Mosquitoland by David Arnold

Mosquitoland

by David Arnold

My rating: 4 stars

GoodReads/ Amazon/ TBD

Summary:

After the sudden collapse of her family, Mim Malone is dragged from her home in northern Ohio to the "wastelands" of Mississippi, where she lives in a medicated milieu with her dad and new stepmom. Before the dust has a chance to settle, she learns her mother is sick back in Cleveland.

So she ditches her new life and hops aboard a northbound Greyhound bus to her real home and her real mother, meeting a quirky cast of fellow travelers along the way. But when her thousand-mile journey takes a few turns she could never see coming, Mim must confront her own demons, redefining her notions of love, loyalty, and what it means to be sane.

Told in an unforgettable, kaleidoscopic voice, "Mosquitoland" is a modern American odyssey, as hilarious as it is heartbreaking.

****

 

The synopsis says that this book is like a modern odyssey and I truly, deeply believe it.

I didn’t became the biggest fan of this book, like I thought I would (though 4 stars is a high rating), but the thing I can’t deny is its awesomeness.

I’ve said before that my two favorite things about a book are the characters and the writing. I’m not afraid of those larger-than-life characters. I don’t mind too-smart characters. I love sarcasm and wit and those were things I could easily find in Mosquitoland.

This book is about Mim’s journey to find her mother. On the way there, she finds different people, every one of them odder than the last one. Mim makes a few friends and a few enemies. There were some amazing conversations and some big chunks of, let’s say “monologues.”

This book also shows us some letters that Mim writes to someone called Isabel. Sometimes, those letters were the things I couldn’t wait to read. They have information about Mim’s past and some cute illustrations I enjoyed watching.

You see, I really enjoyed the format of this book and Mim’s voice.

As for the romance… wow, I’m not sure if that was a romance or not, though Mim was sure she felt in love with someone she met three days ago… Which sounds like insta-love and didn’t, in any moment, felt like it.

Now you can say from all this rambling that this book was complicated. I don’t even know how to put into words how amazing it was.

The only reason I’m not giving this one 5 stars is because I felt the first half was a little slow. I even wanted to skip some pages.

But if you’re looking for a DIVERSE book, Mosquitoland is one of the best. Did I mention that one of the main characters is someone with Down Syndrome? Yes! And he was the cutest!

Mosquitoland is a touching and heartbreaking book with unusually awesome characters, a not-so reliable narrator and a great plot.

You should give it a try!