Mosquito

by Gayl Jones

Book Overview

"Bury those easy-to-read Black romance books. Mosquito is where African-American literature is heading as we approach the twenty-first century." -E. Ethelbert Miller, Emerge "If you're acquainted with the lyrical tug of Alice Walker's The Color Purple, then you'll find something familiar and compelling about the narrative voice in Gayl Jones's newest novel, Mosquito. . . . Mosquito's voice is melodic, direct, and so conversational that it hooks us...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080708347X
• ISBN13: 9780807083475
• Release Date: February 2000
• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Length: 624 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Everyone should read this book

I don't understand the reviews which describe Mosquito's style as digressive because I found it incredibly focused. On one level it's a mosaic of ideas that could roughly be called "multiculturalist" or even "politically correct," though this is not at all to pigeonhole the book. As a white male reader I found it disorienting the way Mosquito specifies and then marginalizes the dominant culture: here the white man never speaks in his own voice and when he does appear it is as a stereotype--racist cop or immigration official. Almost as if Jones is trying to perform the kind of "othering" operation that the dominant culture has been practicing on women and people of color...on another level of course Jones deploys all the metanarrative props some of us crave but here they're put in service to her central themes of identity, mistaken identity, borders and border crossings...I could go on, just read this book!

a remarkable adventure for those who love a winding tale

being from south texas, i did not find the dialect as improbable as other reviewers--in fact, i was impressed with jones's ability to absorb the abundant vernacular of the region. i found this book to be compelling and challenging without losing any of its appeal from its many digressions. i would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in race relations, the ethics of immigration, or anyone looking for a good story set in an unlikely region.

A Joycean romp through black Southwest in a truck

Forgetting your environment, shutting out all of the "noise" in your head and floating along with Nadine in her rig is the only way to follow this iconoclastic, stereotype buster in a digressionary stream of consciousness that is erudite and banal at the same time. Some unevenness in jargon is annoying, but the wit and scope of the author is impressive and very entertaining. Not as poignant as THE HEALING and it takes more persistence (because of it's length) to keep on task with Nadine, but richer and at times very funny.