Once, in a Town Called Moth

by Kent Trilby

Ana is not your typical teenager. She grew up in a tiny Mennonite colony in Bolivia, and her mother fled the colony when Ana was a young girl. Now Ana and her father have also fled, and Ana doesn't know why. She only knows that something was amiss in their tight-knit community. Arriving in Toronto, Ana has to fend for herself in this alien environment, completely isolated in a big city with no help and no idea where to even begin. But begin she does: she makes a friend, then two. She goes to school and tries to understand the myriad unspoken codes and rules. She is befriended by a teacher. She goes to the library, the mall, parties. And all the while, she searches for the mother who left so long ago, and tries to understand her father -- also a stranger in a strange land, with secrets of his own.
This is a beautifully told story that will resonate with readers who have struggled with being new and unsure in a strange place, even if that place is in a classroom full of people they know. Ana's story is unique but universal; strange but familiar; extraordinary but ordinary: a fish out of water tale that speaks to us all.

• ISBN10: 110191811X
• ISBN13: 9781101918111
• Publish Date: 6 September 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: CA
• Imprint: Tundra Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 224
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781101918111

Reviews

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
Once in a Town Called Moth grabbed my attention right away with a Mennonite colony in Bolivia, which is one of the main reasons I was super excited to read it. Thing is, there isn't a ton of the Mennonite stuff involved. It's told through flashbacks, which are still quite interesting, although removed from the situation they become less intense. But I still enjoyed that aspect of the book, plus I loved that the Mennonite setting was in Bolivia, because that is not something I get to read about every day! Let's break this book down, shall we?

The Characters: Ana was an okay character, and while I felt for her, I never really connected to her. She was also quite young, which could be one of the reasons that I didn't connect, but I think it was more that she was quite closed off in general. She made some awesome friends though, so that was fun. Her parents were the hottest messes ever though, and I could not empathize with them very much. Like, you need to put your kids first, people. They had a lot of drama and secrets but they needed to get their act together and realize that "oh hey, remember the impressionable child we created, then forced to grow up in backwoods Bolivia and now threw into downtown Toronto?"

The Plot: I did like how it went back and forth between the present and flashbacks to Bolivia. And while I suppose the Mennonite colony isn't technically a cult, there were most certainly some shady activities going on. Like, almost all of the activities would throw up red flags for any one of us reading book reviews on the internet, basically. That part was definitely fascinating. I also liked watching Ana acclimate to life in a city, though sometimes she did so almost too seamlessly to be believable.

The plotline involving Ana's parents felt a bit rushed at the end, but I didn't care a ton about it to begin with, so I guess I wasn't as annoyed with that. There was also (and I am marking this as a spoiler even though it's hinted at in the synopsis) some weird... stuff with a teacher that I don't understand in the context of the story. Like, it just didn't seem necessary, though I suppose it could have been a parallel to the creepiness of the older men in the Mennonite community preying on young girls? And how it still happens in "regular" society? I don't know, it just felt... out of place to me.

Bottom Line: It was a decent read and I was curious to know what happened, but not connecting much to Ana made things a little harder to connect to. Definitely huge points for the research into the Mennonite stuff though, it was really well done!

*Copy provided by publisher for review