Monday, August 31, 2015

Review: Mosquitoland by David Arnold

Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Pages: 352
Received: Received a copy from Penguin Canada in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: March 3, 2015
Buy From Chapters.ca / Buy From BookDepository.com

Goodreads Synopsis:

"I am a collection of oddities, a circus of neurons and electrons: my heart is the ringmaster, my soul is the trapeze artist, and the world is my audience. It sounds strange because it is, and it is, because I am strange."

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.

My Review:


This book truly touched me, as soon as I began I could tell that this was going to be a journey and that I would really grow with Mim. This book was such a quirky story that will catch your heart, with a fun cast of characters and a road trip that rivals many others, you will just want to delve into this book and not let go.

David Arnold has created so many quirky characters that all come together to make this story. The book is told through Mim's eyes as she is writing to her friend back home about her travels to find her mother and get back her old life. Mim jumps on a bus not sure what she will find along the way, but she definitely runs into trouble on her travels. Mim has to confront a lot of her own demons and she looks deep into herself to find answers to her problems. As the story continues Mim learns more about her family and she realizes that not everything is perfect.

What really made this book was how amazing of a storyteller Mim is, throughout the story we get a deeper glimpse into Mim's mind as she is writing about her travels to an unknown family member known as "Iz". But this book is also emotional, it deals with mental illness in such a deep way, Mim can be an unreliable narrator at times and as the reader continues along the journey you see her struggles and wonder if she truly needs to be medicated. Mim writing to Isabel helps bring out another light to Mim and it helps her get through her travels. This book shows that in the real world not everything is bright and shiny but those dark times help teach Mim a lot about life.

David Arnold definitely brought a magical story to life, readers can easily relate to Mim (not necessarily all the time, but there is always a point where you find yourself connecting to her). This book has you on the edge of tears most of the time with some added humour to bring out the light in the darkness. But this book shows that going out into the world on your own will bring trouble but if you fight through you can make it.

1 comment:

  1. I am so glad you liked this! I really loved Mim's voice, as well. It was sad and funny and so engaging.

    Kate @ Ex Libris

    ReplyDelete

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