Review "On Jellicoe Road"

“Jellicoe Road”

by Melina Marchetta

My Rating:

Pub. Date: August 28, 2008

Pages: 432

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Source: Library

Edition: Hardcover

Short and Sweet Synopsis (Sorta...): Taylor's guardian, Hannah, has disappeared leaving Taylor to mentor a dorm full of students.  To make matters worse, the territory wars between her school, the Townies, and the Cadets has begun; Taylor is now responsible for keeping the students in her school and their territory safe from the Townies and Cadets. Can she handle these responsibilities, the loss of Hannah, and revelations about her mysterious past?

"Jellicoe Road" is a wonderful book; great writing, memorable characters, and heart wrenching stories weave together to create this beautiful book.  The more I think about "Jellicoe Road" the more I adore it.  I love how the different stories of the characters meld together by the end of the book.  While Taylor is the main character, I felt the other major character were just as important in the story.  I fell in love with the characters in Hannah's story, even if I was confused with the shifting between Hannah's story to Taylor's story.

"Jellicoe Road" is hard to review because part of my love for this book was the unfolding of all the mysteries.  I had to know about the characters in Hannah's story AND what happened to Taylor's mother.  Usually these dual plots would drive me a bit bonkers, but Melina Marchetta pulled it off brilliantly.  I have to admit I was as confused as heck at the beginning of the book (it took me forever to distinguish between the character), but by the end I really loved the story.

In short, "Jellicoe Road"is a fantastic book that deserves more than 4 stars, but I had such a problem figuring out the characters at the beginning that I couldn't give it 5 stars.  I think many readers will fall in love with it because it is a truly beautiful story.