On the very first page of her story, Mim Malone admits to being “not okay” and that is what makes David Arnold’s Mosquitoland worth the trip. Mary Iris Malone is not your normal teenage girl. Her parents are divorced, her dad’s remarried and expecting a new baby with the new wife, Mim’s mom is sick and in a hospital in Cleveland (947 miles away), and Mim is struggling to make sense out of all of it while being just a bit crazy herself. Deciding she can’t stay where she is, Mim steals her stepmom’s cash, buys a bus ticket north and starts a journey to find herself.

Would I recommend it? YES! This is a good one. I found myself looking forward to each of Mim’s encounters and interactions with the people she gravitated toward.  Each one made Mim that much more relatable, real, and sympathetic. By the end, I loved that Mim had made this trip and that I was lucky enough to take it with her.

What I liked about this book:

• This tale is told through Mim’s eyes with Mim’s voice. It’s self-centered, it’s sarcastic, it’s teenager angsty and in the end, honest. It’s fantastic!
• Mom’s illness is never clearly stated. Hints and clues are left but the illness doesn’t take center stage until the end. While it’s in the background and Mim’s driving force forward, it doesn’t distract from Mim’s journey.
• Mim’s dad is trying to ‘fix’ Mim through doctors and medication. Kathy, the step-mom, wants to be there for Mim and understands Mim more than Mim knows.
• Arlene, Mim’s first bus friend, is the right mix of grandma and reality. When the bus crashes, I grieved for Mim’s loss.
• The phrasing is wonderful – “I enter Ed’s not with an attitude of optimism but with an attitude of ninja-ism.” “Have vision with no fear.” Looking at her reflection in the bus window: “I’ve never looked so opaque.” When visiting her old house: “I touch my dead eye to make sure it’s open so I don’t miss anything.”
• When Mim looks at Ahab, Arlene’s nephew, and his massive boyfriend, she wonders at the physics of the relationship. Haven’t we all?
• Mim’s relationship with Walt is caring and funny and maternal.
• The relationship between Mim and Beck is sweet and respectful. There’s chemistry there, but they each know it’s not meant to be at that time.
• Throughout the book, Mim write’s letters to her new sister Izzy. The letter she writes explaining how she found out about her parents’ divorce is one of the most heart wrenching descriptions of divorce from a child’s perspective I’ve read. It’s honest, heartbreaking and not a bit sappy.
• When Kathy catches up to Mim, Beck and Walt, she doesn’t berate Mim. She’s worried, frustrated, sympathetic and supportive.
• There’s a wonderful moment in the rehab center when Kathy defends Mim to Mim’s mom Eve and Mim realizes she’s had it all wrong. It’s triumphant.
• At the end, Mim has grown and changes as all good protagonists should. And it’s a good change. And I liked that!

 What distracted me:

•  Mim’s attempted rape and then the subsequent rape of the 13-year-old girl was shocking.  Meant to shock Mim?  Meant to shock us?

 What I would consider before handing this to my kid:

• Some swearing. Mim describes high school girls sitting around the cafeteria table discussing who gives the most efficient blowjob. The bus crashes and Mim’s seatmate is killed. A man attempts to rape Mim in the bathroom of a rest stop and then succeeds in raping a 13-year-old fellow passenger later. Mim takes medication to help regulate her moods and mind and throws them away in the end. Mim’s mom is in drug rehab.  7th/8th grade on up.

Final Thoughts:

When Beck and Walt take off for Chicago, Beck writes Mim, “Treat every day like you’re making waffles.” For a book that centers on some pretty scary, depressing things, the optimism I was left with at the end was surprising and welcome. I wanted Mim to have her happy ending, to have everything be okay, and while the ending wasn’t tied up in a neat bow (it would have ruined the story if it was), Mim is on the right road, going in the right direction. For that reason, I highly recommend you hopping aboard the bus with Mim.