Mosquitoland - David Arnold

[goodreads]

Title: Mosquitoland
Author: David Arnold
Genre: YA
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 345
Date read: October, 2018

When her parents unexpectedly divorce, Mim Malone is dragged from her beloved home in Ohio to the 'wastelands' of Mississippi, where she lives in a haze of medication with her dad and new (almost certainly evil) stepmom.

But when Mim learns her real mother is ill back home, she escapes her new life and embarks on a rescue mission aboard a Greyhound bus, meeting an assortment of quirky characters along the way. And 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.


I liked it, but didn't love it. I enjoyed the writing style and really liked the friendship Mim struck up with Walt and Beck, but taken as a whole, the book was far too depressing for me to fall in love with it. At one point I thought the book took a crazy, twisted turn (you'll know if it you've read it) and was ready to toss it across the room, but unfortunately that turned out not to be the case. The ending was better than I had expected, and I'm glad Mim realized that Kathy wasn't all bad... but I still wish it hadn't been quite that open.