Mosquitoland by David Arnold

I got this book from a friend of mine for my birthday.
That friend has a really good taste for books, so I always tell her when she asks me what I want for my birthday: "Pick a book yourself. You're good at that stuff."
And, damn she's goooooddddd!
She gives the most unknown (at least for me then), most un-Nadi-like books and I just really enjoy them. Like really enjoy them. No kidding.
Mosquitoland was one of those books and man, this chick is good at picking out cool books.

Summary

When Mim Malone finds out that her mom is sick back in Ohio, she sets off on a journey to check up on her, leaving her dad and the stupid stepmom in Mississipi without a word.
On this journey Mim meets a couple of different, unique people who make her trip a tad different from what she'd expected.

My Opinion

Rating: 8/10

Well that was a great laugh, haha!

I don't mean this in a mean way - on the contrary, I really enjoyed this book (which you could expect since it was that good ol' bookish friend of mine who gave it to me - thanks! <3).

Mim is a really fun character to read about - she describes everything in such a fresh, airy way that makes you scim through the pages without even knowing that you're going so fast. The other characters are also very unique, like Walt who has the Down syndrome and lives on his own in the woods. Like most characters who have a psychological illness, he manages to give us such a beautiful, heartmelting, and very simple view on the world - I like collecting shiny things and I don't give a crap about anything else, is basically his survival-motto. Which is so cuuuttteeeee <3

And then you got hottie Beck, who isn't just hunk, but also sensitive and smart and helpful and gawd - HOT.

It's not necessarily in the way they are that makes them unique but in the way they add up to the story, the way the story turns around them. Mim's journey becomes a lot more interesting and deeper because of these people.

She faces her fears with them, she learns how to be okay, with them.

Well, with most of them. ( I'm looking at YOU, Poncho Man)

As for the writing style - FABULOUS.

I really love it.

Mim really is talking to us like she is some passenger in the Greyhound Bus (in which she's travelling to Cleveland, Ohio) and is basically following herself during this journey.

At some moments you really feel like she's turning her face towards you, explaining her lifestory or something like that.

At other moments she's putting her story in a new perspective; she makes some events seem like following the white rabbit to the hole like Alice, when she's in reality just following Walt who probably has her lipstick which she. Must. Get. Back.

It feels like an omniscient storyteller is mocking with her life, which I absolutely love.

I mean, come on, it really is funny.

And those are actually the two peaks of this story! 

These two made it a really fun reading experience. The additional character development of Mim as a girl who is facing her fears and learning how to be truly okay, was definitely important for the story and interesting to see, but these two were the things that really had done it for me.

What can I say - I just love it when someone's mocking her own life. IT'S JUST SO FUNNY HAHAHAHHAAH.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this blog post!

Until the next one, then! :)