Review: The Mall

The Mall by Megan McCafferty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In the 90's, the mall was the place where it all happened--shopping, socializing, finding your first job. For Cassie, the mall serves as a considerable stepping stone to her big plan--getting out of her hometown, getting a good education, and doing it all with her boyfriend Troy.

Cassie's plans are foiled from the beginning--when the reader meets her, she is returning to her job at America's Best Cookie after suffering a bout of mono. It is here where she has a summer job with her boyfriend Troy, but as soon as she steps through those mall doors, she realizes that her whole life is being turned upside down. Troy has found someone else, her manager has filled her position, and she's stuck taking a job at Bellarosa, a clothing store that caters to the big-hair, skin-tight, high-heeled crowd. On top of that, her former friend Drea is her coworker.

But the job isn't the only thing in store for Cassie in the summer--she crushes on a boy at Sam Goody, parties with the mall workers in a hidden basement room called the Cabbage Patch, and goes on a secret treasure hunt, bringing her and Drea closer than ever before. Outside of the mall Cassie is dealing with the separation of her parents, but it still influences the thoughts and actions she takes in every situation that comes her way.

The entire story takes place at the mall, and it is interesting how that didn't take away from what was happening in Cassie's life outside of her mall life. The story is a familiar one because everyone understands what the mall represents, particularly for teens, and how those first steps of freedom inside the mall make a big difference in how a person takes those first steps of freedom outside of everything they know. The writing is so vivid and honest that this would definitely make a fun, entertaining movie.

*Book provided by NetGalley

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