The year is 1991 and Cassie Worthy needs a summer job after recovering from a royal case of mono; and where else is she to go but the Parkway Center Mall? Megan McCafferty guides the readers through the ebbs and flows of teenage angst, young love, and friendship drama – all within the confines of the 90’s hottest place to hang. Tie your hair up in a scrunchie, put on your fav mixed tape, and go back to a time when 90210 wasn’t just a zip code and Mark Wahlberg never wore a shirt.
I had so much fun listening to this book! Being a pre-teen and teenager in the 90’s, I could totally relate to all of the perfect pop culture references. The Mall also provided me some amazing flashbacks to my days of hanging out at the local mall, from paroozing the cassette tapes and CD’s at Samy Goody to blushing at the items on display at Spencer’s Gifts.
The readers follow Cassie as she navigates being a teenager in the nineties. Cassie’s high school sweetheart breaks up with her, she lands a job at a proper New Jersey boutique working with an ex-best friend, connects with a cute boy who works at Sam Goody (promptly dubbing his name “Sam”), all while following a Cabbage Patch Kids trail of possible hidden treasures.
Megan McCafferty did a great job of truly enveloping the reader into that particular era through her use of imagery and sensory; even down to the smell of Bath & Body Work’s Cucumber Melon. One of my favorite things about the book is Cassie’s journey to self-discovery in the arenas of love and friendship set to the mixed tape music of R.E.M., Pixies, Nirvana, and, of course, Marky Mark.
The 90’s are back, baby. Millennials and Generation Z who read this book will get a fresh perspective on where today’s current hot trends originated.
Caitlin Kelly also did a fantastic job as a narrator for this audiobook. Thank you, Megan McCafferty and Macmillian Audio for this gifted copy.
PUB DATE: July 27, 2020
I got mono and my boyfriend of two years dumped me for a foaming-at-the-mouth mall rodent who tried to spritz me to death. And I lost my job. And I might be haunted by a ghost with a pierced tongue. And I don’t have any skills. And I doubt I could be hired by a sad, sad Scott Scanlon and I was mugged by a Morrissey look-alike who accused ME of liking Marky Mark and the friggin Funky Bunch!
The Mall | Megan McCafferty
PUBLICATION DETAILS: Wednesday Books|Macmillian; July 27, 2020; 320 pages; YA Fiction
AUDIOBOOK DETAILS: Macmillan Young Listeners; July 27, 2020; 7 hr, 24 min; Narrator – Caitlin Kelly; YA Fiction
Click here to purchase your copy of THE MALL from Books-A-Million.
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