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[jethrien]

I'm reading the last novel in this Nora Roberts collection. (I'm stubborn.) It's not as bad as the first one, at least. Anyway, though, my reactions remind me somewhat of my reactions to Heathers, oddly enough.

It's written in I think 1984, and set in the same time period. So I was technically alive, but not aware of anything at the time. And, like Heathers, I can see that there are social cues that I'm missing because I don't know what they mean. In Heathers, the clothes were totally over-the-top, but I didn't know enough about eighties fashion as an adult to be able to tell whether they were supposed to be normal, high-fashion, or ridiculous. I'm having the same kind of trouble here - she's mentioning specific hotels and clothes and such, and I can't tell what the implication is supposed to be. Among other things, her heroine is at her favorite, classy bar at which she's a regular, and when asked for an order, says "White wine". I don't think I'd ever tell a bartender just "White wine". I'd ask them what whites they had by the glass. Or if this really was my favorite bar where they knew my name, I'd know. I'd at least order by varietal - "a Riesling", if not a specific winery. 'Cause if the bartender knows my first name, I'm probably there enough to know what my favorite wine they carried was. And this woman is supposed to be a blue-blood, Ivy League grad from Westport - they keep making a big deal of how sophisticated she is, so she really should be a bit of a wine snob. Thing is, I also know that American wine culture has significantly grown in the last couple decades.

So is it that the character doesn't know any better? The author doesn't know the character should know better? The character is trying not to be too big of a snob? The bar only has two kinds of wine - "red" and "white", and will look at you funny if you try to ask for something more specific? The character could order something more specific, but is trying not to look like a snob? The author wants her to look like a snob for ordering wine at all instead of beer? If this were set right now, I'd feel more comfortable trying to draw a conclusion about what the author is trying to reveal about this character based off her drink choice. But I honestly can't decide whether she's supposed to come off here as sophisticated, snobbish, sensitive, or clueless.

It's kind of amazing, when you think about it, how fast these kind of subtle indicators change. (Seriously, the difference between a character eating sushi in the 80s or now is enormous.) Makes you wonder how many of the chick lit books will even be understandable in twenty years, when people can't quite remember which brand of shoes it was that was desirable at the time. And it makes me wonder how much I'm missing in, say, Jane Austen. Because surely there are subtleties in which books people are reading or what color dress they're wearing that are just slipping right by me.

Comments

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Well, yes - it's not an important plot point, and there are plenty of other clues to the character. So I wouldn't necessarily say that Roberts has failed here - I still read the character pretty well, I think.

But it really emphasizes how superficial and ridiculous some of our shorthand is. But it's really hard to go without it - while choice of clothes, car, shoes, restaurant, even job does not reliably indicate the true soul of a person, it does say a lot about their values and situation. But only if you know how to read it.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I know! It's so funny to me, too, to see how poorly sketched out characters change with time, too. Like, even if she meant "white wine" to be the measure of sophistication, here we are two decades (almost three!) later going, "What, would she like some WHITE WINE brand white wine, like bootleg VODKA-brand vodka? Like hobos drink?"

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I want me so hobo-brand vodka!