I just finished The Institute and enjoyed it, but a couple of details were off for this Minnesotan.
(1) Nobody refers to Minneapolis’ North Community High School as “North Comm.” It’s North High or just North.
(2) A Minnesotan would call Falcon Heights a “northern suburb” of St. Paul, not Minneapolis. It’s actually east of Minneapolis. More fundamentally, there’s a personality split between the two core cities and their suburbs. Falcon Heights borders St. Paul on 3 sides, uses St. Paul street names, and includes the “St. Paul campus” of the U of MN. (It is believable as a home for the Ellis family.)
(3) I’ve never heard of “minges.” The swarming insects described sound like what we’d call gnats or black flies.
Undoubtedly I’d get as much wrong if I tried to set a story in Maine.
(1) Nobody refers to Minneapolis’ North Community High School as “North Comm.” It’s North High or just North.
(2) A Minnesotan would call Falcon Heights a “northern suburb” of St. Paul, not Minneapolis. It’s actually east of Minneapolis. More fundamentally, there’s a personality split between the two core cities and their suburbs. Falcon Heights borders St. Paul on 3 sides, uses St. Paul street names, and includes the “St. Paul campus” of the U of MN. (It is believable as a home for the Ellis family.)
(3) I’ve never heard of “minges.” The swarming insects described sound like what we’d call gnats or black flies.
Undoubtedly I’d get as much wrong if I tried to set a story in Maine.
