Cincinnati: Home Sweet Home

Mosquitoland is a book about a girl.  A girl named Mim who is on a journey.  A real traveling journey, but also an emotional one.  Mim picks up her life living with her dad and step mom and sets off to Cleveland, where she's learned her mom is sick.  Mim travels via bus (several busses), meets some friends, and grows as a person.  One of my favorite lines from the whole book (so far) was when she and her two friends reach Cincinnati.  Here's the part from the book:

"Walt looks up and points through the windshield.  The entire city of Cincinnati is spread before us in breathtaking panorama.  I take in this new clearness of the day with my good eye, in absolute awe of the sudden and wonderful metamorphosis.  It's a landscape worthy of documentation" (Arnold 194).

I mean, I've lived in Cincinnati for 34 years and I love it.  But I would never describe it so majestically as Arnold did.  But really, if you haven't been to downtown Cincinnati recently, it's pretty amazing.  Here are a few pics from the Smale Riverfront Park a few weeks ago with my kids.  It's spectacular.

The Banks by the Reds stadium.  Another win.  We really do have a cool city, and I love how Arnold described it as a metamporphosis.  Because it wasn't always so nice.  It realy has developed.  Changed.  Grew.

Right now, I'm 60% through the book and Mim and her friends are catching a Reds game.  (They even bought their tickets from a scalper).  I'm curious about a few things in this book.  Here are my questions:

• Will Mim make it to Cleveland to see her mom?
• Will her mom still be alive?
• Will her friends that she's met along the way stay in her life?
• If David Arnold described Cincinnati so majestically, how will he describe Cleveland?

Hopefully I'll have some answers in my next post!  So far, this is a good YA book. It's also one that I think would appeal to both male and female readers.  Happy reading!