A phenomenology of the mall: If the mall makes us feel bad, why do we keep going back? In a world poisoned by capitalism, is shopping what makes life worth living?
Kate Black grew up in West Edmonton Mall – a mall on steroids, notorious for its indoor waterpark, deadly roller coaster, and controversial dolphin shows. But everyone has a favourite mall, or a mall that is their own personal memory palace. It's a place people love to hate and hate to love – a site of pleasure and pain, of death and violence, of (sub)urban legend.
Blending a history of shopping with a story of coming of age in North America's largest and strangest mall, Big Mall investigates how these structures have become the ultimate symbol of late-capitalist dread – and, surprisingly, a subversive site of hope.
BIG MALL IN THE PRESS
EXCERPTS
“Malls were meant to be restful and life-affirming. What happened, and why do they still offer hope?” — Toronto Star
REVIEWS
Washington Post: “This book may make you hate malls—or remember why you loved them.”
Governing: “The Once and Future Shopping Mall: Their inventor wanted them to be centers of social life. They never really achieved that goal, but the ones that remain are more than just places to spend money.”
NUVO Magazine: “Two Book Recommendations to Read this Spring”
INTERVIEWS
WGN Morning News (WGN9 Chicago)
“I find my own loneliness so embarrassing . . . But talking to people about the book has offered me a sense of communion.” —Human Pursuits
If you’re from Edmonton, the mall almost has a heavy, spectral quality.” — Open Book
“Malls represent human potential, for better or for worse” — St. Albert Gazette
Appearance on the Nowhere Fast podcast