Mosquito

By Gayl Jones

Book Overview

From the highly acclaimed author of Corregidora and The Healing--a rare and unforgettable journey set along the US-Mexico border about identity, immigration, and "the new underground railroad."

"Jones's great achievement is to reckon with both history and interiority, and to collapse the boundary between them."--Anna Wiener, The New Yorker

First discovered and edited by Toni Morrison, Gayl Jones has been described as one of the great literary writers of the 20th century. In Mosquito, she examines the US-Mexico border crisis through the eyes of Sojourner Nadine Jane Johnson, an African American truck driver known as Mosquito. Her journey beings after discovering a stowaway who nearly gives birth in the back of her truck, sparking her accidental and yet growing involvement in "the new underground railroad," a sanctuary movement for Mexican immigrants.

As Mosquito's understanding of the immigrants's need to forge new lives and identities deepens, so too does Mosquito's romance with Ray, a gentle revolutionary, philosopher, and, perhaps, a priest. Along the road, Mosquito introduces us to Delgadina, a Chicana bartender who fries cactus, writes haunting stories, and studies to become a detective; Monkey Bread, a childhood pal who is, improbably, assistant to a blonde star in Hollywood; Maria, the stowaway who names her baby Journal, a misspelled tribute to her unwitting benefactor Sojourner; and many more.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807006629
• ISBN13: 9780807006627
• Release Date: March 2022
• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Length: 624 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.9" x 5.5" x 8.4"

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.