Something that has been bugging me...

[aerofish.livejournal.com]

Hello, all. I'm new to this group and this is my first post. I figured I'd introduce myself with this peeve of mine.

I was reading the sample chapters for the next Anita book, and it was mentioned Anita is 27. This made me back up and go WTF(well, more than I already was). I know Anita is supposed to be in her twenties, yet that fact just never seems to stick, and I constantly find myself envisioning her as mid-30s with the mind-set, perhaps, of someone much older, if not the maturity. And giving her the age of 27 in this upcoming book really drove home the point to me, as that is my age.

Anita does not act like any twenty-something I know. For any of you around Anita's age, do you feel the same way? And I know I'm making a sweeping generalization about how a 25-30 year old should act, but shouldn't there be some consistencies with the popular culture for this age group? I have so many examples, but here's two obvious ones:

-Does she dress like someone my age dresses? Maybe if it were the 80's or early 90's, with her silk shell blouses and pantyhose and power jackets. Maybe she's going for a retro-ironic hipster thing, and I'm too dull to see it?

-She speaks with none of the slang commonly used. And while yes, "nifty" is a, well, nifty word...it's not exactly the cornerstone of a young person's vocabulary, right? Doesn't she, in one book referencing her brother's opinion of her line of work, even say something like "he says it's cool, or whatever the kids are saying these days?" Uh. Right.

In general, this is such a minor pet peeve, what with the many many MANY issues with her books I am having these days. But still, shouldn't there be a least a few references here and there anchoring Anita to the age she is supposed to be?

Comments

[kuzunoha.livejournal.com]

Not to mention Nathanial was a STREET kid.

A friend of mine was a street kid for about 5 months. She chose it, sort of like a cultural expeiriance.

Nathaniel, even though "reformed", would still have mannerisms and a touch of the language. That's what he grew up in.

On a different note with the demands of food for lycanthrope's I don't see how he would survive on the streets like that. He would be shifting all over the place. I know people that scrounge all day through ashtrays, scraping tobacco out of butts, with a single dirty rolling paper so they can share the cig with four other people just to feel less hungry.

Nathaniel should definatly be using some slang.

[saadiira.livejournal.com]

Oddly, I've known a few throw aways who really didn't use that much slang, either. My problems with Nathaniel, however, are LEGION..and just get started with her screwing him.

That is just so wrong, considering her position in his life. SOO wrong.

-Dira-

[kuzunoha.livejournal.com]

Ah. This could be a difference in location.

Most of the street kids I know are younger and aren't prostitutes.

I still stick with the fact that he would have a street "persona". I've never known someone who lived on the streets that didn't.

[mneiai.livejournal.com]

Wasn't he a street kid before he was changed? He was one of the ones that Gabriel took in, wasn't he? Gabriel went around and "saved" people from their horrible lives by turning them into wereleopards...(And, gods, why did LKH have to get the no-killing-main-char policy after killing the coolest were ever?).

[randomsome1.livejournal.com]

I got stuck on how his hair's ridiculously long, how long it would TAKE for his hair to get that long, and how much hell he'd have to go through to keep it in any kind of reasonable shape while on the street. Or does he have super-special hair that grows like my lawn?

[kuzunoha.livejournal.com]

Haha.

Yeah... Hair rarely gets that long in a good enviroment healthy.

All the super long haired lawn growing hair bugs me in both series >.< .