Ethan of Athos ruined by modern life...

[elfs]

So, I was re-reading Ethan of Athos, and between its original publication and now, the world has changed. For one thing, the arc of homosexual acceptance has seriously accelerated; the harassment Ethan suffers seems trite and perfunctory now.

But more than that, for reasons not worth going into for spoilery reasons, one of the other major characters needs to consume a lot of taurine to redacted. Much of the book is occupied with how Ethan and Ellie will get their hands on that much taurine. And as I was reading it, I turned the can over in my hand and asked, "Couldn't they just have gone and bought a case of Red Bull?"