A review by readingwithavengeance
Mosquitoland by David Arnold

5.0

Again, another book that has escaped my notice for SIX years! I don’t remember what made me pick this one up. Could be the cover, which I LOVE! It could also be the buzzwords that stand out to me in the synopsis: quirky, hilarious, heartbreaking. This doesn’t have the highest average rating on Goodreads, but I’m guessing it’s due to the 1-3 star reviews left by people who either criticize that the narrator sounds too world-wise to be a teenager or claim it’s racist to write how the main character uses her mother’s lipstick as warpaint whenever she gets stressed. Whatever, man. Those folks are missing the point. It’s been a hot minute since I was 16y old, but Mim, the main character, still sounds familiar. She’s a smart-ass, she’s suspicious of kindness, she’s cracked a book or two and she’s wildly loyal to her momma. The story is told from Mim’s point of view, but we get another view of her as the story is also told through what she writes in her journal. These are two slightly different viewpoints because anyone who writes in a journal knows there’s a different face we put on than the one we show the world. Mim meets a number of colorful characters on her bus ride from Mississippi to Ohio, some nice, some not so nice. Her takeaway from each of these characters is so relatable. There’s a lovely twist in this story that I did not see coming and it bumped this from a solid 4-star to a 5-star rating. Also, we get a lesson on the fine line between mental illness and just plain hormone-infused growth without it being a slap in the face. That’s not to say that genuine mental illness isn’t addressed here; it is. Whether your teenage years are far behind you or not OR you have a teenager of your own, reading this will give you a little insight to the chaotic thinking patterns and emotions that happen at that age. It left me feeling both nostalgic and relief to be past it. The writing is sharp and witty; I laughed out loud and got choked up at times. Hats off to the narrator, Phoebe Strole, who did a fantastic job on the audiobook