This afternoon, I got into a discussion with someone about the trend of books set in the 1980s. I’m just going to say it: for the most part, it’s a trend I’m tired of. I wouldn’t mind not seeing it happen for a long time. I may be alone in this sentiment, but I’m sharing it because it’s something that has really started turning me off in book descriptions and when I open a book and find out it’s set in that time period.
I think in a lot of cases, this time period is more nostalgia than it is purposeful in plot. Not always, of course, and in some cases, the setting and nostalgia is integral to the story. There are books which are historical and centered around historical events in the 1980s. I talked about this in a previous post.
The argument for teens reading historical fiction set in the 1980s is a fair one. Except…what happened in the 1980s that’s interesting enough from the historical standpoint to make it such a popular time period to use in YA now?
That there was little access to technology and to the internet is the biggest one, in my mind. And that’s not say that’s why it’s being used. Rather, maybe that’s why we’re seeing so much of it? Historically, much more interesting stuff happened in the 1960s and 1970s, and there aren’t nearly as many YA books set then (at least recently — a few, but not as many as set in the 1980s). In addition, I think there’s something to be said about the pop culture references and potentially the age of the writer and when they came of age themselves. Again, this isn’t meant to be a generalization, but rather, an musing on the possibility of why the 80s.
I preach about how books won’t appeal to every reader and that doesn’t mean there isn’t reader appeal. But I do think there is something worth thinking about or discussing when there are so many books set in the 1980s that are meant to be realistic, as opposed to historical. As someone who was born in the mid-80s and has no recollection, it’s tough enough for me to relate or get all of the pop culture references. So I think then about how it is I sell that setting to teen readers in my library who, well, were born in the mid- and late- 1990s. Of course you sell on the book’s plot and on character and other appeal factors, but setting is an appeal factor.
For me, the 1980s setting is becoming a factor I’m finding less and less appealing.
Here’s a look at a handful of the 1980s-set novels I’ve read or taken note of on the blog published since 2011. Please feel free to add other titles in the comments. I know there are more, especially published in 2012 and coming out this year.
hear hear! It just seems like such an obvious question of that's when the author was a teen so that's what they know about. It bugs me a lot.
That being said, there are several important things that did happen in the 80s which I've seen great books about. The most important of these is the beginnings of HIV/AIDS. The book that comes to mind is an adult book–TEN THOUSAND SAINTS–but it has lots of teen appeal, and I feel sure there are some YA books that address this period.
Tell the Wolves I'm Home does the same thing — it tackles the challenges of homosexuality in this time frame. And I do think it's a BIG ONE for the 1980s. But of the above titles? I think only one explores being gay in that time period.
Tell the Wolves I'm Home being an adult book with teen appeal, that is!
Jenny Hubbard has said (and I agree) that technology would have completely changed PAPER COVERS ROCK. Interesting to think about.
I think technology would have changed MOST of the books in this setting. Scowler, for example, wouldn't have happened at all. One of the major plot points is something that would have been Googled in a heartbeat (followed by cell phone calls). Fortunately that book's time setting works for other reasons.
As someone who was a teen for most of the 1980s, the big things that, even if not in "the" point of the story but would have impacted the worldview of characters in a way significant enough to have a story set in the 1980s not later: AIDS/HIV, as mentioned; sex (teen sex, sexuality, GLBT attitudes); the Cold War; the fall of the Berlin Wall. Technology not so much as a "can't Google/Text it" but more from the way we look at and interact with data and information and what is known of the world. Setting can matter, even if a historical figure or an exact event isn't the main point.
To be honest, for books set in the 1980s, I always read it with a filter of "why." It depends on a case by case basis.
YES to your last part especially: that is how I read books set in the 80s. I want to know WHY. What's the purpose? How does it add value to the story or the characters? I think that may be why it's a turn off setting for me, knowing I'm going to be reading with that lens on.
When I think of the 80s I think of the huge changes in music. I mean that's when MTV was born, right?
MTV was born in the 80s, so there were changes in pop culture and the way it was delivered to audiences. Which I think goes back to my comments on pop culture and nostalgia…
The few books I've read set in the 80s used it as a backdrop for closeted, confused gay teens. Which is fine, I guess, but even in today's more accepting society, discovering your sexual identity and coming out is still a pretty complicated and sometimes difficult thing to deal with, so how many times do we really need to see it set in the past?
If I read a review and can't figure out why the book needs to be "historical" I don't buy it. My teens don't like them unless there is some sort of hook beyond "oh by the way, it's the 80s."
My pet peeve is books set in the present but the teen is super obsessed with music from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s because that's when the author was in high school. It's supposed to make the character look deep and non-conformist but instead it just makes the author look like they stopped listening to new music decades ago. I get that they don't want to date the books, but you can pick artists that have had staying power and still produce music today that a teen might actually listen to on his own.
I think that when the hook is that it's set in the 80s, that's a red flag, unless there is a clear and defined purpose (like with Taking Off — it revolves around a historical event).
I'm also with you on the teens in fiction who have those obsessions with what would have been their own parents' tastes in music, fashion, television, etc. Granted, there are teens who do (last night, a couple of my kids were waxing about their love for the Beatles, for 60s music, etc) but I think that often the teens in the story end up being quirky via these interests rather than having the interests and still being like any other teen today (that is, not dated).
Commenting on my own post: STICK was set in 1975. When I read it, I read it as set in the early 1980s, since there's not an explicit time named in the book (it's been since it came out that I read it).
Rose Sees Red by Cecil Castellucci is another recent 80s-set title, but one where the time period was clearly chosen for specific reasons having to do with the Cold War.
Second Fiddle by Rosanne Parry is another; the main characters are teenage army brats living in Germany near the end of the Cold War.
Yep, the Castellucci title is clearly historical in my mind (and I really liked that book too, for that reason).
I haven't read Second Fiddle. That one sounds like it's actually historical, too.
THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST (even though it begins right at the tail end of the 80s) is the one that immediately springs to mind for me, because the setting of the novel in 1989 and the early 90s was – I thought – completely unnecessary. The major events of the novel could all have taken place now, and I would argue that giving it a contemporary setting would make it more powerful for contemporary teens. But, then, I had a few issues with the book, despite the very lovely craftsmanship of it. It felt like a novel for adults that happened to have a teenage protagonist, rather than a novel for teens, for more reasons than just the 80s/90s nostalgia.
Beth, I think that was what danforth intended when she wrote Miseducation; she originally wrote it with an adult audience in mind.
I think a lot of the 80s and 90s settings are because the writers themselves grew up in those time periods, to be honest. I was born in the late 80s, so I appreciate 80s culture but not as much as someone who really lived through them.
This was an issue with Ready Player One, too, which wasn't set in the 1980s but is heavy with its pop culture. I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped to, and stopped about 50 pages in.
The Catastrophic History of You and Me is set in the 80s, at least partly, which I found very disconcerting at first. Eventually it fit, but…
One of my favorite under-appreciated YA books, "Gringolandia" is set in the '80s, and needs to be for the politics described to make sense. It is both historical and political. A very different – also under-appreciated – title, "Boy Minus Girl" is set in the early 80's, I think in part to make the lesbian sub-plot convincing.
My book of Life by Angel is another one — it's either late 80s or early 90s, I can't quite remember.
Old post I'm commenting on I realize, but immigration is a topic that has relevance in the 1980s…note…my historical novel originally published by Harper Collins follows a family that escaped Laos in 1981 and immigrated to America in the mid 80s. It IS a historical novel because the plot is based on historically relevant political events. So it can work 🙂