Scan barcode
A review by danaleelin
The Mall by Megan McCafferty
3.0
Special thanks to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for this ARC in return for my honest review.
When I first saw that Megan McCafferty had a new novel set in the 90s mall scene I was counting down the days until I was able to get my hands on it.
But when I did get my hands on it I still felt like I was missing something. The bones were there and the set up was ready, but it seemed like it just kept falling short of being fully fleshed out. Nonetheless, I did enjoy ready this light fun read.
The Pros:
The setting. There was nothing like the Malls in the Early 90s. And the mall in summertime with the kids on the cusp of leaving. It was a little look back to the times of Zines and mall fashion shows.
The fault in the characters: McCAfferty has a way of creating flawed characters you can’t help but root for. She did that here with the cast of characters. Each character has a flaw.
The Treasure Hunt: this was my favorite thing. I loved the premise of sneaking around the back hideaways of the mall in a search left behind. Though I still wanted more from this
Female friendships: I liked the development of the friendships in the book and females supporting females. (Ghost Girl is the best)
The Cons:
Some of the characters didn’t get a chance to grow out of the cardboard caricatures that they were set up in the social hierarchy of high school.
The pacing: it was a bit all over the place. I wanted some things to develop naturally but some things happened off page and were somehow “resolved” or just not explained. Some of the challenges resolved too quickly just to tie it all up in a rushed ending.
All in all I’ll give this book 2.5/5.
When I first saw that Megan McCafferty had a new novel set in the 90s mall scene I was counting down the days until I was able to get my hands on it.
But when I did get my hands on it I still felt like I was missing something. The bones were there and the set up was ready, but it seemed like it just kept falling short of being fully fleshed out. Nonetheless, I did enjoy ready this light fun read.
The Pros:
The setting. There was nothing like the Malls in the Early 90s. And the mall in summertime with the kids on the cusp of leaving. It was a little look back to the times of Zines and mall fashion shows.
The fault in the characters: McCAfferty has a way of creating flawed characters you can’t help but root for. She did that here with the cast of characters. Each character has a flaw.
The Treasure Hunt: this was my favorite thing. I loved the premise of sneaking around the back hideaways of the mall in a search left behind. Though I still wanted more from this
Female friendships: I liked the development of the friendships in the book and females supporting females. (Ghost Girl is the best)
The Cons:
Some of the characters didn’t get a chance to grow out of the cardboard caricatures that they were set up in the social hierarchy of high school.
The pacing: it was a bit all over the place. I wanted some things to develop naturally but some things happened off page and were somehow “resolved” or just not explained. Some of the challenges resolved too quickly just to tie it all up in a rushed ending.
All in all I’ll give this book 2.5/5.