It was the 80's. The disco era was long over... club life and 'the hunt' had taken on a whole new form, and if you worked at the mall... in this case, as a hairstylist at a top salon, had that special look and way about you, and loved women as much as this guy did, then you were in your element 12 hours a day... P.S. ... this is not a teen mall romp ala Fast Times At Ridgemont High; far from it... it's more like 'Shampoo' meets 'Don Jon' meets 'Wolf of Wall Street', and in a twisted way finds you both loving, hating, and in some cases rooting for, the protagonist author who decided to put his bio down on paper almost 4 decades after it all took place, in his biography, King Of The Mall... Definitely for mature readers only...
There is a poignant and very well told back story to it all though, throughout the entire book... escaping life from a small Northeastern Pa. coal mining town, and, the possibility of being trapped in a mundane existence there.
The author, Wolfe Armand Scarpati, takes us on a journey from early childhood, and, the joys of growing up in an Italian, Roman Catholic household during the 50's, and then well into his young adulthood during the turbulent decade of the 60's.
He very aptly schools the reader on what it was like during simpler times, as well as the angst of life after high school, in one of the most historic years of that time... 1969... avoiding the draft, a short unsuccessful stint in college, and almost getting trapped in a series of blue collar labor jobs prior to entering the beauty industry quite by accident, and finally finding himself; beautifully told with family anecdotes, thoughts of times past, and how things were.
Along the journey of growing up, his sexual appetite had developed into overdrive, and in finding his new life and career as a hairstylist, he also finds an outlet for that behavior, as well as his career niche... a career where he could not only be somebody, but also have an unlimited variety of women. His affairs are numerous, and are laid out in great detail for the reader.
Along the way, he does the stupidest thing that a guy in this position could do... he falls in love (or so he thinks) and gets married, only to find that his overpowering sexual appetite takes precedent, and realizes that the marriage was nothing more than the result of a time of weakness.
With his career in full bloom, and having now migrated to the suburbs of Philadelphia, he becomes one of the top hairstylists in the area, in a salon located in a large suburban mall.
His extracurricular activities completely take over both his thought process and his life; his friends call him the King Of The Mall... he could have almost any female he wants... some are his clients, and some work in the mall... but he's simply not happy, and emotionally empty.
An eventual divorce ensues, and leads him on a somewhat repentant journey into the city that never sleeps, New York, where he hopes to clear his mind and soul while purging his past.
During that same time frame, his upwardly mobile career, which had been on a fast track with the mall based chain of salons, ends up going bust due to a corporate buyout. Along the way he is constantly juggling... not just his career, but also failed affairs with women, and most of all, his lack of control as he tries to find balance, peace of mind, and the one woman who could finally keep his sexual appetite both fulfilled, and grounded.
A true story wrapped with a bit of fiction to "protect the innocent... and... the not so innocent", King Of The Mall is an extraordinarily candid look at the hairstyling industry and the mall culture of the 80's... but be advised... this guy makes Christian Grey look like an amateur.
