Young Adult to New Adult

Angie Haas//Blog Writer

 

Young adult novels are typically of the fiction genre and are aimed at people from fourteen to twenty-one years of age. Yet, many young adult consumers are beyond this age range; not only are my friends and I interested in the YA genre as college students, but adults like my mom are interested in YA as well. Because of the overwhelming popularity of the young adult genre, another genre is in the works: new adult. New adult focuses on protagonists from the ages of eighteen to thirty and focus on topics such as continuing education, exploring sexuality, and leaving home in search of career. This new genre thus provides relatable content for college students and adults who are taking their first steps into the “real world,” as opposed to the coming-of-age topics typically seen in young adult fiction novels.

The new adult genre rose some eyebrows at first, as the topics posed in these novels were often seen as controversial to traditionals in the publishing industry, but perhaps this is the best part about the new adult genre. While young adult novels tend to stay on the safe side and avoid controversy, new adult fiction tackles controversy head on from finding your identity to dealing with mental illnesses like depression and anxiety. Though others disagree, I think that this emerging genre is necessary in the literary world where there is typically very little diversity in characters (i.e. the protagonists are often straight, cisgender, neurotypical men and women). New adult fiction provides an edginess that is not otherwise present in most fiction subgenres.

Though I have not read any new adult books myself – as it is such a new genre – popular websites like GoodReads and Barnes & Noble already have articles and other posts alerting readers of the new genre. At the moment, the most popular new adult novels are of the romance variety, such as The Sound of Us by Ashley Poston and Unteachable by Leah Raeder, but that does not mean that more pressing issues are not covered in these books. For example, Easy by Tammara Webber is considered one of the “gateway books” into the new adult genre, but the book isn’t just one of romance. (Trigger warning??) Easy contains strong protagonists and touches on a very important topic that is important to discuss on college campuses and the workplace: sexual assault. While novels that touch on such heavy topics may be difficult to read, I think it is important that these issues are finally being talked about not only in the media, but in the literary world as well.

I feel that many of the books we — or, at least, myself — read are often all too similar: a male or female lead, middle to upper class, coming of age, crushing on another character in the book, with a dream that their parents don’t approve of, and perhaps some secret (but always cool) skill or power. The new adult genre is finally giving us readers an edginess that we crave with characters that are real and relatable. Perhaps this winter break, I will finally pick up a new adult genre book and see what all of this fuss is about.