Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Published by HarperTeen; March 9, 2010
Paperback, 422
Borrowed from library

At age eleven, Taylor Markham was abandoned by her mother. At age 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 changer her future.

- Description from Goodreads.com

Jellicoe Road. Possibly one of the best books I have read in my lifetime. 

Funny. Sweet. Heartwarming. Annoying. Frustrating. Confusing. Sad. Marvelous.

These are all words I would use to describe this book. 

This was an amazing book. It was amazingly written! I loved Melina; she's amazing at writing vibrant settings and crafting brilliant characters. The premise of this book is unlike anything I've ever read. It was a breath of fresh air. There was a little bit of everything: some mystery, humor, fantasy, romance, and adventure. 

Having said all that, I thought Jellicoe Road was very confusing. Melina puts a lot of detail in her story - too much that I simply cannot recall all of the facts. This closely relates to the fact that I was put off by the altering narrations: one by Taylor and the other one which is bits and pieces of Hannah's story. It's only until around three quarters into this book that we actually find out how the story relates to Taylor. It's also around this time when Taylor actually starts "piecing together" her past. So yes, the story starts very slow and is very confusing in the beginning. To be honest, I'm still a bit confused and I'm pretty sure I need to reread this book to do it justice.

Another thing that bugged me was Jonah and Taylor. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved them together but their falling in love seemed rather fast to me...I mean, considering the fact that they both have a lot of baggage from their past, it would have just occurred to me that their inevitable attraction would have been stretched over a longer amount of time? pages? so I could understand exactly how their relationship was formed. To me, it just seemed like "collarbone-touching and then BAM". 

However, it still is an amazing book. I will admit that this was a very ambitious story to write, what with the whole alternating narrations. Extensive planning must have gone into this book and I'm happy to say that it paid off. The end result is a book so wonderfully woven that you can ALMOST forget all your confusion. Almost. Worth reading but one word of advice: ride it out even when it gets super confusing. You won't regret it. :)