From the Bookshelf of Not Exceeding Ten Miles Square…

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall

Alexandra Lange

Start date: August 3, 2022

Finish date: October 12, 2022

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Oct 13, 2022 ambyr rated it liked it

Shelves: acquiredㅡlibrary, genreㅡnonfiction, genreㅡnonfictionㅡcities, authorㅡfemale, book-club

I admit it: I'd always considered the mall a fairly static form, something that had arisen at some distant point in the past and shambled on until it began dying some time in the past decade. Lange carefully dissects those assumptions, tracing the mall from one iteration to another, arguing that it's always dying and always being reborn. She opened my eyes, too, to how broad the concept of "mall" is, how many things I'd never thought of as malls functionally are, for all that they lack departmen I admit it: I'd always considered the mall a fairly static form, something that had arisen at some distant point in the past and shambled on until it began dying some time in the past decade. Lange carefully dissects those assumptions, tracing the mall from one iteration to another, arguing that it's always dying and always being reborn. She opened my eyes, too, to how broad the concept of "mall" is, how many things I'd never thought of as malls functionally are, for all that they lack department stores or vaulted roofing.

As much as I appreciate the information contained here, though, I found the organization scattershot; it claimed to be chronological but too often veered off into tangents. (Mallcore, really, Lange?) Often I find nonfiction books padded; in this case, I think the book was too short, or rather that it was several books crammed into one. If you're interested in malls (or even if you don't think you're interested in malls--every single member of my bookclub self-identifies as "not a mall person," and yet we all finished this book finding ourselves going "you know, I kinda want to go to a mall?"), I recommend this because I don't have any better recommendations to hand, but I wish it had benefited from stronger developmental editing. It's a good book; it could have been great.

Two personal notes: Lange and I grew up in the same place (although I am about a decade younger than her), which made the personal reminisce parts of the books somewhat startling. I have been to all the malls she hung out in as a kid--but briefly, always dragged by parents and grandparents. They were never my hangout spots; that was Ninth Street and Franklin Street (and, okay, the stand-alone Borders Books and Music), two locations she explicitly dismisses as unfriendly to teens. How much of this is difference in era and how much difference in temperament is hard to say.

Also, as I temporarily set aside Vital Little Plans: The Short Works of Jane Jacobs to read this, I laughed when Lange describes Jacobs as "cooing" over Gruen--because I had just read those overly effusive 1950s essays, and Lange is not wrong. It'll be interesting to go back to the Jacobs book with more knowledge of how Gruen's grand redevelopment plans eventually failed. ...more

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Nov 01, 2022 Bitsy rated it really liked it

One could feel the influence of the pandemic on this book: How does the author think about malls when one can't go to one? In teen movies and online communities.

I am happy to have read this book, and it was a bit of a jumble. There were some parts about the history of architecture, mixed up with thoughts about teenage culture, mixed up with a sense of the mall through horror movies. All of these things are reasonable ways to think about the mall, but it was a bit jarring to switch between them. ...more

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Sep 20, 2022 DW Rowlands rated it really liked it

Shelves: category-pop-nonfic, topic-cities, recs-urban-book-club

Definitely interesting history, though the organization could've been better, and I would've preferred something more academic, honestly. But a good read. ...more

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Oct 18, 2022 Forestofglory rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, history, planning

Sep 27, 2022 kelly rated it liked it · review of another edition

Aug 14, 2024 Robin marked it as to-read

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