about the book
Mim has been living with her dad and stepmom in the “dried-up wastelands” of Mississippi—a place that would be better off called Mosquitoland as far as Mim is concerned—for a few months now. She was dragged here from her home in northern Ohio.
Still unhappy about her relocation, the sixteen-year-old has gotten into some trouble at school and is summoned to the office by the loudspeaker. As she walks towards the door, she pauses, overhearing a conversation between her dad and stepmom and the principal. The gist: Mim’s mom is sick with some unnamed disease, and Mim hasn’t been told because her dad doesn’t think the time is right.
Mim turns around, walks out of the school, and walks into the house she’d been living in—not her home. She makes the immediate decision to do something she’d been thinking about. She didn’t know when or how, but now she knows.
Determined to be with her mom in Cleveland, Ohio, Mim packs her bag, takes her stepmom’s savings out of her dresser, and catches a Greyhound bus heading north.
Aboard this bus, however, Mim finds herself meeting fellow travelers that she would have never been acquainted with otherwise. As the journey takes unexpected turns, Mim is forced to reexamine herself and her notions of love, loyalty, and sanity.
about the author
Author and song-writer David Arnold lives in Lexington, Kentucky with his wife and son. He’s worked as a freelance musician/producer, preschool teacher, barista, and stay-at-home dad. Although music was once David’s largest creative outlet, he says that has transitioned to writing, and while he still writes music, books are his focus.
He does, however, listen to music while writing—mostly instrumental soundtracks. Examples of artists to be found on David’s playlist include: Alexandre Desplat, Jon Brion, Yann Tiersen, Slowreader, Bon Iver, Nick Drake, M. Ward, and Elliot Smith. While working on a novel, the first aspect to come to David is his characters, then setting. Plot, he says, is the hardest.
As for writers, David’s favorites include J.D. Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut, Aaron Sorkin, and Elliot Smith. Other random favorites include pesto, the Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire, indie bookstores, GARP, and Christmastime.
Although currently living in Kentucky, David wrote his first novel, Mosquitoland, while living in Nashville, Tennessee. He says he wouldn’t have written it if it wasn’t for the pregnancy of his first child. Now David is finishing his second novel, Kids of Appetite.
Source:
Author website
Author interview: The Sweet Sixteens
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