Review: JELLICOE ROAD by Melina Marchetta

Title: Jellicoe Road

Author: Melina Marchetta

Standalone
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication Date: March 9, 2010
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At age eleven, Taylor Markham was abandoned by her mother. At fourteen, she ran away from boarding school, only to be tracked down and brought back by a mysterious stranger. Now seventeen, Taylor's the reluctant leader of her school's underground community, whose annual territory war with the Townies and visiting Cadets has just begun. This year, though, the Cadets are led by Jonah Griggs, and Taylor can't avoid his intense gaze for long. To make matters worse, Hannah, the one adult Taylor trusts, has disappeared. But if Taylor can piece together the clues Hannah left behind, the truth she uncovers might not just settle her past, but also change her future.

 

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"Some people say their prayers at night. I don't. What I say is always the same.

My name is Taylor Markham. I live on the Jellicoe Road."

I can honestly say I did not expect such an intricate and beautifully written story. I have book pals who've raved about this author and this book. Of course they recommended it to me and in typical reader fashion, I put it on the back burner with my Mt. TBR *smh*. I finally see why this book is often referenced and brought up again and again on my book feeds. There is a reason Jellicoe Road won an award, people!!

Jellicoe Road tells the story about our heroine, Taylor Markham and essentially the significance of the book's title. [Side note: do you ever get happy chills when you come to understand why the title is what it is?? No? Just me?] I was SO confused as to what was going on in the first couple of chapters. Once I hit chapter 16, my brain was on fire and it was non-stop MUST read each night! I continually spammed my friend Lisa at Romances Ever After with theories and all caps. I should really start keeping my chat receipts to show you my distress, theories and excitement while reading. There were a lot of emotions being thrown around in there. Anywho, back to the review~ 

There are a number of characters introduced that I found difficult to wrap my head around who was who all the time. The story weaves together the past and the present. The kicker was, the past was not Taylor's but of a different group of kids. I must admit that there came a point where I wrote down names and connection/relationship lines. The most obvious of these was the one between Taylor and Jonah Griggs. Jonah kind of grows on you. At least he did for me. At first, I just kept thinking "this guy is mean!", "whatchu doing Tay?", "the Ben guy is much nerdier and cuter, go for Ben!". Then Jonah starts dropping these smooth lines, being a caring individual and suddenly I'm a sucker for him. I came to care for many of the secondary characters as well: i.e. Santangelo. This precious pushover *sigh*. I wouldn't have mind learning more about him or even getting his own book because I felt vibes between him and another character! Also one for Hannah and the other person too please. Their backstory and history together hurt my heart so much.

I think my favorite part of reading Jellicoe Road was trying to make connections to figure out what was happening. I was on detective mode, trying to solve the "mystery" of the story. There were some aspects that I was able to figure out with major determination and investigative skills. Other parts were very unexpected. My mind was blown on countless occasions!  I highly recommend this book to all readers. I am officially a fan and happily riding this Marchetta train.