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A review by mimimilaa
Mosquitoland by David Arnold
1.0
Honestly, I wasn't particularly enjoying this book the entire time that I was reading it. Nothing captivated me; I was not invested in the characters or the plot. Because of this, I was basically forcing myself to finish this book because I hate not finishing books. There were occasionally some things that the main character did/said that I had some problems with. This began with "Poncho Man" and just continued on throughout the story.
However, once I got to page 256, I absolutely could not finish. Continue reading at your own risk, because I am about to explain my issues with a specific scene in the book.
When Walt (who I believe has Down Syndrome. It's not explicitly stated, but Mim relates him to a boy she knew named Ricky that had Down Sydrome.) has a bad reaction to MSG from the Chinese restaurant, I do not think it is realistic at all for all of the emergency rooms/hospitals/clinics to be closed for labor day weekend. Even in a small town; I am from a small town and that is not something that happens. Therefore, they take Walt to an veterinary clinic. This, I was a bit apprehensive about, but I kept reading, hoping that things would look up and get better.
BUT THEN, after they are back in the car and Walt is sleeping, Beck and Mim have a conversation that I have a HUGE problem with. Directly quoting:
Beck smiles down at him(Walt). "We totally just took Walt to the vet."
"Yeaaaah, to be fair, he is kind of our pet, though."
I'm sorry, NO. In my opinion, this is so harmful and not okay at all. After reading that, I couldn't force myself to continue anymore. Since I read 256 pages in this book, I am counting it as read and giving it a one star. Not only because of that conversation between Beck and Mim, but I also just didn't care at all about the story. I expected more and this just overall let me down.
However, once I got to page 256, I absolutely could not finish. Continue reading at your own risk, because I am about to explain my issues with a specific scene in the book.
When Walt (who I believe has Down Syndrome. It's not explicitly stated, but Mim relates him to a boy she knew named Ricky that had Down Sydrome.) has a bad reaction to MSG from the Chinese restaurant, I do not think it is realistic at all for all of the emergency rooms/hospitals/clinics to be closed for labor day weekend. Even in a small town; I am from a small town and that is not something that happens. Therefore, they take Walt to an veterinary clinic. This, I was a bit apprehensive about, but I kept reading, hoping that things would look up and get better.
BUT THEN, after they are back in the car and Walt is sleeping, Beck and Mim have a conversation that I have a HUGE problem with. Directly quoting:
Beck smiles down at him(Walt). "We totally just took Walt to the vet."
"Yeaaaah, to be fair, he is kind of our pet, though."
I'm sorry, NO. In my opinion, this is so harmful and not okay at all. After reading that, I couldn't force myself to continue anymore. Since I read 256 pages in this book, I am counting it as read and giving it a one star. Not only because of that conversation between Beck and Mim, but I also just didn't care at all about the story. I expected more and this just overall let me down.