Mosquitoland, by David Arnold

“Sometimes a thing doesn’t seem real until we say it out loud . . . 

“I am Mary Iris Malone, and I am not okay.” – Mim  

Mary Iris Malone (Mim) may not be okay, but she has the potential to be one of the greatest narrators of her generation.

“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.” – Mim

“Do so with gusto, because my God, there's nothing sorrier than a gusto-less existence.” – Mim

Mim is in freefall. Her world, as she’s known it, has crumbled, or exploded, or imploded. She could explain it better. In any case, it’s been turned upside down. Mosquitoland is the story of her journey to put her world back together, to save her mom, to find herself, to find others like her. Are there any? 

“I have limited experience, but I know this: moments of connection with another human being are patently rare. But rarer still are those who can recognize such a connection when they see one.” – Mim

She overhears her father and his new bride, a Denny’s waitress, talking . . . discussing something . . . about her? . . . about her mother?. Something is wrong. Her mother needs her. Mim jumps a Greyhound from Mosquitoland (Jackson, Mississippi) to Cleveland, Ohio, where her mother is holed up. Along the way, she meets an extraordinary cast of characters, causing her to take several detours. 

“So I float in silence, watching the final touches of this perfect moonrise, and in a moment of heavenly revelation, it occurs to me that detours are not without purpose. They provide safe passage to a destination, avoiding pitfalls in the process.” – Mim

She discovers some hard truths along the way, as well.

“Pain makes people who they are.” – Mim

“I wish wishing were enough, but it's not. Sometimes you need a thing.” – Mim 

Her journey is an adventure worth taking . . . certainly worth reading.

“I'm feeling reckless - or honest, maybe. Sometimes, it's hard to tell the difference.” – Mim

In the end, she finds herself . . .

“Sometimes you walk into a room one person, and when you come out the other side, you're someone else altogether.” – Mim

“As simple as it sounds, I think understanding who you are—and who you are not—is not the most important thing of all Important Things.” – Mim

“But that’s the personality of change, isn’t it? When it’s slow, it’s called growth; when it’s fast, it’s change.” – Mim

. . . and she finds home.

“It's more than an address, or even the house you grew up in. People say home is where the heart is, but I think maybe home is the heart. Not a place or a time, but an organ, pumping life into my life. There may be more mosquitos and stepmothers than I imagined, but it's still my heart. My home.” – Mim

Mim is a genius narrator with shocking wit and imagination, but she is a flawed character. She struggles with and within herself. She deals, daily, with mental health issues, but to what degree is up for interpretation. Her father, obsessed with the inevitability of the destruction of his daughter’s state of mind, is hell-bent on keeping her numb and controlled with Abilitol, an anti-psychotic medication, which Mim, herself, feels is completely radical and unnecessary. This is an incredible, intelligent, and humorous tale of self-discovery, teen angst, sex, exploration, and the human experience. I would recommend this to every teenager and everyone who has ever been a teenager. It is a great story of a terrific journey, a modern-day Odyssey, or this generation’s On The Road. It belongs on everyone’s bookshelf, at home, and in schools.

The plot, seeming simple enough, is a complicated roadmap of intricate detours, all essential to the overall story. Every character bursts from the pages with unbelievable detail. This is one of my favorite reads so far. I give it a 5 out of 5 on my scale of good reads.

follow the author on Twitter @roofbeam 

David Arnold is the genius behind Mim. From Lexington, Kentucky, he claims to be a “fierce believer in the power of kindness and community. And chips. He believes fiercely in chips” (Mosquitoland). 

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