Book Review: Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Title: Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Series: Stand-Alone
Finished on: January 14, 2012
Released: August 26th 2008 by HarperTeen
Source: Library E-book
Rating: 5/5

Summary from Goodreads:

Abandoned by her mother on Jellicoe Road when she was eleven, Taylor Markham 17, finally confronts her past. Hannah, the closest adult she has to family, disappears. Jonah Griggs, moody stares and all, is back in town. If Taylor can put together the pieces of her past, she might just be able to change her future.

For the first little bit of this book I didn't know what the hell was going on. Fortunately, I was aware of this from other reviews and decided to push on. I am so glad I did because Jellicoe Road has earned its spot as one of my favorite books ever. By the time things all began to clear up and click, I couldn't set this book down. I was up until 3am finishing it.  I really am shocked by how much I ended up loving this story.

Jellicoe Road alternates between two different storylines: the main one that includes our main character, Taylor, and her peers/friends and a secondary one where we see bits and pieces of a manuscript that Hannah is working on. I really enjoyed both, but honestly, I couldn't get enough of the manuscript. The characters in it really reached out and made me connect with them from the beginning. I didn't begin to connect with Taylor and co. until about half-way through. But when I did, I loved all of them very much, too.

As for Melina Marchetta's writing: absolutely beautiful. I can't wait to dive into more of her books! I can't believe how deeply this story touched me. It's one of those books that I'm going to have a hard time picking up another too soon, because I know it probably won't reach the level Jellicoe Road did. It's one of those books where I was so disappointed it was over because I really, really wanted more. I wasn't ready for these characters to be gone yet. Jellicoe Road is definitely one of those books that I will go back and re-read again, probably a few times.

This is a hard reviews to write, just because I don't want to give too much away, which is probably pretty easy to do. If you've been wanting to read this one for awhile and haven't yet, I urge you to clear your schedule for a day and just do it. The biggest thing I can say is this: if you're not super into it at first don't.give.up. Jellicoe Road is worth the finish.

“It's funny how you can forget everything except people loving you. Maybe that's why humans find it so hard getting over love affairs. It's not the pain they're getting over, it's the love.”