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A review by pagesplotsandpints
I Woke Up Dead at the Mall by Judy Sheehan
2.0
Initial Impressions 8/8/18: 2.5 stars
This wasn't a BAD book but it really could have been so much better in so many ways, so that's where my feelings and review end up. I was hoping for dark comedy, black humor, ghostly sort of story. It turned out to be a little too cheesy, a little too immature, and I didn't like the ending. It just felt very typical YA and too tropey.
All of the main characters in this book ended up at the Mall of America after their death, all came from New York. But... why? Because the Mall of America is a big and a lot of people get murdered in New York...? Even if there was logic there, it wasn't worth making that connection and there really wasn't a reason for the mall concept except to make a mall walker joke and associate dormitories with stores. It added a certain cheesiness to the story that I didn't find cute and I felt like it could have been a lot more meaningful in a different setting instead of creating a silly atmosphere.
I also never really understood why Sarah was murdered and the details of her murder were... odd. It all made sense, all was revealed, but the motive was just so flimsy and too obvious. For that to be the whole reason behind the WHOLE BOOK? Eh. Overdone. Come up with something new.
I didn't hate the book -- I finished it and I didn't stop reading -- but this could have been something delightfully campy and/or dark but either way, a whole lot of fun. Instead I feel like it was underdeveloped for the sake of being "fun" and it lacked the cleverness that it could have had.
This wasn't a BAD book but it really could have been so much better in so many ways, so that's where my feelings and review end up. I was hoping for dark comedy, black humor, ghostly sort of story. It turned out to be a little too cheesy, a little too immature, and I didn't like the ending. It just felt very typical YA and too tropey.
All of the main characters in this book ended up at the Mall of America after their death, all came from New York. But... why? Because the Mall of America is a big and a lot of people get murdered in New York...? Even if there was logic there, it wasn't worth making that connection and there really wasn't a reason for the mall concept except to make a mall walker joke and associate dormitories with stores. It added a certain cheesiness to the story that I didn't find cute and I felt like it could have been a lot more meaningful in a different setting instead of creating a silly atmosphere.
I also never really understood why Sarah was murdered and the details of her murder were... odd. It all made sense, all was revealed, but the motive was just so flimsy and too obvious. For that to be the whole reason behind the WHOLE BOOK? Eh. Overdone. Come up with something new.
I didn't hate the book -- I finished it and I didn't stop reading -- but this could have been something delightfully campy and/or dark but either way, a whole lot of fun. Instead I feel like it was underdeveloped for the sake of being "fun" and it lacked the cleverness that it could have had.