Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (YA Book Review)



Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Genre: 
Young Adult Contemporary
My Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Synopsis:
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.
My Thoughts:
Taylor Markham’s mother dropped her off at a 7-11 on Jellicoe Road when she was eleven years old and left her there. Taylor’s life is a series of vague tragedies and horrors so it’s no wonder that she won’t let anyone get close to her. Not even Hannah, who found her when she was 11 and gave her a place to live as well as the story of 5 kids that sticks with her and has so much resonance with her own life.

I’m really glad I stuck with this. The first 100+/- pages were a bit confusing since the author just throws you into the middle of a story but once you get more clues this book becomes so intensely amazing. I’m not even entirely sure what it is about this book that I love so much other than that this is a story about someone with a REALLY messed up life. I don’t really read much contemporary fiction anymore. The ‘Territory Wars’ have some interesting importance in this plot but there is just so much more to this story that the ‘Territory Wars’ eventually become a vague memory and the ‘story’ of the 5 kids and Taylor’s search -for her mother and for herself- become the main focus. There is so much emotional trauma involved and the author does a brilliant job of bringing that out on paper. I found myself to be really wrapped up in these characters. Also, after all the hype over paranormal, supernatural, and dystopian fiction in the past half decade, Jellicoe Road was surprisingly refreshing.
[Read from April 11th - April 13th]



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