Welcome to Avery Reviews! My 14 year old (almost 15!) daughter shares her thoughts on her latest read:
Publication Date: March 03, 2015
Source: Viking Press
Publisher’s Description:
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.
Holy crap. How do I review Mosquitoland without spewing out a jumble of words and emotions that make no sense? Well, I’m about to make an attempt.
First of all, I think it’s important that I mention that I greatly related to this story. Or more specifically, to the main character. (Which might make me biased in my love for this book) There’s nothing quite like reading a story and feeling like you could insert yourself right into that character’s place, in some way or another. You get that character, and that character gets you. That just goes to show how well written Mosquitoland is.
This book was heartwarming, heartbreaking, and a million things in between. Clever, funny, sad, quirky, thought provoking…I could go on, but I won’t. Bottom line, it was incredible. There were times while I was reading (numerous times!) that I actually stopped, took my phone out, and took a picture of a page just to capture a specific line or quote. That may have been my favorite thing about this book. There were so many good one-liners. And it didn’t feel like it was trying too hard.
I don’t cry when reading books, watching movies, listening to songs. Nothing. But if anything were to make me come close, it was this book. I’m not sure there’s much else I could write to do this book justice. Ask me to pick my favorite moment in the book? Impossible. Ask me to pick a favorite moment per chapter? Doable.
Lucky for all of you, this book went on sale as of March 3rd! I highly recommend you go out and buy it immediately.
The Relentless Reader 