Mosquitoland

Sixteen-year old Mary Iris Malone, otherwise known as Mim, ended up in Mississippi after her parent's divorce. When she discovers her mom is all alone back in Cleveland battling some disease, she swipes her step-mother's coffee can full of money and hops on a Greyhound for Ohio. Of course, she didn't tell anyone – she just impulsively set off for her objective. But there are interesting people on the bus, like the old lady clutching a wooden box who smells like cookies, the bus driver whose "Carl-ness" is without question, the extra-friendly "Poncho Man," and the devastatingly handsome 17C. And the trip turns out to have some interesting twists, as well as some unexpected friendships.

Okay, I know – that's about the blandest book show more summary in the history of the world, and it doesn't begin to sum up this surprisingly interesting and compelling book. Once I got started I had a hard time putting it down. (The problem was that it's 350 pages and I didn't have as much time to read as I'd have liked, but I still stayed up late with it a couple of nights.) As you might have guessed, this is one of those books where all the characters are damaged in some way, starting with Mim who is bitter over her parent's divorce, her father's remarriage, and having to move 1,000 miles away from her life. The characters are all endearingly quirky with a bitingly sarcastic wit as well, which seems to be de rigueur these days for YA. Then you throw them out on the open road with all its dangers, toss in some even quirkier characters (including a gay ninja, just for kicks), and we just can't help but hope for their success while we mourn as all the damages they've piled up in their short but dramatic lives are gradually revealed. Sigh... yes, it's somewhat formulaic but it appeals to the teenager in us, whether or not we're still in those teen years.

Honestly, I wanted to dislike this book (after I started it, that is – no one in their right mind picks up a book that looks interesting and wants to hate it). I wanted to dislike it because of the profanity, which is mostly the f-word (and is probably used somewhere north of a hundred times). I know, some kids talk that way and some readers won't object, but when the book is advertised for "12 and up" I'd like to think I could take that at face-value. As a dad I can't recommend this to my 12 year old, and am wondering if I will recommend it to my 16 year old. (Other than the language, there aren't any 'situations' I found objectionable.) And yet I have to admit, I liked the characters – at least the one's you're supposed to like – and loved the ending (which was a bit predictable, but not completely). It's well-written (the author is an expert at foreshadowing!) and pulls you in with a grip that doesn't let go, even clinging to you after finishing the last page, wishing you could spend a little more time with these people. I just wish for a cleaner "children's" book. (I received an advance copy from Amazon Vine.) show less

3.5 Still searching for the perfect YA book that is age appropriate and has lots of discussable issues. This isn't it, though it is pretty entertaining, and generally "clean" despite lots of f-bombs. Mim (her acryname --clever! for Mary Iris Malone) has had a world of upheaval in the previous year: She is 16, her parents split up, her father, Barry re-married Kathy Sherone-Malone, a waitress from Dennys, moved them all from Cleveland to Mississippi, and her mother Eve, still in Cleveland is seriously ill and no longer accepting Mim's calls or writing her letters. "I think about how quickly things have changed for me. But that's the personality of change isn't it? When it's slow it's called growth. When it's fast it's called change. And show more God, how things change: some things, nothings, anythings, everythings....all the things change." (230) Mim has never been that stable to begin with and her father has often exacerbated that due to his own fear of his sister Isabel's mental illness. So Mim is currently medicated and also full of teen angst and righteousness and after overhearing her dad and Kathy talking to the prinicipal of her new school, (where she is not exactly fitting in), Mim bolts and hops a Greyhound back to Cleveland to try to find out the mystery of her Mom's health. The journey is full of interesting, funny and frightening events: a bus crash, a pedophile (who gets what he deserves) a Downs syndrome boy, Walt, living on his own in the woods, and finally Beck Van Buren, the soul mate she finds in seat 17C. The trio complete the second half of the journey together by truck and all of them are seeking something. Part journal entry, part flashback, part present-time narrative all told in Mim's voice make for an intricate plot that resolves nicely. Mim is artsy, brash, gutsy, glib and smart -- all good qualities in a heroine and she is striving in her imperfect way in challenging circumstances to stay true to her mother's counsel: "Have a vision, unclouded by fear." Her final meet-up with her mother is disappointing (to her) but I won't spoil the reasons why. It's important to come to the conclusion with Mim -- there are some other surprises too that get revealed at the end and the book surges with hope for a fresh start and acceptance of the past. In regards to the people in her life, especially Beck, Mim concludes: "Sometimes being with gets overlooked, I think." The writing is fresh and thoughtful and Mim is an authentic character who requires some extra energy on the part of the (older) reader, but the effort pays off. show less

Recommended to me by a friend, I picked up this book the last time I was at the library, because honestly, who can leave the library without checking out a book? And this book definitely didn't disappoint! Featuring a cast of quirky characters you can't help but love, and an epic road trip where things just don't seem to go right, Mim's story is one that'll have you sucked in until the very end.

After her parents divorce, Mim is dragged from Ohio to Mississippi, where she lives with her dad and new stepmom, Kathy. When Mim learns that her real mom is sick, she begins a journey back to her real home, desperate to get back to the happy memories she has with her mom. Through a series of mishaps and unknown turns, Mim is forced to confront show more herself, and learning that everything isn't always as it seems.

Let me begin by saying that Mim is quite the unforgettable character. Most of the time, she is unabashedly herself, taking her quirkiness and questions of sanity in stride. Her family has a long history of mental health issues, and at the first inklings, her dad made sure that Mim got the "right" treatments. However, on her journey, Mim learns a lot about sanity and mental health; in fact, I think this book explores mental health in a different way than most YA books that I've read. The majority of books mostly deal with depression or anxiety (that I have personally read, anyway), and this book explores it more deeply, with hallucinations, etc., giving readers a more holistic view of Mim herself.

I think the only downside to this, though minor, was that it took me a little bit to get into it. Mim is a fantastic character, but she comes on really strong and it definitely took me a couple of chapters to get used to her voice as the speaker. But I think once you are able to see Mim interact with other major characters, she gets easier to swallow, and that's when the book started to read at a faster pace for me.

Overall, definitely a fantastic read, and different than a lot of YA that I've been reading recently. If you're look for a philosophically driven road trip novel, you've definitely found it! show less

I am not a fan of road trip stories. I tend to find them tedious, and this novel was no exception. However, it was saved from a lower rating by a series of very cleverly written passages. This author certainly has talent. Now he just needs an editor. Seriously, this book could have been half as long and still told the same story. Oh, and the ending was disappointingly anti-climactic. Not as a bad as Paper Towns, but still underwhelming.

I remember reading this book in high school, and specific parts stuck with me. Poncho man. They retinopathy caused by staring at the sun. The title (no small miracle considering how bad I typically am at remembering book titles and authors). I thought I would reread it as it fit some categories for a summer reading challenge I was in, but boy was I disappointed. Mim is a quirky girl, she's not like other girls. She wears shoes that are vintage and would never dare to shop at a mall. This isn't necessarily a knock against her, god knows as teens we were all trying to find ourselves. But as someone who fell into that pretentious "I'm better than other people for not liking the things they like" rabbit hole in my teen years, and spent too show more long crawling out of it, it made for an insta-dislike. I will say that Arnold writes her with a great amount of depth, from the potential mental illness to the quirkiness to that teenage pig-headed I'm-right-and-I-know-it-and-nothing-you-can-say-will-change-my-mind-ness, he really seems to capture this snapshot of Mim and the difficult life that had lead her up to this point.
There were times it felt like Arnold used mental illness as props. For example, Walt and the child from Mim's past, who both had Down Syndrome. They were painted as naive innocence, untouched by the ills of society and Mim would frequently marvel at him. It came across as infantilizing at points and left a bad taste in my mouth.
Finally there's the "romance." Mim meets Beck on the road, perfect devastatingly handsome Beck. We know Mim is 16, and we find out that Beck is 21, so from the get the romance angle gives me the ick. There's plenty of side-eye to give it because even in the book there's a clear gap in maturity levels and life experience. The only saving grace is that Beck himself acknowledges that the age gap is too large and puts a stop to further developing the romantic relationship or engaging in more physical acts than a kiss on the forehead. show less

I am having a hard time understanding why this book is getting so much positive attention. The author is in the process of answering some serious questions about his misrepresentations of Cherokee people and enforcing stereotypes about Native Americans, and I am saddened that positive reviewers do not seem bothered by this. I tried very hard to like Mim, and even thought I might relate to parts of her journey, but I couldn't do it because she never seemed real to me. Her language seemed forced, like how an adult thinks an edgy kid might talk. Other characters are also painted with broad strokes, too cartoonish to really come alive. Want to read about interesting, surprising, and hard to understand teenagers dealing with big problems in show more beautifully written books? A.S. King. show less

I'm generally not one to hand out 5 star reviews. And, while not every single word was absolute gold, _Mosquitoland_ (by David Arnold) was pretty darn spectacular!

_Mosquitoland_ is a road-trip-coming-of-age-life-may-NOT-be-what-it-seems novel. It is in turns funny, desperate, familiar and lonely. Sure, Mim doesn't always sound like a 16 year old girl (although she sure does sound familiar), Beck is a little too perfect and smooth, Walt a little too innocent - but they work, the story works, and, even if you cannot completely relate to the specific events, the feelings behind them are universal.

This is a fantastic YA book, worthy of your time and recommended for grades 8+.