The Promised Land

Lori McLeod is a librarian with the Toronto Public Library.

The blurb on the back cover of The Promised Land raises ridiculously high our expectations of this first novel. We anticipate a “clever satire” which will open us to a “rather offbeat, hilarious and bizarre” world of a suburban shopping mall. We are quickly disappointed.

The thin plot centres around a struggle between the manager of the Garden Park shopping mall and the Merchants’ Association. In an effort to usurp manager Martin Mall’s totalitarian regime, the Merchants’ Association buys Garden Park and “goes condo.” We witness the merchants evilly plotting against poor Martin in a store called the Hot Tub, a “trendy, upscale Turkish steambath.”

The merchants set out to convert a new tenant, Sandy Rodd, to their cause. If you have not guessed already, Sandy is the manager of a drapery store.

The author’s approach to satire is not very subtle. The characters are as one-dimensional as their names suggest; they fail to spark the reader’s interest.

This book is not great literature. It is conceivable, however, that some of the material in this novel, if turned over to a satirical troupe, such as Second City or the Royal Canadian Air Farce, could be transformed into amusing comedy sketches. In book form the author’s brand of satire does not succeed.