Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Title: Jellicoe Road
Author: Melina Marchetta
Publisher: Harperteen
Reading Level: Young Adult, 15+
Publication Date: August 26, 2009
Pages: 419
My Edition: Hardcover, signed, US edition
Amazon Page

Rating: A *New favorite*
Plot - 18/20
Characters - 19/20
Writing - 20/20
Originality - 19/20
Entertainment - 9/10
Recommendation - 10/10
Total: 95/100

Summary:
"What do you want from me?" he asks. What I want from every person in my life, I want to tell him. More.

Abandoned by her mother on Jellicoe Road when she was eleven, Taylor Markham, now seventeen, is finally being confronted with her past. But as the reluctant leader of her boarding school dorm, there isn't a lot of time for introspection. And while Hannah, the closest adult Taylor has to family, has disappeared, Jonah Griggs is back in town, moody stares and all.

In this absorbing story by Melina Marchetta, nothing is as it seems and every clue leads to more questions as Taylor tries to work out the connection between her mother dumping her, Hannah finding her then and her sudden departure now, a mysterious stranger who once whispered something in her ear, a boy in her dreams, five kids who lived on Jellicoe Road eighteen years ago, and the maddening and magnetic Jonah Griggs, who knows her better than she thinks he does. If Taylor can put together the pieces of her past, she might just be able to change her future.

Review:
Okay, I'm sitting here trying to think of a clever way to start this review. Honestly? I can't think of one. Someone tell me in the comments why it's always hard to start reviews. I really would like to know. But know I guess I'll just start this one, un-cleverly.

Jellicoe Road was amazing. There is no other way to put it. It is just a brilliant work of fiction. Marchetta wove this story into another story so perfectly. I just feel like standing up and giving Marchetta a round-of-applause.

Yes, this novel was a bit confusing in the beginning. It was different and strange. But the amazing writing, the wonderful characters, the astonishing setting kept me reading, and My Gosh! I am so very much glad I did. This is a new favorite of mine. A book everyone should read. You might have your doubts when you first start reading, but, do you trust me? If you do then you should listen to me when I say to keep going strong and finish it because it is such a complex and marvelous novel that I cannot express me feelings with enough gratitude. Honestly.

Taylor was such a fantastic heroine. You just could've help but like her ways. She is a strong and multifarious character. And she was not the only fabulous character in this novel either! All of them were! Every. Single. Character. I am not lying. They were all so stupendous and extensively three-dimensional.

The writing. Gosh. It was fantastic. Have I already said that? Well it was. Melina Marchetta just has this way with words. This scintillating way of words that you have to love. Her writing has this, this soothing, soft, but important, I don't know. It's just like . . . authoritative. Does that even make sense? You get what I'm trying to say. The words that vibe from her mind and strime through her fingers on a keyboard is the work of a genius. That's a good was to put it.

The plot. The fantasticly amazing plot. It's so, so, so very much complicated. But good. Not just good. Great. Glorious. It started without really giving the reader a hint of what's to come, no, the hints would come later. But I think that's just the reason it IS as brilliant as it is. The weaving of the two stories together was unbelievably impeccable. It was original in the littlest of ways. Maybe it was just because the story is Australian, but the littlest details (that you might know what I'm actually talking about if you have read the book, or not.) is what I think made it so original. The lifestyle of Taylor. The Cadets. The house on the river. The people. It was all original. And amazing.

Okay, it's pretty obvious what I think of this novel. So I think I won't use that word again or the synonyms of it either because it's probably worn out for tonight. But the verdict is: READ THIS NOW!

Sorry, I had a ton of trouble writing this novel. I tried to get the facts out, but I just couldn't stop saying how amazing it is. Sorry again!