we set in stone as who we are and will be forevermore. I'm still learning and changing all of the time. A stark example might be someone who married very young, divorced or widowed and alone for the first time ever. As an adult, they might be going through a lot of firsts on their own, and, though they might not be new to adulthood, they might be going through some new adult experiences for the first time. Or, what about kids who are forced into adulthood early, working jobs and not going to school so they can support deadbeat parents or themselves? Just because someone isn't 18 doesn't mean they don't live the life of an adult with all sort of mature, adult responsibilities.

Plus, there are all sorts of ages or times of life that have unique experiences. Are we going to divide them all up and make categories of literature for them? Literature aimed solely at the over 60s, for example. Is there any end to it?

Age so little determines where we are in life, especially once past the age of mandatory schooling. Such designations become even more complex in fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction or novels set in cultures that aren't much like those in first world countries.

What's in a Name?
If we are going to create a whole new audience age grouping, can we choose a better name for it? I feel like that ship may have sailed, but "New Adult" is such an unfortunate name. For example, I've seen an author tweet about her "new adult book," by which she meant her new book for adults, not her new new adult book. Also, "new adult" makes sentences that include the phrase "new new adult" a necessity. Is this really a good plan?

What I Wish
At this point, we're going to enter my little fictional dystopian society where I rule over everything as a non-benevolent dictator, and, please, take all of this with a few grains of salt and more as a way to get ideas rolling than me declaring my way or the highway.


As it is, determining whether a book is YA or adult can be tricky; I've disagreed with others on where a book belonged with titles like Stormdancer, Finnikin of the Rock, Golden Boy, and Death Watch. To some degree, I really don't think it matters in the slightest whether they're books for teens or for adults. It's just hard for me to even think that YA needs to be distinguished from Adult, since I was reading from the adult section by middle school. Obviously, everyone moves at their own pace, but, mostly, I feel like by the time you're ready for the most popular YA titles (The Hunger Games, Divergent, The 5th Wave, etc.), you're probably ready to read adult books. Plus, in my experience, the quality of writing in YA is pretty much on par with that in adult fiction overall, ranging from incredibly simple to unbelievably complex and intricate.

A sassy hairflip to the people who thinks YA isn't as good as adult.

I'd like to see much more of the dividing up of age group done by reading level, and just combine upper YA with adult. Tagging in libraries and online bookish sites would make it pretty simple to locate books about people in college or high school or undergoing divorces.

Now, I recognize that there are serious flaws with this desire. For example, I remember seeing somewhere that a Mitch Albom book came in at a second grade reading level, but it's still probably not a children's book. I'm not really sure what to do with that.

Obviously, I don't have a magical solution to offer at all. Mostly, I just have a gut instinct feeling that there's no need to further separate the books by age group. Adults are already huge readers of YA, and I just don't think those in the new adult age range or the adult age range would be exclusively reading stories about their own age group. The idea of separating out the children's books was to help readers find books they're intellectually and emotionally ready for, and I don't see that being the case with new adult. 

What Say You?
At this point, I'd like to hear what you guys think. I'm sure most of you want have similar "CATEGORIES. WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING CATEGORIES" approach, and that's fine. Basically, I would like to hear, in more than 140 characters, your thoughts on this. Do you feel further subdivisions of adult fiction by "intended audience" are helpful? What are your guy instincts about the whole new adult thing?

Total awareness will help us solve this difficulty.