Mosquitoland

By: David Arnold

Narrated by: Phoebe Strole

Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's Summary

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.

©2015 David Arnold (P)2015 Listening Library

great narrative

If you're craving a solid and even touching narrative. This is a good one for you. Especially if youre searching for a novel filled with relatable characters and themes of mental health.

An anomaly

An interesting read full of unique characters and more than a few plot twists that kept me interested the entire time.
The author masterfully crafted a story that dives into the reality of mental illness, the search for home, the virtues of villains and the flaws of heroes. Funny, witty, honest, and heartwrenching all at the same time. Loved it!

Hero's journey

I loved this book. Great road adventure meeting fabulous and terrible characters. Phoebe Strole is the perfect narrator for this story. I loved her sense of irony and characterization.
I thought Mr Arnold did a great job of creating a teen aged girl. The characters are complex and likable. Great listen and likely a great read too. So happy I found this book.

Not What I Expected...And Not In The Good Way.

What would have made Mosquitoland better?

Over all the book was "ok" but I just felt like there was not much to it as substance goes. I don't know that the events in the book warranted the writing of said book. There was nothing that interesting that happened. Though it waas odd and at times intriguing when I started it; the whole time I was continuing through I always had this feeling that I wanted more...and the "more" never came. All in all it was "ok" buy the end of it I just feel like it wasn't worth my time...as nothing that great happened.

What could David Arnold have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

As someone who lives in Newport, Ky and who's parent's live in Independence, Ky (I understand this is a work of fiction), there were just several really wrong things used by the author to describe the area. I just think it would have been nice to have actual knowledge of the area if your going to write about an real place! The landscape and places (again I get it's a work of fiction) we're just all wrong and didn't fit when you know all about the area that is being talked about. I was a bit sad that, though I was excited that the author was talking about the place I live, it just felt so vague that I feel the information was maybe found by looking on Google Maps and not actual first hand experience.

What does Phoebe Strole bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I get that the book is about a girl's journey of discovery and I think the narrator did a great job with what she had...but sometimes it was hard to follow the story with no fault of the narrotor. She did a great job. I actually started the story in book form and desided to by the audio book. I liked the different voices the used and all in all it was really good.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Mosquitoland?

There was quite a bit of bouncing around timelines with no warning and all the sudden you were just there with no idea where\when you were. This I feel could have easily been fixed by just a small message or transition point. The resounding issue I have is that at the end the main character Mim just dumps her meds out the window...as someone who takes meds for anxiety and depression...I feel like this is sending a wrong message to readers. The very fact that there are side effects from taking and not taking...it is sending a message that this is something you can do on a wim...that is a bit of a serious issue if someone who really needs meds juat stops taking them because they think they don't need them anymore. This is something that needs to be done under the supervision of a doctor and just because you think the sky is bluer that day and you think it's because your not taking your meds...that's a dangerous thing. I think this is just a touchy and dangerous message to be sending readers.

Any additional comments?

I get the book and the reason for it...I just have the feeling of wanting so much more from it.

Jack Kerouac, meet Mim

Any additional comments?

Mim is spunky, courageous, and on a road trip to burgeoning adulthood. the book has received much praise, and much criticism. I agree with all the praise, not so much the criticism.

*** spoiler alert - don't read further if you haven't read the book ****

A 16 year old could feel a love attraction with a 20 year old is possible, and not creepy - especially with how it is dealt with here. Exaggerating her Native-American blood? classicly funny from an adolescent point of view and she was not given the award so I deem that adeptly handled. Making snap judgements about names? Hilarious and oh so adolescent. All the politically correct objections would make the book proper, but not funny. I confess to being a bit dissatisfied with the details of the divorce, marriage, pregnancy and mental illness but then again, these items were there to flesh out Mim's story, not the point of her story. And, the projectile vomit scene is.... awesome.

Different but we'll worth the read

I love the narration.

I loved the story but, between kids and life, if I didn't fully listen I was lost between the present and past. I still really enjoyed this book.

Angst trope. annoying characters

struggled to listen to it. the story was so hard to trudge through. could have been a short story.

Rollercoaster

I swooned and loved and cried and laughed. Phenomenal. I will read this over and over

LOVED IT

I would definently recommend this to all so read it you losers :D :D :D

Fatal flaw

I really wanted to like this book, as someone who has dealt with the family effects of mental illness, but no less than 3 times the author was unnecessarily hateful towards fat people. It made it hard to connect to the narrator who is supposed to be this above the board, self aware teenager who finds the good in everyone, even the villains of the story.