Abstract of the story
Allie Fox is a genius inventor who lives with his family, mother and 4 children, Charlie, April, Clover and Jerry, in a small house in Hatfield. He works there for a farmer (Polski) who uses ‘savages’ to work for him. His son Charlie follows him in everything and helps him with his work. The children are being tutored at home because their father thinks they will learn more necessary things at home than at school.
Father has a lot of criticism on the American society, he thinks there will soon be a destructing war in America, and they’ll kill him first because “they always get the smart ones first”. For that reason father decides that the whole family will move to the forests of Honduras, to start a new civilisation.
After buying some necessary camping-material, they leave with a boat, the Unicorn. The kids still have no idea what they are going to do. On the boat they meet the Spellgood family, missionaries. One daughter of the family, Emily, falls in love with Charlie.
Then they arrive in La Ceiba where he buys a little town called Jeronimo. They are going with the boat of a native, mister Haddy. Father is very happy with Jeronimo and they’re starting a new village there, with the people who already lived there, the family Maywit and some Zambus.
After building the essential constructions (houses, bathroom etc.), father decides to build an ice-making machine, “Fat Boy”. He starts trading ice for work and raw material with the inhabitants of the nearby villages. One day, he decides to visit the poorest hamlet and demonstrate them the utility of ice. Father, Charlie and the Zambus leave with a sled filled with ice, but the travel is longer than it seemed and all the ice melts before they reach the village. However, they do visit the village without the ice. They don’t get a nice welcome, the Indians of the village order them to leave but father insists on getting food. This food is brought by three white men, who seem to be slaves of the Indians (they appear to be the masters instead of the slaves later). Father feels sorry for them and he decides to rescue them soon.
A few days later, these men come to visit Jeronimo with guns, and they want to stay there for a while. Father is afraid of them, and wants them to leave, so he tries to scare them with stories about ‘white ants’ and a shortage on water. This doesn’t seem to work out and father locks them up in ‘Fat Boy’, which is filled with dangerous chemicals. The three men try to get out and shoot inside the machine, the bullet pierces a pipe and sets fire to Jeronimo. Because of the extreme heat and poisonous fumes, the family flees to ‘The Acre’, a small secret camp the children made for themselves, to escape from the daily worries.
After this event father changes his opinion about the ideal civilisation, people shouldn’t depend on machines but only on nature. The family moves to the river and they try to build a village there, this isn’t very successful and during the rain-period, it floods. Fortunately, their house floats, and father found an outboard motor and a barrel of gas. On their way upstream (father thinks only losers go downstream) they lose their propeller and father dives in the water to get it. It takes a very long time before he pops up and the children think he’s dead, and they want to go back to America. Then father suddenly climbs aboard and punishes Charlie and Jerry and tells them America is completely wiped out. This incident drastically changes the ambiance on the boat, Jerry hates his dad more and more.
After travelling a few more days, they reach the village where the Spellgoods went. They anchor there and father goes ashore. The rest of the family doesn’t know what father is doing and Charlie and Jerry sneak out to the house of the Spellgoods. They ask Emily if America is really destroyed, and Emily tells them it isn’t. They invent a plan to escape from father, Emily will lend them their jeep, so they could drive away from father. When Charlie and Jerry go back, Charlie kisses Emily.
When the children climb aboard they see that there is a fire on the land, and soon father comes back too. Charlie and Jerry tell him that America is still there, and after a fight they tie him up. Jerry wants to kill him, but Charlie stops this. Then they hear people seeking for the one who set fire to their generator. The family escapes for the boat but father is still tied up and he gets a bullet in his neck. Charlie comes back to get father, but he can’t move anymore. They roll him in the boat and get away with the jeep.
They drive to a nearby village and get on another boat there to go to the coast. When they get there, it seems to be the worst decision they could have made, because they couldn’t find help for father. When Jerry suddenly sees a ship coming, mother is away to get a doctor and Charlie has to leave father alone. When they come back, Charlie sees father lying on a sand dune, where he is being attacked by the birds he really hates: vultures. Charlie tries to save him by scaring the birds, but he was already dead. After the funeral the family goes back to La Ceiba, on their way home.
Structure
The book has 420 pages and is divided in five parts with names, each divided in other parts with a number.
The events are told in chronological order and cover about one and a half year.
Setting
The events happened somewhere between 1980 and 1990. In the beginning the story takes place in Hatfield, America, later it moves to the jungle of Honduras in South-America.
Ending
The book has a closed, but surprising ending. I did not expect father to die, but to change his plans and go back to America. It’s closed because the family goes home, back to Hatfield.
Theme
The main theme is the relationship between father and son. At first, it seems very good. But because of certain circumstances it becomes worse and worse. When father dies in the end of the book, Charlie doesn’t cry, this demonstrates the bad relationship.
Characters
Charlie Fox:
This 13-year-old boy is the central figure of the book, the story is told from his perspective. He is very loyal to his father and never doubts his words, he hardly believes Emily when she says that America isn’t destroyed. Sometimes he’s scared of him, more in the end of the book than in the beginning. Charlie is a round character; he changes his opinion about father and the rest of his family.
Allie Fox:
Allie is the father of Charlie. He is a genius inventor, who has much criticism on the American society. He’s also a bit paranoid, because he thinks there will soon be a war and ‘they’ will get him first, he is very often speaking about this. For that reason, he leaves to Honduras to build up a new civilisation. He is very self-willed and he always wants to be right. Allie is a round character; he changes his mind about the ideal civilisation after the incident with ‘Fat boy’. Further in the book he also gets meaner and meaner against his children.
Mother Fox:
The real name of Charlie’s mother isn’t told in this book. She is very loyal to father and considers everything he says and thinks right. When father is away and the children speak about him, she defends him. Mother is a flat character; the writer doesn’t tell much about her and she doesn’t really change.
Jerry Fox:
This is a brother of Charlie, and the only one of the family he really deals with. Jerry doesn’t like his father; in the end he even hates him and calls him ‘farter’. Jerry is a flat character; you don’t know much about him and he doesn’t change very much.
April and Clover Fox:
The two twin sisters of Charlie. They are very small and dependent on their father and mother. The girls are flat characters.
Narrative perspective
The story is told in first person perspective, from the eyes of Charlie Fox. This influences the story very much, because you only know what Charlie knows, and you only know his opinion about people. You think negative about the people and events he does.
Title
The title is Mosquito coast because father calls the coast of Honduras where they arrive like that.
Personal opinion
I think it’s a nice book, but it’s too long. After reading a while it starts to get boring, it isn’t a book you read out in one day. A lot happens in the 420 pages, and most of it is of minor importance. The speeches of father are nice to read, because you know more and more about him and his way of thinking. Reading this book was good for my English, I learned a lot of new words out of the context. In brief: I liked reading this book, but I wouldn’t advise people with very few patience to read it.
Allie Fox is a genius inventor who lives with his family, mother and 4 children, Charlie, April, Clover and Jerry, in a small house in Hatfield. He works there for a farmer (Polski) who uses ‘savages’ to work for him. His son Charlie follows him in everything and helps him with his work. The children are being tutored at home because their father thinks they will learn more necessary things at home than at school.
Father has a lot of criticism on the American society, he thinks there will soon be a destructing war in America, and they’ll kill him first because “they always get the smart ones first”. For that reason father decides that the whole family will move to the forests of Honduras, to start a new civilisation.
Then they arrive in La Ceiba where he buys a little town called Jeronimo. They are going with the boat of a native, mister Haddy. Father is very happy with Jeronimo and they’re starting a new village there, with the people who already lived there, the family Maywit and some Zambus.
After building the essential constructions (houses, bathroom etc.), father decides to build an ice-making machine, “Fat Boy”. He starts trading ice for work and raw material with the inhabitants of the nearby villages. One day, he decides to visit the poorest hamlet and demonstrate them the utility of ice. Father, Charlie and the Zambus leave with a sled filled with ice, but the travel is longer than it seemed and all the ice melts before they reach the village. However, they do visit the village without the ice. They don’t get a nice welcome, the Indians of the village order them to leave but father insists on getting food. This food is brought by three white men, who seem to be slaves of the Indians (they appear to be the masters instead of the slaves later). Father feels sorry for them and he decides to rescue them soon.
A few days later, these men come to visit Jeronimo with guns, and they want to stay there for a while. Father is afraid of them, and wants them to leave, so he tries to scare them with stories about ‘white ants’ and a shortage on water. This doesn’t seem to work out and father locks them up in ‘Fat Boy’, which is filled with dangerous chemicals. The three men try to get out and shoot inside the machine, the bullet pierces a pipe and sets fire to Jeronimo. Because of the extreme heat and poisonous fumes, the family flees to ‘The Acre’, a small secret camp the children made for themselves, to escape from the daily worries.
After this event father changes his opinion about the ideal civilisation, people shouldn’t depend on machines but only on nature. The family moves to the river and they try to build a village there, this isn’t very successful and during the rain-period, it floods. Fortunately, their house floats, and father found an outboard motor and a barrel of gas. On their way upstream (father thinks only losers go downstream) they lose their propeller and father dives in the water to get it. It takes a very long time before he pops up and the children think he’s dead, and they want to go back to America. Then father suddenly climbs aboard and punishes Charlie and Jerry and tells them America is completely wiped out. This incident drastically changes the ambiance on the boat, Jerry hates his dad more and more.
After travelling a few more days, they reach the village where the Spellgoods went. They anchor there and father goes ashore. The rest of the family doesn’t know what father is doing and Charlie and Jerry sneak out to the house of the Spellgoods. They ask Emily if America is really destroyed, and Emily tells them it isn’t. They invent a plan to escape from father, Emily will lend them their jeep, so they could drive away from father. When Charlie and Jerry go back, Charlie kisses Emily.
When the children climb aboard they see that there is a fire on the land, and soon father comes back too. Charlie and Jerry tell him that America is still there, and after a fight they tie him up. Jerry wants to kill him, but Charlie stops this. Then they hear people seeking for the one who set fire to their generator. The family escapes for the boat but father is still tied up and he gets a bullet in his neck. Charlie comes back to get father, but he can’t move anymore. They roll him in the boat and get away with the jeep.
They drive to a nearby village and get on another boat there to go to the coast. When they get there, it seems to be the worst decision they could have made, because they couldn’t find help for father. When Jerry suddenly sees a ship coming, mother is away to get a doctor and Charlie has to leave father alone. When they come back, Charlie sees father lying on a sand dune, where he is being attacked by the birds he really hates: vultures. Charlie tries to save him by scaring the birds, but he was already dead. After the funeral the family goes back to La Ceiba, on their way home.
Structure
The book has 420 pages and is divided in five parts with names, each divided in other parts with a number.
Setting
The events happened somewhere between 1980 and 1990. In the beginning the story takes place in Hatfield, America, later it moves to the jungle of Honduras in South-America.
Ending
The book has a closed, but surprising ending. I did not expect father to die, but to change his plans and go back to America. It’s closed because the family goes home, back to Hatfield.
Theme
The main theme is the relationship between father and son. At first, it seems very good. But because of certain circumstances it becomes worse and worse. When father dies in the end of the book, Charlie doesn’t cry, this demonstrates the bad relationship.
Characters
Charlie Fox:
This 13-year-old boy is the central figure of the book, the story is told from his perspective. He is very loyal to his father and never doubts his words, he hardly believes Emily when she says that America isn’t destroyed. Sometimes he’s scared of him, more in the end of the book than in the beginning. Charlie is a round character; he changes his opinion about father and the rest of his family.
Allie Fox:
Mother Fox:
The real name of Charlie’s mother isn’t told in this book. She is very loyal to father and considers everything he says and thinks right. When father is away and the children speak about him, she defends him. Mother is a flat character; the writer doesn’t tell much about her and she doesn’t really change.
Jerry Fox:
This is a brother of Charlie, and the only one of the family he really deals with. Jerry doesn’t like his father; in the end he even hates him and calls him ‘farter’. Jerry is a flat character; you don’t know much about him and he doesn’t change very much.
April and Clover Fox:
The two twin sisters of Charlie. They are very small and dependent on their father and mother. The girls are flat characters.
Narrative perspective
The story is told in first person perspective, from the eyes of Charlie Fox. This influences the story very much, because you only know what Charlie knows, and you only know his opinion about people. You think negative about the people and events he does.
Title
The title is Mosquito coast because father calls the coast of Honduras where they arrive like that.
Personal opinion
I think it’s a nice book, but it’s too long. After reading a while it starts to get boring, it isn’t a book you read out in one day. A lot happens in the 420 pages, and most of it is of minor importance. The speeches of father are nice to read, because you know more and more about him and his way of thinking. Reading this book was good for my English, I learned a lot of new words out of the context. In brief: I liked reading this book, but I wouldn’t advise people with very few patience to read it.
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