Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall
by Wendy Mass
(4 scoops)
This novel is written in verse and, for the most part, the short lines enhanced the quick pace and ephemeral quality of the inner monologue, but at other times, the enjambment was so illogical that it stalled my reading. There were many genuinely touching moments in this story about a girl who gets pegged in the head by a dodge ball and finds her self in the hospital teetering between life and death. The ending is a bit didactic and moralistic, but it happens to be a moral I agree with, so I didn't particularly mind! Each section had a very clever ending, which made them fun to read, but since I read the book in one sitting, the predictability made the individual endings seem a bit less clever. Overall, despite a few flaws, I found this book extremely charming.
And it has inspired another contest!
Tell me about a purchase you made at the mall
that was significant in some way.
You can write a poem, like Wendy Mass, or just ramble as you see fit.
Make sure to explain what the purchase was
and how it turned out to be significant.
The winner will be announced on Friday the 23rd
and the prize is a mall inspired gift bag!
So, like, get to it!
Just before 1989 turned into 1990 my whole family went to the mall for some last minute holiday deals. My brothers and I had been harping on our parents to let us get our ears pierced and they just wouldn't relent. Then one day at school Craig Witt came in wearing a gold stud in his right ear that happened to be a magnetic earring. It was like God had heard my prayer. So we went to the mall, found Claire's, or some accessory shop, and found the coveted magnetized gold studs. There were four of us so we bought two packets so we could each wear one on our left ear. In my eager fit to get the pieces out of the packaging the studs went flying and were lost in the throng of holiday shoppers shuffling by. I didn't get a replacement pack and losing those studs probably prevented me from piercing my ear in the bathroom with a bulletin board push-pin. I'm not sure why I gave up on my desire to have an earring, but we left the mall that day without protest and without gold studs.
ReplyDeletePocket burn spirit free
ReplyDeleteTook my twenty on a shopping spree
No regrets, passed a pack of cigarettes
Bat eyelashes at a nerdy hunk
A blue and purple purse made by a Buddhist monk?
Hmm, I think I like
Holds cell phone, camera, pack of Mike and Ikes
Made my three dollar purchase, made the economy good
wanted to hail a cab, but there I stood
never once thinking that on my way back
I would wet my phone, break my camera, spill my Mike and Ikes
give myself a heart-attack!
Why did I not use the purse you ask?
Because taking it out, packing stuff in, would've been quiet the task
Broke my twenty on that stupid purse
should have spent more time being careful first.
arghh. Why can't I cut and past what I wrote from word? arghhhh
ReplyDeleteIt was Mother's Day. Or my mother's birthday. Or Christmas. Or any other day you can think of where a gift needed to be purchased for my mother. I was nine or ten and had no money. I had no idea what an allowance was - and I doubt the word was even in my vocabulary - so my cash flow depended on whether or not my grandfather was in the vicinity and if what i wanted was something of National importance like a twix or a grape soda. i miss grape soda. anyway, I wanted to buy my mother a present. A gift. Something of value with an actual VALUE attanched to it. Not something I made with cotton balls and too much glitter that fell from it in waves. Something that came from a store - glamorous and shiny. I wandered around for a while. Nothing was right. Nothing was adult enough. Then, in the middle of tha mall there was a man in a kiosk selling jewels - selling treasure. And he had two bracelets: one diamonds and emeralds and the other diamond and rubies. They were beautiful. Something adults would wear or ladies in the renaissance paintings. I asked my grandfather for five dollars. Enough for ten grape sodas. I bought both bracelets and even tried them on. Perfect. I wrapped them up and...here's the thing. That's where the memories stop. I don't remember my mother's reaction when she saw the bracelets. I don't remember if her features changed or if she forced a smile. I do remember that as the years passed I felt more and more embarrassed by my purchase. Wondering why I ever mistook the polished plastic for diamonds or the painted metal for silver. I wondered how long my mother waited before throwing them out. A few years ago my mother was pulling out her jewelry. Gorgeous pieces that she's bought over the years. She was going out and needed something to wear - so she took out box after box after - "Do you remember these?" she said after one box. I did. The two bracelets had changed a lot. The plastic stones had sucked all the dust out of the air - they were so dark you could hardly tell them apart. The silver was black and cracked - barely holding the stones together. My mother smiled and closed the box and put it back in the drawer. I remember it was a velvet lined box. Like for actual jewelry.
ReplyDeleteYou are all such beautiful writers and people! What a lucky lil blogger I am to have readers like you!!!
ReplyDelete