(originally posted here∞)

You know his daughter went to Duke, right? He may not have researched Sparta specifically, but I doubt he's pulling his cultural observations out of thin air. If anything, his trademark niche is to "tell it as it is" (with both candor and wit), so I wouldn't be surprised if those observations end up running deeper than either reviewer's skim. For example...


...is hooey indeed. Your very first excerpt-excerpt∞ blatantly juxtaposes the pickup nostalgia with the full trappings of urban consumerism. Comparing a DSL modem with a rattlesnake should tell any Lit 101 student that Wolfe's purpose in this passage is to hint at similarities to come, not differences on the surface.

And yet, coherent differences are ultimately what make stories go 'round. Literature that shatters the myth of simple mountain folk is just as cliche as literature that embraces it, FYI, but thankfully Hooking Up appears to be neither: it's a story of culture clash. I'm someone who was more sheltered (and drove a bigger, older Chevy truck) than "Charlotte" despite growing up in a large city, yet I'd be a poor choice to replace her character's *role* in the novel -- haven't read it, but I assume its purpose is storytelling, not introspection. In the reader's interest, it's not just common but preferred to rely on a few stereotypes in order to aid exposition. When it comes time to flesh out the most important characters, your suggestion of an understated Hispanic flavor that could surface later is far preferable to opening descriptions that conflict with our first instincts and would thus require more time away from plot development. Nobody buys Wolfe wanting Dostoyevsky.

More generally, you seem offended by generalizations that don't exist (at least in the excerpt). I met lots of Dukies from the mountains, and some of them *did* have uncles named Doogie who fixed their own trucks. I assume I wasn't alone when I, among peers supposedly being educated in critical thinking, reasoned that many Sparta residents were like that yet many were not. Moreover, what does "like that" even mean? My uncle who fixes everything also plays dixieland trumpet; my cousin with an old-timey family name got her biophysics degree at Harvard. You don't know Charlotte's family any better than you know mine.

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