This book is a presents the reader with a unique whirlwind tour in five stops: Edmonton, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, and Casablanca. These areas are chosen because they are home to some of the biggest malls on the planet.
These malls in these cities are like cities within cities. They are wonderlands where visitors come from afar to walk, eat, sleep, watch, swim, ride, photograph, and of course, shop.
With a curious, critical, and sometimes ironic eye, Swiss journalist Rinny Gremaud recounts her travels to and through these monstrous spaces of excel, relaying her conversations with patrons, employees, and executives.
In the process she contemplated the effects of globalized commerce. The book is informative and thoughtful. It is also exhilarating and exhausting as well. It is a book that will linger with you for a very long time after you have read it.
I guess I have never understood the need for so many malls and why people are so incredibly attracted to malls. They offer people a lot of choice to overconsume. Not only that, but I believe it's a patent waste of time. Yet mall intrigue people and they will travel far to get to a big mall.
I have had a few friends who travelled across Canada to see how big Edmonton's malls were. And they took literally hundreds of pictures of the malls and stores. Some malls were so big apparently that it would take hours to walk around.
Well, I will leave my further comments on malls to myself. I just wanted to chime into my frustration with them and how short sighted they are if we are going to conserve our planet and not over-purchase our way into even more waste in landfills.
A thought-provoking book, to say the least.
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