Jellicoe Road

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Published: August 28, 2006 by Penguin Australia

Taylor is the leader of the boarders at the Jellicoe School. She has to keep the upper hand in the territory wars and deal with Jonah Griggs - the enigmatic leader of the cadets, and someone she thought she would never see again.

And now Hannah, the person Taylor had come to rely on, has disappeared. Taylor's only clue is a manuscript about five kids who lived in Jellicoe eighteen years ago. She needs to find out more, but this means confronting her own story, making sense of her strange, recurring dream, and finding her mother - who abandoned her on the Jellicoe Road.

This book is simply amazing. I'm not sure I can even describe how much I loved it. It's raved about everywhere, and it is a book that deserves to be raved about. Sometimes when a book is talked about as much as this one, and everyone loves it, I just breeze by and think I'll get to it later and see what all the fuss is about - but this a book you should read as soon as you can. It's worth it.

• writing - The writing is beautiful. I felt like I was in a different world and I was just sucked into this book. I thought about it frequently when I wasn't reading it, and when I was it was like hours passed in the blink of an eye.
• the territory war - The war, besides being exciting a little nuts, serves as a great way to keep pitting the characters against each other, head to head, as they get to know each other while fighting a battle of tradition.
• Taylor - Taylor knows what's important to her and she's determined not to let anyone, least of all herself, get in her way - plus she's a great mix of bold, a little bit of anxiety, and a bit antisocial.
• Griggs - I don't know what it is about Griggs, but even on paper he's got a commanding presence. This love story is the perfect storm of sexual tension and sweetness, and I enjoyed every single second of it.
• resolution - What was confusing in the opening of the book is unraveled throughout the story, and comes back together to make complete sense.

• the beginning - I went into this book not knowing anything about it, just that everyone loves it. So this book's beginning had me extremely confused. First there was a section about a death and then it's about something completely different, which was some kind of confusing war game. 
• 'flashbacks' - I'll call them flashbacks for lack of a better term, but everything about Narnie and Webb and the other 3 was crazy confusing for me. I think it was meant to be that way, as that's how Taylor is getting this info, and once you understand why it was this way, you'll see it's genius. But I had so much trouble keeping things straight in my head. Who are these people? Who's related to who again? Who is dating who? Why are their names so strange?

• On the other side of the cell Jonah Griggs and Santangelo are too busy sizing each other up like two demented pit bulls who have to prove who's got the biggest...attitude.    I lean against the bars that separate us from the others. "So let me get this right," I say to one of the Townie girls. "All it takes is to insult someone's mother?"   "No," she explains. "That's the beauty of it. They don't actually have to insult. The words Your mother are enough."             -  pg. 93   Taylor + a Townie    
• I'm on the verge of tears, like I always seem to be these days, and I hear the catch in my voice and I hate myself for it. He throws me off him and I can tell there is a fury in him.     "Never," he tells me in a tone full of ice, "underestimate who or what I care for."            - pg. 202   Taylor + Griggs

5 robots

A beautifully written book that will grab your attention and keep it. Read it!

Acquired: swapped for on swap.com