Title: Jellicoe Road
Author: Melina Marchetta
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: June 5th, 2012
My Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Release Date: June 5th, 2012
My Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
"What do you want from me?" he asks. What I want from every person in my life, I want to tell him. More.
Abandoned by her mother on Jellicoe Road when she was eleven, Taylor Markham, now seventeen, is finally being confronted with her past. But as the reluctant leader of her boarding school dorm, there isn't a lot of time for introspection. And while Hannah, the closest adult Taylor has to family, has disappeared, Jonah Griggs is back in town, moody stares and all.
In this absorbing story by Melina Marchetta, nothing is as it seems and every clue leads to more questions as Taylor tries to work out the connection between her mother dumping her, Hannah finding her then and her sudden departure now, a mysterious stranger who once whispered something in her ear, a boy in her dreams, five kids who lived on Jellicoe Road eighteen years ago, and the maddening and magnetic Jonah Griggs, who knows her better than she thinks he does. If Taylor can put together the pieces of her past, she might just be able to change her future.
Abandoned by her mother on Jellicoe Road when she was eleven, Taylor Markham, now seventeen, is finally being confronted with her past. But as the reluctant leader of her boarding school dorm, there isn't a lot of time for introspection. And while Hannah, the closest adult Taylor has to family, has disappeared, Jonah Griggs is back in town, moody stares and all.
In this absorbing story by Melina Marchetta, nothing is as it seems and every clue leads to more questions as Taylor tries to work out the connection between her mother dumping her, Hannah finding her then and her sudden departure now, a mysterious stranger who once whispered something in her ear, a boy in her dreams, five kids who lived on Jellicoe Road eighteen years ago, and the maddening and magnetic Jonah Griggs, who knows her better than she thinks he does. If Taylor can put together the pieces of her past, she might just be able to change her future.
My Review:
There is a reason that this book got a Michael L. Printz award, and that they aren't just handed out to any book that happens to claim it's a good example of excellence in young adult books. Melina Marchetta deserves every bit of this award, and as much as I was leery and on the fence about this book, by the end of the book I was so enthralled and pulled into the characters and the twisting plot that the book never left my hands late at night.
Like I said though, when I started this book I wasn't sure why I was reading this book.I was so confused on the characters and what exactly Hannah was doing with the story that as clung to the side of Taylor's life and story. There was so much confusion and how the two stories combined together seemed to completely be lost to me. I was lost and confused, but that drove me on to try to understand just what was going on with the story.
I am glad I stuck it out, because the story was immense and had a depth unlike anything I've ever read before. I was so enthralled and surprised with how well Taylor and Jonah seemed to collide together, and the group along Taylor and their friendship became so much a part of who she was and really envious. As well, their involvement with how well Taylor tells the story and what she's after.
The major of this book that I enjoyed the most was how well Hannah's story brought two completely timelines, friendships, and completely differing characters and involvements together and molded them into what Taylor was supposed to find. It was a good twisting series that sometimes I wished would have unfolded sooner; not that it wasn't done good, just seemed to drag on for a long time. The alternate story gave a way to add a depth to Taylor's character, and a past she didn't even understand or know about until near the end of the book.
Taylor's end goal of finding her mother and trying to understand why she left her, didn't get buried in all the other involvements and life situations. There was a good balance between that goal and how well her life revolves around the boarding school. I was enthralled with how the mother and the journey brought into full few and the world seemed to complete itself with her involvement and then the completion of the story.
The tale was just too good to spoil and I've already said a bit much, so read it. There isn't many books that I feel deserve this award and make me want to create a higher rank just so this book can sit there alone. Melina Marcheta created a beast here, and I really can't wait to get into some of her other books. I loved the book and hope the rest are just this good!
