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You Are Here
The inhabitants of a small town have long found that their lives intersect at one focal the local shopping mall. But business is down, stores are closing, and as the institution breathes its last gasp, the people inside it dream of something different, something more. In its pages, You Are Here brings this diverse group of characters vividly to life—flawed, real, lovable strangers who are wonderful company and prove unforgettable even after the last store has closed.
The only hair stylist at Sunshine Clips secretly watches YouTube primers on how to draw and paint, just as her awkward young son covertly studies new illusions for his magic act. His friend and magician’s assistant, a high school cashier in the food court, has attracted the unwanted attention of a strange boy at school. She tells no one except the mall’s chain bookstore manager, a failed academic living in the tiny house he built in his mother-in-law's backyard. His family is watched over by the judgmental old woman next door, whose weekly trips to Sunshine Clips hide a complicated and emotional history and will spark the moment when everything changes for them all.
Exploring how the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves are inextricably bound to the places we call home, You Are Here is a keenly perceptive and deeply humane portrait of a community in transition, ultimately illuminating the magical connections that can bloom from the ordinary wonder of our everyday lives.
The only hair stylist at Sunshine Clips secretly watches YouTube primers on how to draw and paint, just as her awkward young son covertly studies new illusions for his magic act. His friend and magician’s assistant, a high school cashier in the food court, has attracted the unwanted attention of a strange boy at school. She tells no one except the mall’s chain bookstore manager, a failed academic living in the tiny house he built in his mother-in-law's backyard. His family is watched over by the judgmental old woman next door, whose weekly trips to Sunshine Clips hide a complicated and emotional history and will spark the moment when everything changes for them all.
Exploring how the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves are inextricably bound to the places we call home, You Are Here is a keenly perceptive and deeply humane portrait of a community in transition, ultimately illuminating the magical connections that can bloom from the ordinary wonder of our everyday lives.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published May 2, 2023
About the author
Karin Lin-Greenberg
8 books103 followersKarin Lin-Greenberg’s story collection Faulty Predictions won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction and her story collection Vanished won the Prairie Schooner Raz-Shumaker Book Prize. Her novel You Are Here is forthcoming. She lives in upstate New York and is an associate professor at Siena College.
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May 29, 2024
…it’s hard to remember sometimes that no one is only who they appear to be at the moment. It’s hard to remember sometimes all that goes into a life, all the different versions of a person, throughout the years, all the ways in which people are capable of changing.--------------------------------------
…sometimes he is utterly exhausted by being an adult, by being someone, expected to explain the world to younger people, as if he’s in possession of the right answers.Jackson Huang is nine years old. He dreams of being a professional magician. His mom, Tina, does hair at the mall salon in suburban Albany. She is amazing at it. Jackson spends a lot of his afterschool time there. Kevin manages the mall bookstore. He enjoys dressing up in many story-appropriate costumes to read to children at the store. His wife does not understand why he does not complete his ABD (All but Dissertation) doctorate. They live in a tiny house on her mother’s property. Maria is a beautiful seventeen-year-old high school senior. She works at Chickadee Chicks in the food court. Maria wants to become an actress, so is applying to schools with theater programs. Ro is a ninety-year-old widow who still gets around pretty well. Her rep is that of the neighborhood bigot, and there is some truth to that. Ro comes in to see Tina once a week for a bit of work.
I was very interested in showing people who are all different from one another, so I sat down and brainstormed a bunch of different people, who might be working at the mall or go to the mall. I wanted these people to be those whose lives would not otherwise intersect with one another. I also thought about conflict and tension; I have these characters who are extremely set in their ways and believe one thing so strongly. When you put them in scenes with each other, you can see what might happen. It’s also about questioning: are they going to stay static, or is there room for growth? If there is room, how much would feel realistic? With the multiple narrators, I enjoyed being able to get into each of their perspectives. A character might seem a certain way and be really frustrating in one chapter, when viewed through someone else’s thought process. In a later chapter, you might get their own thought process—they might still be frustrating, but you could at least understand why they believe the things that they believe. - from the Electric Lit interviewWith the impending closing of the mall as the unifying thread, we get to know each of these five as they work their way through individual conflicts, over ten months, from September to June. Jackson gets hassled at school. Tina, her skills being what they are, can probably get another salon gig when the mall closes, but she has always wanted to be an artist. Maria has a boy who is quite odd interested in her maybe a bit too much. Kevin really needs to decide what he wants to do with his life, whether or not to complete his degree work or something else. He has a scheme for a border collie business that sounds impractical. Ro, after a lifetime of pushing people away, has come to her senses, and is eager to reconnect, to make some amends, regretting her long misanthropy.
Karin Lin-Greenberg - Image from her Goodreads profile
With alternating chapters, we get to know each of these five, and a bit of the supporting cast as well. Some interact solely at the mall. With others, there is connection beyond. Kevin and his family, for example, live very close to Ro. Maria helps Jackson with a school performance. A friend of Maria’s helps Tina with her artistic hopes.
The promotional material for the book compares You Are Here to Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge. That seems a fair comparison.
I wanted there to be ten chapters in the span of ten months, leading up to the mall’s closing. While writing these stories, I was thinking a lot about Olive Kitteridge and Olive Again, by Elizabeth Strout, and how those circled around a particular place, which was a small town in Maine.As with Strout, Lin-Greenberg offers us a cast of regular people, but finds what is interesting in each of them. I would add Kent Haruf to the comparables list. As in the work of Strout and Haruf, KLG, using the mall, gives us a look at a place, a time, a community, by looking closely at some of the lives it contains.
It is a novel of personal, very human hopes, of dreams. No one here is looking to save or conquer the planet, or even the nearest mall. But some of those hopes and dreams are secret. Tina is a very practical single-mother focused on taking care of her son, drawing on odd scraps of paper when opportunity presents. Some encourage her to take art classes, but she resists, fearing that dreaming too big might endanger her main role as provider. Jackson tries to keep his magical interest on the down-low with Tina, fearing her disapproval. Kevin has feelings about academia that he does not feel free to share with his wife. Ro has been secretive for almost a century. Old habits die hard.
The book has a very quiet timbre to it, one of the things about it that reminded me of Haruf.
“People who often get the most attention are the loudest, but people who are the quietest often have a lot going on inside. I wanted to explore that in this book. Many of the characters I write about are isolated and lonely. Many are not living the lives they had once wished for. As a writer I can explore the interiors of these people. I can go into their minds and show what they’re thinking and how they’re feeling.” - from the Times-Union interviewMy first impression was that this was not so much a novel but a book of linked stories. KLG is an award-winning writer of short stories, so this seemed a natural progression.
I had my first sabbatical during the 2018-19 school year, and that’s when I wrote the first draft of my novel. I tricked myself by saying, ‘It’s not a novel. It’s a series of linked stories.’ - from the Times Union interviewIt may at first have the feel of a linked short story collection, but the five-strand plaiting of the main characters, the consistent concern with a singular place and its impending demise, and consistent thematic concerns ensure that it is indeed a novel, and a bloody good one. There is a tragic event that occurs toward the back end of the tale. Some repercussions of that are shown.
Over the lead-up to the closing of the mall, we switch among the five main characters as they approach having to decide what they will do with themselves when it does. With their interactions, they form a small community of their own.
You Are Here was not KLG’s first title for the book.
I can’t take credit for it; my agent came up with it. My original title was Those Days at the Mall, which is a character’s line in the very last chapter. Obviously, the mall map says “You Are Here.” But it’s also so much about place and where people spend their time. So, the question behind the title was thinking about where we spend our days. -from the Electric Lit interviewThis is a novel that is both incredibly sad and softly uplifting. KLG offers us a look at five ethnically and chronologically diverse ordinary people, ranging in age from nine to ninety, and delivers insightful, empathic looks at them all. (Well, some more than others, of course) We can appreciate both their challenges and their dreams. Even when their obstacles are self-driven, we can see how they came about, and maybe catch a glimpse of what might be possible ahead. You will feel for them, even if some might make you wince a bit at their decision-making. You will want Jackson to have a magical debut on stage. You will want Tina to find a way to respond to her muse. You will want Kevin to figure out what he wants to do with his life. You will want for Maria to get into the theater program of her dreams. You will want Ro to sail past her long-stout boundaries and realize her dream of human connection in the time left in her life.
KLG made her mark, and won awards as a writer of short stories, but when you read You Are Here, you will be exactly there, at the very beginning of what promises to be a long and wonderful novel-writing career.
She stares at her son, willing him to look at her and tell her about the magic tricks he’s been practicing. She wants him to invite her to his school talent show. She wants him to tell her about the videos he’s been watching. But he just keeps reading. Tina looks down at the desk, sees her sketch of the goose, peeking out from under some menus. Jackson shuffled around, and she grabs the sketch, balls it up, and drops it into the garbage can finish the desk. As the crumpled paper falls from her hand, she thinks it’s not just that Jackson is hiding something from her; it’s that he is imitating her. He’s keeping secret something that’s important to him, maybe because he’s afraid he’s no good or it’s silly or she’d be disappointed to know he cares about such a thing. She feels certain he has learned to be quiet and secretive, and to not allow himself to talk about impractical dreams from her.
Review posted - 8/25/23
Publication dates
----------Hardcover – 5/2/23
----------Trade paperback - 5/7/24
I received a copy of You Are Here from Counterpoint in return for a fair review, and promising not to shut my doors for good. Thanks, folks.
This review will soon be cross-posted on my site, Coot’s Reviews. Stop by and say Hi!
=============================EXTRA STUFF
Links to Karin Lin-Greenberg’s personal, FB, Instagram, and Twitter pages
Profile – from Wikipedia
Karin Lin-Greenberg is an American fiction writer. Her story collection, Faulty Predictions (University of Georgia Press, 2014), won the 2013 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction[1] and the 2014 Foreword Review INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award (Gold Winner for Short Stories).[2] Her stories have appeared in The Antioch Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Berkeley Fiction Review, Epoch, Kenyon Review Online, New Ohio Review, The North American Review, and Redivider. She is currently an associate professor of English at Siena College in Loudonville, New York. She has previously taught at Missouri State University, The College of Wooster, and Appalachian State University. She earned an MFA in Fiction Writing from the University of Pittsburghin 2006, an MA in Literature and Writing from Temple University in 2003, and a BA in English from Bryn Mawr College.Interviews
-----Times Union - Siena's Karin Lin-Greenberg breaks into new novel, 'You Are Here' by Jack Rightmyer - May 10, 2023
-----The Southern Review - A Writer’s Insight: Karin Lin-Greenberg - primarily about her short-story writing
-----Zyzzyva - Q&A WITH KARIN LIN-
GREENBERG, AUTHORCOF ‘YOU ARE HERE’ by VALERIE BRAYLOVSKIY
-----Electric Lit - The Last Days of a Dying Mall in Upstate New York by JAEYEON YOO
Items of Interest from the author
-----LitHub - excerpt
-----Lin-Greenburg’s site - Links to other on-line work she has published
-----Read Her Like An Open Book - Karin Lin-Greenberg, author of YOU ARE HERE, on patience and publishing
Kent Haruf books we have enjoyed
-----2015 - Our Souls At Night
-----2013 - Benediction
-----2004 - Eventide
-----1999 - Plainsong
My reviews of books by Elizabeth Strout
-----2021 - Oh William!
-----2019 - Olive, Again
-----2008 - Olive Kitteridge
May 2, 2023
3.5⭐️
The once-bustling Greenways Mall in Upstate New York now houses several shuttered businesses and is about to close its doors for good.
As the story begins, we meet Tina Huang, Asian American single mother, once an aspiring artist and is now a hairstylist at Sunshine Clips, a salon operating in the mall. Her nine-year-old son Jackson spends his time after school in the salon. He dreams of becoming a magician and avidly follows videos of famous magicians to learn about the craft. One of Tina’s regular customers is the elderly Ro Goodson, a widow who lives alone and who is kind to Tina and Jackson. Ro isn’t quite liked by her neighbors for her aloof yet judgmental attitude. Among her neighbors is Kevin, an employee at the mall bookstore. Kevin is in a mixed-race marriage to Grace, an academic and poet. Once an aspiring academic, Kevin is struggling to complete his dissertation. Parents to twins, their financial struggles have resulted in them moving into a Tiny Home in Grace's mother’s backyard. We also meet Maria, a high school student, working at a fast food joint in the food court of the mall, who hopes to secure a spot in her high school’s production of West Side Story. All of their stories intersect at the mall where they work/visit. The narrative follows these characters through the ten months preceding the mall’s closure.
I found the premise of You Are Here by Karin Lin-Greenberg to be very interesting. The characters are well defined as are their individual stories. The author touches upon several themes in this novel – family, community, financial uncertainty, discrimination and racism among others. Despite a few relatively lighter moments, overall, the novel is a heavy read. This novel reads like a set of interconnected stories with the failing mall at the center of most of their common interactions. Naturally, there are multiple tracks to follow/subplots that are woven into the narrative. I enjoyed the first half of the novel where we are getting to know these characters, their aspirations, their connections and how the impending closure of the mall might affect their lives. But I feel that too much time is devoted to establishing the characters and thereby limiting how deep we can get into what transpires before the mall closes. As the narrative progresses, I felt that these different tracks remained mostly disjointed until almost the end of the novel. There is a lot that is happening in the lives of our characters and while there are some moving, impactful moments in this novel, I couldn’t help feeling that the story suffered from repetitiveness and overall lacked depth.
Overall, this story had potential and while I do appreciate the concept and the characterizations, I wasn’t quite satisfied with the execution of the story in its totality. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Jennifer Aquino, which was satisfying but sadly not engaging enough to make up for the flaws in the execution of the story.
Many thanks to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for the ALC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This novel is due to be released on May 2, 2023.
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The once-bustling Greenways Mall in Upstate New York now houses several shuttered businesses and is about to close its doors for good.
As the story begins, we meet Tina Huang, Asian American single mother, once an aspiring artist and is now a hairstylist at Sunshine Clips, a salon operating in the mall. Her nine-year-old son Jackson spends his time after school in the salon. He dreams of becoming a magician and avidly follows videos of famous magicians to learn about the craft. One of Tina’s regular customers is the elderly Ro Goodson, a widow who lives alone and who is kind to Tina and Jackson. Ro isn’t quite liked by her neighbors for her aloof yet judgmental attitude. Among her neighbors is Kevin, an employee at the mall bookstore. Kevin is in a mixed-race marriage to Grace, an academic and poet. Once an aspiring academic, Kevin is struggling to complete his dissertation. Parents to twins, their financial struggles have resulted in them moving into a Tiny Home in Grace's mother’s backyard. We also meet Maria, a high school student, working at a fast food joint in the food court of the mall, who hopes to secure a spot in her high school’s production of West Side Story. All of their stories intersect at the mall where they work/visit. The narrative follows these characters through the ten months preceding the mall’s closure.
I found the premise of You Are Here by Karin Lin-Greenberg to be very interesting. The characters are well defined as are their individual stories. The author touches upon several themes in this novel – family, community, financial uncertainty, discrimination and racism among others. Despite a few relatively lighter moments, overall, the novel is a heavy read. This novel reads like a set of interconnected stories with the failing mall at the center of most of their common interactions. Naturally, there are multiple tracks to follow/subplots that are woven into the narrative. I enjoyed the first half of the novel where we are getting to know these characters, their aspirations, their connections and how the impending closure of the mall might affect their lives. But I feel that too much time is devoted to establishing the characters and thereby limiting how deep we can get into what transpires before the mall closes. As the narrative progresses, I felt that these different tracks remained mostly disjointed until almost the end of the novel. There is a lot that is happening in the lives of our characters and while there are some moving, impactful moments in this novel, I couldn’t help feeling that the story suffered from repetitiveness and overall lacked depth.
Overall, this story had potential and while I do appreciate the concept and the characterizations, I wasn’t quite satisfied with the execution of the story in its totality. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Jennifer Aquino, which was satisfying but sadly not engaging enough to make up for the flaws in the execution of the story.
Many thanks to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for the ALC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This novel is due to be released on May 2, 2023.
Connect with me!
My Blog
The StoryGraph
June 12, 2023
You Are Here by Karin Lin-Greenberg is Small Town Fiction with Multicultural Interests!
As a once thriving mall prepares to shut down, it sparks residents of the surrounding community to contemplate how this change impacts their town.
For those who are directly impacted, it has a more personal feel:
Tina Huang - She's the only remaining hairstylist in the mall's salon and has always dreamed of becoming an artist. Her son, Jackson, secretly practices and trains himself to become a magician.
Ro Goodson - One of Tina's clients is an elderly widow who is misunderstood by the neighbors who avoid her. She walks the mall every day to soothe her constant loneliness.
Maria - A high school senior who works in the mall's food court is upset about not getting the lead in the school production of "West Side Story". She has set the bar high with ambitions of becoming a Hollywood actor.
Kevin - The mall's bookstore manager, has a different dream for himself than completing his dissertation. Gwen, his published poet wife, struggles with their tiny house situation and Kevin's lack of focus with completing his doctorate.
As businesses wind down, a tragedy takes place in the mall that rocks the community. Will this crisis bring to the forefront how crucial it is to realize their dreams and stress the importance of focusing on those most important in their lives?
You Are Here is packed full of themes and topics. Perhaps too full, and for me, it causes the story to feel heavy, weighed-down and slow. It was a lot to cover and the longest 8 1/2 hours I've spent listening to an audiobook in a good long time.
The audiobook of You Are Here is narrated by Jennifer Aquino. Her narration overall felt stilted and gave the feeling of appealing to a much younger audience. Topics were over explained and repetitive. If there hadn't been profanity included, I would say it was YA Fiction and at times leaned towards Middle-grade Fiction.
I enjoyed You Are Here for it's interesting premise and main characters. I'm glad to see this author has many positive reviews and ratings for her debut novel. Based on my experience, I recommend reading a print or e-copy of this story as opposed to listening to the audiobook.
3 Stars!
Thank you to NetGalley, HighBridge Audio, and Karin Lin-Greenberg for an ALC of this book. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review.
As a once thriving mall prepares to shut down, it sparks residents of the surrounding community to contemplate how this change impacts their town.
For those who are directly impacted, it has a more personal feel:
Tina Huang - She's the only remaining hairstylist in the mall's salon and has always dreamed of becoming an artist. Her son, Jackson, secretly practices and trains himself to become a magician.
Ro Goodson - One of Tina's clients is an elderly widow who is misunderstood by the neighbors who avoid her. She walks the mall every day to soothe her constant loneliness.
Maria - A high school senior who works in the mall's food court is upset about not getting the lead in the school production of "West Side Story". She has set the bar high with ambitions of becoming a Hollywood actor.
Kevin - The mall's bookstore manager, has a different dream for himself than completing his dissertation. Gwen, his published poet wife, struggles with their tiny house situation and Kevin's lack of focus with completing his doctorate.
As businesses wind down, a tragedy takes place in the mall that rocks the community. Will this crisis bring to the forefront how crucial it is to realize their dreams and stress the importance of focusing on those most important in their lives?
You Are Here is packed full of themes and topics. Perhaps too full, and for me, it causes the story to feel heavy, weighed-down and slow. It was a lot to cover and the longest 8 1/2 hours I've spent listening to an audiobook in a good long time.
The audiobook of You Are Here is narrated by Jennifer Aquino. Her narration overall felt stilted and gave the feeling of appealing to a much younger audience. Topics were over explained and repetitive. If there hadn't been profanity included, I would say it was YA Fiction and at times leaned towards Middle-grade Fiction.
I enjoyed You Are Here for it's interesting premise and main characters. I'm glad to see this author has many positive reviews and ratings for her debut novel. Based on my experience, I recommend reading a print or e-copy of this story as opposed to listening to the audiobook.
3 Stars!
Thank you to NetGalley, HighBridge Audio, and Karin Lin-Greenberg for an ALC of this book. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review.
February 28, 2023
4.5 Stars
This debut novel revolves around several people whose lives seem to connect somewhat loosely, at first. People who live in a relatively small town that seems to have seen better days, and whose lives will be inextricably connected before the story ends.
There are two main settings within this story, one is a high school and the other is a local mall. At the mall is a beauty/hair salon which is owned by Tina Huang, the mother of one of the students, Jackson Huang. He comes in every day after he leaves school, to help with cleaning, sweeping up the hair on the salon floor, and does his homework until it’s time to close up. Tina has very few regular customers these days, but she is lucky to have one customer who always comes to her, Ro Goodson, and while Ro isn’t exactly a sweet or fun customer, she is a devoted one.
Ro’s neighbor, Kevin, works at the bookstore in the mall, across from the salon. Kevin is somewhat unmotivated to work on his dissertation, and enjoys dressing up as a character to read to the children. His life seems to be in a state of limbo. The most energy he’s expended in anything has been on building the tiny house in the backyard of his mother-in-law.
Then there’s Maria, one of the high school students who works in the food court at the mall while wearing a chicken costume, of course, because they serve chicken. Her dream is to be an actor, so when the school’s play that year is ’West Side Story’, and she isn’t chosen for the role of Maria - losing out to a blue-eyed blonde - she begins to wonder where and when she will find a place, and people where she fits in.
Meanwhile, the mall is soon to be turned into something else. Apartments, perhaps, but who knows at this point. All those businesses inside the mall know that it will soon be closed, which shatters what little hope anyone still had.
This is a quiet story of the haves and the have nots, and for most of this story there is not much that is notable. Whatever dreams these people have had haven’t exactly been dashed, it’s more like they faded so gradually that they forgot that frustration is usually followed by some action or reaction. Instead, it’s as if this town just shrugs their collective shoulders as though they expected this and can’t imagine what else they could do.
All that changes when a shooter enters the picture, which - after some time - prompts a different response from each of these characters, and one that, in turn, brings about a collective response, and hope, to find a way to heal.
Pub Date: 02 May 2023
Many thanks for the ARC provided by Catapult/Counterpoint/Soft Skull / Counterpoint
This debut novel revolves around several people whose lives seem to connect somewhat loosely, at first. People who live in a relatively small town that seems to have seen better days, and whose lives will be inextricably connected before the story ends.
There are two main settings within this story, one is a high school and the other is a local mall. At the mall is a beauty/hair salon which is owned by Tina Huang, the mother of one of the students, Jackson Huang. He comes in every day after he leaves school, to help with cleaning, sweeping up the hair on the salon floor, and does his homework until it’s time to close up. Tina has very few regular customers these days, but she is lucky to have one customer who always comes to her, Ro Goodson, and while Ro isn’t exactly a sweet or fun customer, she is a devoted one.
Ro’s neighbor, Kevin, works at the bookstore in the mall, across from the salon. Kevin is somewhat unmotivated to work on his dissertation, and enjoys dressing up as a character to read to the children. His life seems to be in a state of limbo. The most energy he’s expended in anything has been on building the tiny house in the backyard of his mother-in-law.
Then there’s Maria, one of the high school students who works in the food court at the mall while wearing a chicken costume, of course, because they serve chicken. Her dream is to be an actor, so when the school’s play that year is ’West Side Story’, and she isn’t chosen for the role of Maria - losing out to a blue-eyed blonde - she begins to wonder where and when she will find a place, and people where she fits in.
Meanwhile, the mall is soon to be turned into something else. Apartments, perhaps, but who knows at this point. All those businesses inside the mall know that it will soon be closed, which shatters what little hope anyone still had.
This is a quiet story of the haves and the have nots, and for most of this story there is not much that is notable. Whatever dreams these people have had haven’t exactly been dashed, it’s more like they faded so gradually that they forgot that frustration is usually followed by some action or reaction. Instead, it’s as if this town just shrugs their collective shoulders as though they expected this and can’t imagine what else they could do.
All that changes when a shooter enters the picture, which - after some time - prompts a different response from each of these characters, and one that, in turn, brings about a collective response, and hope, to find a way to heal.
Pub Date: 02 May 2023
Many thanks for the ARC provided by Catapult/Counterpoint/Soft Skull / Counterpoint
July 12, 2023
Maybe it’s just that I’m in the same stage of life as the adults in this book, but I could really relate to the third/mid-life crisis vibes of reflecting on how so much you’d believed you can achieve by a certain point in life still hasn’t been reach and/or might never be reached. Exploring this theme in an eloquent and compelling manner, Karen Lin-Greenberg delivers a novel that expresses the aching & longing of human hearts that are deep and broken, but still persisting and re-discovering what life means.
January 24, 2024
So…
What is life really like in a shopping mall? Have you ever wondered about the many people who work in them, or those who go there to “shop until they drop?”
Even …
Sometimes on You-tube I will watch *flash mobs in shopping malls across the country utilized as the perfect way to showcase someone proposing to their unsuspecting partner.
Bottom line…
There is something to be said about the ambiance of a shopping mall and its attraction to so many.
And…
This is what this story attempts to convey.
The author creates a variety of diverse characters with alternating points of view who have some sort of attachment to this particular shopping mall that is being threatened to be torn down.
As readers…
Will we find joy in other’s interests? Will we connect to the characters enough? Will we appreciate how the community comes together?
Especially when…
There is a tragedy in the second half, one that is much too familiar in reading about in the headlines.
Is it…
Contrived? Formulaic?
Or…
Written to provide a comfort in things being set right after they have gone so terribly wrong?
So…
Whatever is decided…
Readers are made to feel like this is a universal, yet simple story about people struggling to define themselves…
And…
The story still can be seen as a reminder that people can – and do change. That there is conflict, but then there is resolution. In a world that feels so divided now, this simple message is one that may easily resonate with readers.
*A flash mob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform for a brief time, then quickly disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire and/or artistic expression – or, help others to creatively propose to their partners.
3.5 stars rounded up.
What is life really like in a shopping mall? Have you ever wondered about the many people who work in them, or those who go there to “shop until they drop?”
Even …
Sometimes on You-tube I will watch *flash mobs in shopping malls across the country utilized as the perfect way to showcase someone proposing to their unsuspecting partner.
Bottom line…
There is something to be said about the ambiance of a shopping mall and its attraction to so many.
And…
This is what this story attempts to convey.
The author creates a variety of diverse characters with alternating points of view who have some sort of attachment to this particular shopping mall that is being threatened to be torn down.
As readers…
Will we find joy in other’s interests? Will we connect to the characters enough? Will we appreciate how the community comes together?
Especially when…
There is a tragedy in the second half, one that is much too familiar in reading about in the headlines.
Is it…
Contrived? Formulaic?
Or…
Written to provide a comfort in things being set right after they have gone so terribly wrong?
So…
Whatever is decided…
Readers are made to feel like this is a universal, yet simple story about people struggling to define themselves…
And…
The story still can be seen as a reminder that people can – and do change. That there is conflict, but then there is resolution. In a world that feels so divided now, this simple message is one that may easily resonate with readers.
*A flash mob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform for a brief time, then quickly disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire and/or artistic expression – or, help others to creatively propose to their partners.
3.5 stars rounded up.
April 22, 2023
Wow. "You Are Here" hit me right in the feels. Centered around a mall, a neighborhood and a disparate group of humans of different races and ages, past, present and future, this book is the stuff of book hangovers. I feel better for having listened; I feel sad that these characters are now out of my life. THAT is the essence of a 5 star novel.
I won't give you a summary of the plot because it's on the back of the book and in most reviews. Instead, I will say that I related to a lot of these people. All of us want a community. Look around - that is your community and you just need to figure out your place within it. The mundane? That's life. The challenges? More life. Choices? Sadness? People who come, go, then return? Death? Changes?? Late starts? ALL those things make up a life and author Karin Lin-Greenberg delivers.
That's it. Read this book.
I won't give you a summary of the plot because it's on the back of the book and in most reviews. Instead, I will say that I related to a lot of these people. All of us want a community. Look around - that is your community and you just need to figure out your place within it. The mundane? That's life. The challenges? More life. Choices? Sadness? People who come, go, then return? Death? Changes?? Late starts? ALL those things make up a life and author Karin Lin-Greenberg delivers.
That's it. Read this book.
April 26, 2023
Deeply moving and quietly impactful! I really, really enjoyed this slice of life story that takes a look at a suburban, upstate New York town and the ways a number of its residents' lives revolve around a dwindling mall. Everyone is rocked when a tragic gun shooting kills one of the residents leaving ripple effects that reach them all in different ways. The focus on the Asian American immigrant experience was my favorite part in this relatable and touching debut novel. Highly recommended for fans of Kim Hooper's No hiding in Boise. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for early digital copies of this book in exchange for my honest review. (Absolutely LOVED this cover too!).
TW: gun violence/public gun shooting
TW: gun violence/public gun shooting
March 4, 2023
What a joy it was to read this novel. I had been feeling rather morose lately, and just reading this contemporary novel of people who are all connected through this mall that is about to close down, rather lifted my spirits. The characters are all so engaging, and the prose so damn tight and true, that when (I don't want to give away spoilers) a crisis happens at the mall, and I felt instantly disheartened, my spirits lifted again as I read how these characters responded, and how they realized how little they recognized about neighbors and those they loved, and carried on trying to be better people. I not only recommend this book for general audiences, but when a college recommends a book for all freshmen to read next year, I hope it's this one. Very safe book for high school students also.
April 27, 2023
Residents’ lives in a small town in upstate New York intersect at the once-busy local mall, now nearly empty with store closings and employees leaving. Repairs and upkeep are left undone, and the mall has fallen into disrepair. Tina, the sole stylist at Sunshine Clips, works long hours for little business and dreams as she watches art instruction videos, having been told art is no way to make a living. Her young son Jackson gets dropped by school bus to the mall every day, where he does homework at the salon before sweeping the hair from the floor, keeping his budding talent as a magician hidden from his mother. Across the hall in the Book Nook, Kevin works as the manager while busying himself by building a tiny home and beekeeping, procrastinating about finishing his PhD and writing a book. He lives in the tiny house with his aspiring-poet wife, Gwen, a professor with few classes to teach, and their six-year old twins in Gwen’s mother Joan’s backyard. Next door to them is the nosy, judgmental Ro, an elderly widow with a complex history. She visits Tina at the mall for her weekly appointment and, though Ro would never admit it, to stave off the loneliness she’s had for the past twenty years since her husband passed away. Maria, the beautiful high schooler who works at a fast-food place in the mall’s food court, dreams of becoming a famous actor. She has captured the unwanted attention of a boy at school, telling no one but Kevin about her dilemma. A deeply tragic event occurs one evening at the mall which will change all of their lives forever.
What a wonderfully written work by Karin Lin-Greenberg, centered around a fabulous assortment of real people as its characters. The book is funny, tragic, heartwarming, eye-opening, and entertaining, and most of all, it is completely relatable, as we can all identify with going about our every day lives dreaming of being someone or doing something else—possibly something completely different or better than what we are, wanting more for our children, a change to relive our decisions, and not always knowing how to relate to those who think or act differently than we do. The very end is perfectly wrapped up in a way that makes sense for everyone involved in the story. “We Are Here” is character-centric; an interesting study, if you will, of the inner workings, feelings, and dreams of people that come from Anytown, looking for happiness and fulfillment. It’s the world in the microcosm of the failing mall, and though it is not my typical genre, there is so much to love on these pages! If you are a fan of adult fiction in general you will be enchanted, and even if you prefer other genres, like I do, please do give it a try. I think each reader will find at least one part or character will resonate long within them long after the novel is closed. I look forward to more writing from this talented author.
I’d like to thank NetGalley, Karin Lin-Greenberg, and Counterpoint Press for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
What a wonderfully written work by Karin Lin-Greenberg, centered around a fabulous assortment of real people as its characters. The book is funny, tragic, heartwarming, eye-opening, and entertaining, and most of all, it is completely relatable, as we can all identify with going about our every day lives dreaming of being someone or doing something else—possibly something completely different or better than what we are, wanting more for our children, a change to relive our decisions, and not always knowing how to relate to those who think or act differently than we do. The very end is perfectly wrapped up in a way that makes sense for everyone involved in the story. “We Are Here” is character-centric; an interesting study, if you will, of the inner workings, feelings, and dreams of people that come from Anytown, looking for happiness and fulfillment. It’s the world in the microcosm of the failing mall, and though it is not my typical genre, there is so much to love on these pages! If you are a fan of adult fiction in general you will be enchanted, and even if you prefer other genres, like I do, please do give it a try. I think each reader will find at least one part or character will resonate long within them long after the novel is closed. I look forward to more writing from this talented author.
I’d like to thank NetGalley, Karin Lin-Greenberg, and Counterpoint Press for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
Shelved as 'dnf'
July 4, 2024Just couldn't with this one. Boring story, flat characters, juvenile writing.
May 11, 2023
BOOK REVIEW 🥹💐
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wow. This was an absolutely beautifully written book. I fell in love with each character for their individual personalities and complex lives. The development of each character, as well as the Mall goers group, brought tears to my eyes.
I would highly recommend this book to everyone I know, as it hit me right in the feels. The age group of the characters, races, and pasts all seemingly intertwined.
The best written book down to the last page I have read in a long time. It is top of 2023 for me.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wow. This was an absolutely beautifully written book. I fell in love with each character for their individual personalities and complex lives. The development of each character, as well as the Mall goers group, brought tears to my eyes.
I would highly recommend this book to everyone I know, as it hit me right in the feels. The age group of the characters, races, and pasts all seemingly intertwined.
The best written book down to the last page I have read in a long time. It is top of 2023 for me.
June 19, 2023
I thought this would be more about malls.
I’m kidding (kind of), but what I thought I was getting into here was a character study set against the backdrop of a failing mall. Instead, I mostly got petty drama and hokey life lessons unfolding amongst a cast of characters from the suburbs.
As an elder millennial I love a good “death of a mall” story, but the execution of that wasn’t successful here. The sense of place is mostly lacking, and the introduction of the murder came out of nowhere and didn’t fit with the tone or the rest of the plot.
Perhaps my biggest gripe with this one was that the writing style was deeply unappealing. The book is almost all dialogue and inner monologue, and ALL of it is written in a stilted and simplistic manner. It doesn’t come off as spare or (as I assume the author intended) as an indication that these are “regular people.” It just made everyone in the book seem dim.
Jackson gets the book’s few profound statements, and even those are presented in an overly infantilized tone for a nine year old. The audiobook format didn’t help with any of this, as the narrator’s vocalizations exaggerate all of the clunky, unsophisticated writing.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
I’m kidding (kind of), but what I thought I was getting into here was a character study set against the backdrop of a failing mall. Instead, I mostly got petty drama and hokey life lessons unfolding amongst a cast of characters from the suburbs.
As an elder millennial I love a good “death of a mall” story, but the execution of that wasn’t successful here. The sense of place is mostly lacking, and the introduction of the murder came out of nowhere and didn’t fit with the tone or the rest of the plot.
Perhaps my biggest gripe with this one was that the writing style was deeply unappealing. The book is almost all dialogue and inner monologue, and ALL of it is written in a stilted and simplistic manner. It doesn’t come off as spare or (as I assume the author intended) as an indication that these are “regular people.” It just made everyone in the book seem dim.
Jackson gets the book’s few profound statements, and even those are presented in an overly infantilized tone for a nine year old. The audiobook format didn’t help with any of this, as the narrator’s vocalizations exaggerate all of the clunky, unsophisticated writing.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
May 31, 2024
"It’s hard to remember sometimes all that goes into a life, all the different versions of a person, throughout the years, all the ways in which people are capable of changing."
TW: body-shaming, child death, death, death of a loved one, fatphobia, gun violence, infertility, injury/injury detail, murder, racism, sexual harassment, stalking, violence, xenophobia.
A well-intentioned book that I didn't feel accomplished what it wanted to.
There's a clear message and hope for this story and I appreciate that, however; the message was rushed and lost to the convoluted, dull character plotlines. There were so many long paragraphs about mundane things and instead of connecting me with the characters or showing their humanity, it just made the entire book a bit tedious.
As for the plot itself, I couldn't bring myself to care for any of the characters beyond the barest hint of sympathy. Even the attempts at redeeming a specific character felt rushed, performative, and too sudden to have any meaning.
The narration - in an attempt to be accessible - felt extremely stilted and cringy. There are parts where the characters discuss having the entire mall put on a flash mob in hopes it will go viral, thus ensuring a character gets into college. There's another entire paragraph about the mucus of a dog. It's... a mess.
Overall, I see what the author wanted to do and I think - based off of the reviews - a lot of other people really connected with that. Unfortunately, I didn't feel anything aside from boredom and irritation.
While I don't necessarily recommend it, it's worked for so many other people that I know I'm in the minority. If it sounds interesting to you and the subject matter doesn't seem triggering, then I'd suggest checking it out.
TW: body-shaming, child death, death, death of a loved one, fatphobia, gun violence, infertility, injury/injury detail, murder, racism, sexual harassment, stalking, violence, xenophobia.
A well-intentioned book that I didn't feel accomplished what it wanted to.
There's a clear message and hope for this story and I appreciate that, however; the message was rushed and lost to the convoluted, dull character plotlines. There were so many long paragraphs about mundane things and instead of connecting me with the characters or showing their humanity, it just made the entire book a bit tedious.
As for the plot itself, I couldn't bring myself to care for any of the characters beyond the barest hint of sympathy. Even the attempts at redeeming a specific character felt rushed, performative, and too sudden to have any meaning.
The narration - in an attempt to be accessible - felt extremely stilted and cringy. There are parts where the characters discuss having the entire mall put on a flash mob in hopes it will go viral, thus ensuring a character gets into college. There's another entire paragraph about the mucus of a dog. It's... a mess.
Overall, I see what the author wanted to do and I think - based off of the reviews - a lot of other people really connected with that. Unfortunately, I didn't feel anything aside from boredom and irritation.
While I don't necessarily recommend it, it's worked for so many other people that I know I'm in the minority. If it sounds interesting to you and the subject matter doesn't seem triggering, then I'd suggest checking it out.
April 25, 2023
I can remember when malls were the place to be. You could hang out at the mall all day and never become bored.
This novel portrays the desiccation of a mall and the people who band together in an attempt to save it.
Themes of community and hope resonant through the words and actions.
It’s a remnant of a time that will be lost if not enacted more.
Thanks to Counterpoint and Edelweiss for the digital copy.
This novel portrays the desiccation of a mall and the people who band together in an attempt to save it.
Themes of community and hope resonant through the words and actions.
It’s a remnant of a time that will be lost if not enacted more.
Thanks to Counterpoint and Edelweiss for the digital copy.
Read
May 11, 2023Ooh I like this one a lot. The style of this story is a slow moving, slice of life plot that is mainly character-driven. It’s for those who really like to know their characters and get into their heads, down the the little details like descriptions of the home they live in, and the little things they get up to, like getting stung by a bee and stealing packages from the next door neighbor.
It’s a neighborly novel, like its suburban setting around a slowly dying mall. The characters are all so ordinary in the most realistic sense possible. They feel like people I have known in my childhood living in suburban Texas. Their ordinary-ness makes them feel so alive and real, as if I could meet them if I went back in time to the mall I grew up visiting.
I love the eclectic-ness of the cast too, with people of different backgrounds: a Chinese single mother with a young son, a Latinx high school girl who dreams of big things, a interracial couple with an intelligent and successful Black woman and her white husband who seems a little lost in life, an elderly grump of a woman who’s kind of racist but trying her best, and so on. They all have stories, things that hold them back in life, and hopes for the future. They’re people who wouldn’t normally meet, but the forced proximity brings them together in a way where they learn to live life together despite their differences.
In some ways I feel like this book is what America needs, an antidote to the polarization of media that makes people afraid of those different than them. These characters aren’t all friends with each other, and some storylines don’t get resolved like in real life, but when they get to know each other better, they learn to live amongst each other in community, and that is something that perhaps we could use a bit of more today.
Spoiler half of the review below (CW: Gun Violence).
Thank you Counterpoint Press for the review copy!
Visit my Instagram @vanreads for more of my reviews.
It’s a neighborly novel, like its suburban setting around a slowly dying mall. The characters are all so ordinary in the most realistic sense possible. They feel like people I have known in my childhood living in suburban Texas. Their ordinary-ness makes them feel so alive and real, as if I could meet them if I went back in time to the mall I grew up visiting.
I love the eclectic-ness of the cast too, with people of different backgrounds: a Chinese single mother with a young son, a Latinx high school girl who dreams of big things, a interracial couple with an intelligent and successful Black woman and her white husband who seems a little lost in life, an elderly grump of a woman who’s kind of racist but trying her best, and so on. They all have stories, things that hold them back in life, and hopes for the future. They’re people who wouldn’t normally meet, but the forced proximity brings them together in a way where they learn to live life together despite their differences.
In some ways I feel like this book is what America needs, an antidote to the polarization of media that makes people afraid of those different than them. These characters aren’t all friends with each other, and some storylines don’t get resolved like in real life, but when they get to know each other better, they learn to live amongst each other in community, and that is something that perhaps we could use a bit of more today.
Spoiler half of the review below (CW: Gun Violence).
Thank you Counterpoint Press for the review copy!
Visit my Instagram @vanreads for more of my reviews.
March 15, 2023
All the lonely people, I kept thinking. And they can’t tell each other their deepest needs and hopes. Mother and son, husband and wife, neighbors. They find connection at the local, dying mall. In their midst is another alienated soul whose act of violence will change their lives.
There is the child Jackson whose mother is a stylist at the mall salon. He is secretly learning magic tricks. His mother Tina had planned to study art before she became a pregnant, unwed mother who needed an immediate income.
Tina’s most loyal customer is Ro, an aged woman trying to change her attitude. Decades ago when black neighbors moved in, she stayed aloof and earned the reputation as a racist. She comes to her Chinese American hairdresser and tries to be helpful towards her neighboring biracial family; the dad Kevin manages the mall bookstore, dressing as characters from children’s books. He has delayed completing his dissertation for years, unable to admit he never wanted to teach literature.
Jackson makes friends with the girl working at the fast food chicken place who dreams of acting. He asks her to be his magician’s assistant for his school talent show.
It was the mall that brought these people into Ro’s life. She is distressed about its closing. She is planning an act of generosity that would erase the legacy of her past actions. But death finds her first.
…if it hadn’t been for the mall, they never would have met. How strange that the mall–such an ordinary place–could bring people together who might not have otherwise crossed paths.
from You Are Here by Karin Lin-Greenberg
Be assured, the story has a happy ending.
I loved this warm novel for its humanity and the author’s love for her characters.
The novel left me wondering, in a time when the malls are closing and churches are shrinking and schools are places of fear, what is left to draw us together as a community? What ordinary place will bring us together?
I received a free egalley from the publisher through Edelweiss. My review is fair and unbiased.
There is the child Jackson whose mother is a stylist at the mall salon. He is secretly learning magic tricks. His mother Tina had planned to study art before she became a pregnant, unwed mother who needed an immediate income.
Tina’s most loyal customer is Ro, an aged woman trying to change her attitude. Decades ago when black neighbors moved in, she stayed aloof and earned the reputation as a racist. She comes to her Chinese American hairdresser and tries to be helpful towards her neighboring biracial family; the dad Kevin manages the mall bookstore, dressing as characters from children’s books. He has delayed completing his dissertation for years, unable to admit he never wanted to teach literature.
Jackson makes friends with the girl working at the fast food chicken place who dreams of acting. He asks her to be his magician’s assistant for his school talent show.
It was the mall that brought these people into Ro’s life. She is distressed about its closing. She is planning an act of generosity that would erase the legacy of her past actions. But death finds her first.
…if it hadn’t been for the mall, they never would have met. How strange that the mall–such an ordinary place–could bring people together who might not have otherwise crossed paths.
from You Are Here by Karin Lin-Greenberg
Be assured, the story has a happy ending.
I loved this warm novel for its humanity and the author’s love for her characters.
The novel left me wondering, in a time when the malls are closing and churches are shrinking and schools are places of fear, what is left to draw us together as a community? What ordinary place will bring us together?
I received a free egalley from the publisher through Edelweiss. My review is fair and unbiased.
June 24, 2023
I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ARC provided by HighBridge Audio.
The inhabitants of a small town have long found that their lives intersect at one focal point: the local shopping mall. But business is down, stores are closing, and as the institution breathes its last gasp, the people inside it dream of something different, something more.
The only hair stylist at Sunshine Clips secretly watches YouTube primers on how to draw and paint, just as her awkward young son covertly studies new illusions for his magic act. His friend and magician's assistant, a high school cashier in the food court, has attracted the unwanted attention of a strange boy at school. She tells no one except the mall's chain bookstore manager, a failed academic living in the tiny house he built in his mother-in-law's backyard. His family is watched over by the judgmental old woman next door, whose weekly trips to Sunshine Clips hide a complicated and emotional history and will spark the moment when everything changes for them all.
You Are Here is a keenly perceptive and deeply humane portrait of a community in transition, ultimately illuminating the magical connections that can bloom from the ordinary wonder of our everyday lives. The characters are well defined as are their individual stories. The author touches upon several themes in this novel. Despite a few relatively lighter moments, the novel is a very heavy read. It reads like a set of interconnected stories with the failing mall at the center of most of their common interactions. I did enjoy the first half of the novel where we are getting to know these characters, their aspirations, their connections and how the impending closure of the mall might affect their lives. But I feel, however, that too much time is devoted to establishing the characters. I thought the dying mall situation is fascinating, but honestly I did not know where the book was actually going. I guess what was suppose to be the main event happened and was over and done with that it seemed more like a side note. Overall, a decent read, but just ended up not for me.
The inhabitants of a small town have long found that their lives intersect at one focal point: the local shopping mall. But business is down, stores are closing, and as the institution breathes its last gasp, the people inside it dream of something different, something more.
The only hair stylist at Sunshine Clips secretly watches YouTube primers on how to draw and paint, just as her awkward young son covertly studies new illusions for his magic act. His friend and magician's assistant, a high school cashier in the food court, has attracted the unwanted attention of a strange boy at school. She tells no one except the mall's chain bookstore manager, a failed academic living in the tiny house he built in his mother-in-law's backyard. His family is watched over by the judgmental old woman next door, whose weekly trips to Sunshine Clips hide a complicated and emotional history and will spark the moment when everything changes for them all.
You Are Here is a keenly perceptive and deeply humane portrait of a community in transition, ultimately illuminating the magical connections that can bloom from the ordinary wonder of our everyday lives. The characters are well defined as are their individual stories. The author touches upon several themes in this novel. Despite a few relatively lighter moments, the novel is a very heavy read. It reads like a set of interconnected stories with the failing mall at the center of most of their common interactions. I did enjoy the first half of the novel where we are getting to know these characters, their aspirations, their connections and how the impending closure of the mall might affect their lives. But I feel, however, that too much time is devoted to establishing the characters. I thought the dying mall situation is fascinating, but honestly I did not know where the book was actually going. I guess what was suppose to be the main event happened and was over and done with that it seemed more like a side note. Overall, a decent read, but just ended up not for me.
May 1, 2023
3.5 rounding up
This one is a hard book to settle a rating on. I'm rounding up because it's the first novel by the author, but it was a book that will probably not stand out much for me in memory. I feel bad saying it like that because this wasn't a bad book by any stretch, but it wasn't something that grabbed me and wouldn't let go.
I love books that center around one place and all the characters lives are intertwined somehow. Because of the need to write so many characters decently so they are distinguishable from each other, it takes a talented writer to do so. You know by reading the summary that the mall where a lot of the characters work is closing and something happens that shocks the community. You can kind of from there guess what will happen. What was a little puzzling (but I took the wait and see approach because you want to give the author the benefit of the doubt) was how long it took to get to "the event". I felt we spent too long getting to know the characters so the book was 2/3 over before what you're waiting for to happen, happens. Then what happens is kind of glossed over. Part of me was relieved because I really didn't want to take a deep dive into the trauma of this topic (we get it every day from the news as it is), but the decision to leave it off page took the depth out of the book I was waiting for. It just kind of skimmed the surface of everything and everyone's lives that I felt it didn't go deep enough like it could have. Maybe I'm just being cranky, but I was hoping for more.
Many thanks to Counterpoint Press for the gifted finished copy in exchange for an honest review.
Review Date: 5/1/2023
Publication Date: 5/2/2023
This one is a hard book to settle a rating on. I'm rounding up because it's the first novel by the author, but it was a book that will probably not stand out much for me in memory. I feel bad saying it like that because this wasn't a bad book by any stretch, but it wasn't something that grabbed me and wouldn't let go.
I love books that center around one place and all the characters lives are intertwined somehow. Because of the need to write so many characters decently so they are distinguishable from each other, it takes a talented writer to do so. You know by reading the summary that the mall where a lot of the characters work is closing and something happens that shocks the community. You can kind of from there guess what will happen. What was a little puzzling (but I took the wait and see approach because you want to give the author the benefit of the doubt) was how long it took to get to "the event". I felt we spent too long getting to know the characters so the book was 2/3 over before what you're waiting for to happen, happens. Then what happens is kind of glossed over. Part of me was relieved because I really didn't want to take a deep dive into the trauma of this topic (we get it every day from the news as it is), but the decision to leave it off page took the depth out of the book I was waiting for. It just kind of skimmed the surface of everything and everyone's lives that I felt it didn't go deep enough like it could have. Maybe I'm just being cranky, but I was hoping for more.
Many thanks to Counterpoint Press for the gifted finished copy in exchange for an honest review.
Review Date: 5/1/2023
Publication Date: 5/2/2023
June 12, 2023
Admittedly I bought this book after reading a single good review while imbibing in a THC seltzer. I wish I hadn’t. I felt that there were a lot of unfinished/half baked plot lines (all the build up to Jackson’s talent show? Kevin getting a dog on a whim and never knowing what Gwen thought when we’d heard her thoughts on all other aspects of his life?). The shooting felt out of left field and the end wrapped up way too perfectly with every character doing a predictable but unrealistic job. Additionally, none of the characters seemed to grow or change much throughout. Only Ro displayed any growth and even then it felt performative, to prove a point to her deceased husband.
June 22, 2023
BO-RING. I need to unfollow whoever recommended this. 🙃
April 27, 2023
3.5 stars
I liked the small town feel of this novel, which centers on a dying mall & the nearby neighborhood. Lots of interesting characters & detailed settings.
[What I liked:]
•Jackson & his mom Tina were my favorite characters. Jackson is so smart & observant, but he’s also just a kid. Tina is not perfect, but she’s a pretty great mom. It’s really touching how they both encourage the other to follow their dreams even though they both feel insecure about their own.
•Both Kevin & Ro are not easy to like characters, but they do feel pretty realistic & have depth. They made the story interesting, even though I got annoyed with them sometimes. I could totally imagine living next door to Ro, or visiting a bookstore with an employee like Kevin.
•I liked Maria a lot, but somehow she didn’t feel quite as fleshed out as the above-mentioned MCs. I still enjoyed her interactions with Jackson, though.
•The setting was great! Both the mall & its shops, & the neighborhood where Ro & Kevin live, were nicely detailed & gave grounding to the storylines.
[What I didn’t like as much:]
•Maria is concerned that because she didn’t get a lead role in the high school musical, she won’t be able to submit a clip of the performance as part of her application to theatre degree programs. But that’s not how those applications work. You have to audition in person with a monologue, vocal solo, etc. (Although you can list roles in shows on your résumé)
•Somehow the shooting felt a bit out of place with the rest of the book. I don’t know, it just felt like it came out of left field, and then the rest of the book was just about the various characters having survivor’s guilt. It felt like it overshadowed the drama & emotions of the mall closing, which up until then was the focus of the story.
CW: murder, gun violence, child death, racism, stalking, infertility
[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]
I liked the small town feel of this novel, which centers on a dying mall & the nearby neighborhood. Lots of interesting characters & detailed settings.
[What I liked:]
•Jackson & his mom Tina were my favorite characters. Jackson is so smart & observant, but he’s also just a kid. Tina is not perfect, but she’s a pretty great mom. It’s really touching how they both encourage the other to follow their dreams even though they both feel insecure about their own.
•Both Kevin & Ro are not easy to like characters, but they do feel pretty realistic & have depth. They made the story interesting, even though I got annoyed with them sometimes. I could totally imagine living next door to Ro, or visiting a bookstore with an employee like Kevin.
•I liked Maria a lot, but somehow she didn’t feel quite as fleshed out as the above-mentioned MCs. I still enjoyed her interactions with Jackson, though.
•The setting was great! Both the mall & its shops, & the neighborhood where Ro & Kevin live, were nicely detailed & gave grounding to the storylines.
[What I didn’t like as much:]
•Maria is concerned that because she didn’t get a lead role in the high school musical, she won’t be able to submit a clip of the performance as part of her application to theatre degree programs. But that’s not how those applications work. You have to audition in person with a monologue, vocal solo, etc. (Although you can list roles in shows on your résumé)
•Somehow the shooting felt a bit out of place with the rest of the book. I don’t know, it just felt like it came out of left field, and then the rest of the book was just about the various characters having survivor’s guilt. It felt like it overshadowed the drama & emotions of the mall closing, which up until then was the focus of the story.
CW: murder, gun violence, child death, racism, stalking, infertility
[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]
April 20, 2024
This book was wonderful, a complete delight—though somewhat heartbreaking—from beginning to end.
The characters that are the focus of this book range in age from 9 to 90 and each have their own unique combination of beautifully illustrated gifts and faults—intelligence, shyness, prejudice, curiosity, impulsivity, kindness, creativity, indecisiveness, beauty and friendliness. Each character is so fully-realized and touching in their own way, though I will say that Ro Goodson, despite her many faults, will have a precious place in my heart for a long, long time.
This book really reminded me that every part of your life matters—it doesn’t suddenly begin when you reach adulthood, and it doesn’t end with old age but only when it actually ends. There’s is no starting over—you cannot leave your past behind but you can accept all that it has done for you, and to you. And maybe your impact will last longer than you could possibly fathom.
Wonderfully written. What a lovely surprise this book was!
The characters that are the focus of this book range in age from 9 to 90 and each have their own unique combination of beautifully illustrated gifts and faults—intelligence, shyness, prejudice, curiosity, impulsivity, kindness, creativity, indecisiveness, beauty and friendliness. Each character is so fully-realized and touching in their own way, though I will say that Ro Goodson, despite her many faults, will have a precious place in my heart for a long, long time.
This book really reminded me that every part of your life matters—it doesn’t suddenly begin when you reach adulthood, and it doesn’t end with old age but only when it actually ends. There’s is no starting over—you cannot leave your past behind but you can accept all that it has done for you, and to you. And maybe your impact will last longer than you could possibly fathom.
Wonderfully written. What a lovely surprise this book was!
July 23, 2023
3.5 stars for this charming story about mall employees, neighbors, and friends whose lives overlap as they deal with job changes, death and loss, and new opportunities.
July 5, 2023
A mall in Albany, New York is fading away, repairs going unmade, empty stores, the end is coming. Various of the characters in this novel work at the mall - Tina Huang, a single mother estranged from her parents, and the last remaining stylist at the mall's hair salon; Maria, a high school student with acting/singing aspirations who works in the food court, Kevin, the manager of the mall's book store, and then those in their lives - Tina's young studious son, Jackson; her one weekly client, elderly and lonely and judgmental widow Ro Goodson, who lives next door to Kevin's tiny house where he lives with his Black wife aspiring poet and teacher Gwen and their twins in the backyard of the house that belongs to Gwen's parents, Joan and Earl, a long-dead poet with whom Ro's husband was friends. Their current lives, their inner lives, their life stories, their fears about what comes next for them, ordinary stories of ordinary people with their wishes and wants and confusions and more are intwined. The characters' various ethnicities are natural here, winding through the story but not subsuming it. Rather, it's about hanging onto one's humanity in the midst of dashed hopes, irrelevancy, and desolation, and figuring out how to build new lives. A kind and sweet book.
Thanks to Netgalley and Counterpoint for an ARC.
Thanks to Netgalley and Counterpoint for an ARC.
April 28, 2023
The slow death of an suburban mall is the link between several characters in a small town. And like the mall, many of the characters seem stagnant in their own lives. Stuck with ideas from the past, stuck with ideas for the future but no solid path forward, just stuck. Some of these characters gave me anxiety just living in their heads a little. The book is very character driven, a slow and somewhat depressing read. But all the better to set the reader up for an event that wakes everyone up and makes the characters, and the reader, take notice and reassess. This is a well written bittersweet story.
Thanks to NetGalley and Catapult, Counterpoint Press, and Soft Skull Press for a copy of the book. This review is my own opinion.
Thanks to NetGalley and Catapult, Counterpoint Press, and Soft Skull Press for a copy of the book. This review is my own opinion.
February 4, 2024
I read this book for my upcoming Booktopia adventure in Vermont. I loved it from the very first page! The characters are delightful and the story flows in such a unique way. This is such a powerful novel and I highly recommend it to readers who enjoy thoughtfully written fiction and dynamic characters.
July 4, 2023
I fell in love with this book halfway through the second chapter. It is magical. The characters are wonderfully drawn and I came to love every one of them, even the ones that had originally seemed irredeemable. The book is an optical illusion, much like the magic tricks of Jackson in the story. In other words, it's impossible to believe just how much story Lin-Greenberg fits into 289 pages. I highly recommend this. The old adage that when life gives you lemon, make lemonade is the principle theme here, and such beautiful new life is breathed into what could have otherwise been very corny. I loved this. Please read it.
April 26, 2023
A dying mall and its diverse array of workers become entangled in such an intricate and unique story. Tina, a hairstylist, dreams of going back to her love of art while her son, Jackson, is secretly studying magic. Fast food worker Maria agrees to be his magician's assistant, since she has dreams of Hollywood stardom and figures an elementary school talent show is as great a place as any to practice. Ro is a lonely widow that gets her hair done every week at Tina's salon, and she lives next door to Kevin, a bookseller with business aspirations, and his wife Gwen, a successful poet. Their stories and perspectives are all so unique and heartrending, and the way they come together is unforgettable.
I adored this story! It's told from the POVs of many of the characters, without being disorienting as that kind of switching can sometimes be. Each character is unique in voice, story, and dreams, and I honestly loved them all. I grew up in a town with a dying mall like this one — even some of the stores are the same (Boscov's!) — and I think that experience only enhanced my enjoyment of the story.
The way that these disparate characters come together to form a little community is just lovely. I definitely recommend this to anyone that has a fondness for character-driven stories! Thank you to Karin Lin-Greenberg, Counterpoint, HighBridge Audio, and NetGalley for my advance audio copy.
I adored this story! It's told from the POVs of many of the characters, without being disorienting as that kind of switching can sometimes be. Each character is unique in voice, story, and dreams, and I honestly loved them all. I grew up in a town with a dying mall like this one — even some of the stores are the same (Boscov's!) — and I think that experience only enhanced my enjoyment of the story.
The way that these disparate characters come together to form a little community is just lovely. I definitely recommend this to anyone that has a fondness for character-driven stories! Thank you to Karin Lin-Greenberg, Counterpoint, HighBridge Audio, and NetGalley for my advance audio copy.
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