Has Australia become a giant shopping mall?

The big inescapable problem with going away for a week’s holiday is in the coming back. The returning to a mountain of washing, cleaning, unpacking, and all –round catching up. Suddenly the holiday vibe is in tatters. Thank God I’ve got photos of the holiday to remind my weary self that I actually went away to a beautiful place and had a lovely time. Oh, that, and the novel I read, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain.  A fantastic read for those rare days when time stretches before you, empty, unscheduled, begging to be filled with a book that demands your undivided attention.  Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk won this year’s U.S.A. National Book Critics Circle Award. It’s a merciless critique of the Iraq war and contemporary American culture as seen through the eyes of nineteen year old Billy Lynn, a soldier on two weeks leave from duty in the Iraq war. 

The prose is wonderful. At times subtle, but generally it fairly shouts at you.

 The following line from the novel really had me wondering how book sales were going for Ben Fountain.      “Somewhere along the way America became a giant mall with a country attached.”

I wish I had a holiday snap of me reading this fine novel. Why? Because I enjoyed its interesting and witty companionship, even if it did make me seriously worry about American culture and their attitude to war and military personal, and of course, the inevitable question – how much is our country following in America’s footsteps?  Has Australia become a giant mall with a country attached?