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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
Half through the book, I came to realization that reading this will break my heart. So I continued. There is no regret, but so many tears.
A really phenomenal book - 4.5 stars. Nothing like Finnikin of the Rock, which is a fantasy. Jellicoe Road takes place in our world, in the present day (or close enough to it). Marchetta is a fantastic writer and her books have none of the melodrama that really annoys me about teen books sometimes. She is definitely one of my new favorite authors.
what a gem of a book! so beautiful and scary and sad and lovely. and it takes place in Australia, which made me think of I Am The Messenger, my favorite book of all time.
I was confused at first until the separation of the stories start making sense.
The ending gave me goosebumps & my found family heart felt validated once again.
This book talks about grief, importance of having a family and/or support system, friendship, and realizing that life is messy but it's tolerable if you surround yourself with people who gets/loves you.
RATING: 4stars
The ending gave me goosebumps & my found family heart felt validated once again.
This book talks about grief, importance of having a family and/or support system, friendship, and realizing that life is messy but it's tolerable if you surround yourself with people who gets/loves you.
RATING: 4stars
Awwweeeesommeee. A little slow/confusing/hard to get into at the beginning. But after around 100 pages, I couldn't put it down.
Okay this review is a liiiitle spoilery. So tread carefully if you have not read the book. Fair warning!
I like the way you kind of learn the backstory as Taylor does, hence the confusion at the beginning. Although, she tended to be a lot slower on the uptake. It was definitely predictable at times, but not overly so.
I loved the territory war stuff, especially when you find out how it started. Loved Jonah & Taylor's chemistry, and all their banter/fighting, and then as they let their guards down, how they protect each other.
It was heartbreakingly sad, especially once you figure out about fitz. I literally cried it was so sad. :( It felt so senseless. You almost wanted it to be a serial killer so you can have something to blame, someone to hate. It feels worse when it's just a simple accident. Like all the heartbreak and the sadness and the ruined lives could not have been because of something so small, so innocent. I felt so immensely sad for Fitz.
Anyway. Extremely well written and amazing book. I LOOOOOOVED this book. Best YA I've read in a long while!
Okay this review is a liiiitle spoilery. So tread carefully if you have not read the book. Fair warning!
I like the way you kind of learn the backstory as Taylor does, hence the confusion at the beginning. Although, she tended to be a lot slower on the uptake. It was definitely predictable at times, but not overly so.
I loved the territory war stuff, especially when you find out how it started. Loved Jonah & Taylor's chemistry, and all their banter/fighting, and then as they let their guards down, how they protect each other.
It was heartbreakingly sad, especially once you figure out about fitz. I literally cried it was so sad. :( It felt so senseless. You almost wanted it to be a serial killer so you can have something to blame, someone to hate. It feels worse when it's just a simple accident. Like all the heartbreak and the sadness and the ruined lives could not have been because of something so small, so innocent. I felt so immensely sad for Fitz.
Anyway. Extremely well written and amazing book. I LOOOOOOVED this book. Best YA I've read in a long while!
Is book is a 3.5 star book. It took me a long time to get in to it... It was confusing and I feel like there were parts of the book I never really understood. I also wished the characters would have been more developed. Once the book picked up though, it was fun piecing together parts of the two stories that were happening.
3.5 stars. This book kept popping up for me as a suggested read, so I grabbed when It was a kindle daily deal. Better than I expected, but the beginning was a chore to slog through. The two first person narratives presented in the Prologue and Chapter 1 were confusing back to back. It felt sloppy - I feel it could have been better executed. And I just found the prose to be kind of choppy, but eventually I fell into the style and it became tolerable. The story itself though was interesting and compelling, if a bit over the top.
I wish the "war games" had been explained a bit better from the get go. It was hard to judge exactly how seriously these things were to be taken or why the students seemed to overact about certain events. (Crying over "hostages", etc.) It seemed a bit immature and something the main character wouldn't reallly care about at all given her past.
I wish the "war games" had been explained a bit better from the get go. It was hard to judge exactly how seriously these things were to be taken or why the students seemed to overact about certain events. (Crying over "hostages", etc.) It seemed a bit immature and something the main character wouldn't reallly care about at all given her past.
This review was originally posted on Fluttering Butterflies
"What do you want from me?" he asks. What I want from every person in my life, I want to tell him. More.
Melina Marchetta is one of my favourite authors ever. With each book she just amazes me more and more. If I'm honest, Jellicoe Road really intimidated me. I put off reading it for such a long time because I'd read that the story is a little confusing and a bit hard to get into. People also rave about it and I didn't want to let my really expectations get in the way of my enjoyment of reading one of my favourite authors. Instead, I waited. And I waited.
And finally, while on holiday, with plenty of time to relax and to sink into a fabulous book, I started it. And I loved the story immediately. And Jellicoe Road seems very different to the other books I've read by Melina Marchetta. It feels like the story goes deeper and darker than her other books. The story is told in two different parts at the same time. One part focusing on a group of students at this school on the Jellicoe Road in the present day - three different warring factions with all of these rules of interaction as they're fighting for control of different surrounding areas. And the second part tells a story of a similar group of students twenty years previously. How and why the two stories are connected is at the heart of the novel and it was an incredible journey solving that mystery.
We begin Jellicoe Road with this really dramatic opening of a car crash that throws the reader and our characters into this awful situation where lives have been lost. I think that death and grief is a huge aspect of the novel and it really permeates both of the parallel stories. There's a lot of grim subject matter that was quite difficult to read, death, suicide, child abuse, neglect.
Taylor Markham, main character in the current day storyline, is a student at the school. She's led a very difficult life, one that, as we learn more details, becomes more and more heartwrenching. She's tough though, and while she would like to remain distant and seperate from all in her life, it just isn't possible. When caretaker and surrogate-mother, Hannah, mysteriously leaves with barely any notice, Taylor feels incredibly lost. She's determined to learn more about Hannah and Hannah's history in order to find out where and why she's left.
Being elected leader of one of the three warring groups, Taylor must also come into contact with Jonah Griggs, one of the cadets that she's had this emotional history with. Together with a surprising cast of new friends, they discover their own personal histories as well as the school's history and the intersection between both sets of stories of students current and past.
Jellicoe Road is a beautiful story which is constructed and written amazingly well. It's so emotional and sad and hopeful. There's moments of absolute beauty and tenderness and romance. There's so many different themes to the story, that of friendship and family, grief and loss, secrets and truth. It brings tears to my eyes even now just thinking about this book.
Jellicoe Road is a masterpiece of storytelling and it will stay with me for a very long time.
"What do you want from me?" he asks. What I want from every person in my life, I want to tell him. More.
Melina Marchetta is one of my favourite authors ever. With each book she just amazes me more and more. If I'm honest, Jellicoe Road really intimidated me. I put off reading it for such a long time because I'd read that the story is a little confusing and a bit hard to get into. People also rave about it and I didn't want to let my really expectations get in the way of my enjoyment of reading one of my favourite authors. Instead, I waited. And I waited.
And finally, while on holiday, with plenty of time to relax and to sink into a fabulous book, I started it. And I loved the story immediately. And Jellicoe Road seems very different to the other books I've read by Melina Marchetta. It feels like the story goes deeper and darker than her other books. The story is told in two different parts at the same time. One part focusing on a group of students at this school on the Jellicoe Road in the present day - three different warring factions with all of these rules of interaction as they're fighting for control of different surrounding areas. And the second part tells a story of a similar group of students twenty years previously. How and why the two stories are connected is at the heart of the novel and it was an incredible journey solving that mystery.
We begin Jellicoe Road with this really dramatic opening of a car crash that throws the reader and our characters into this awful situation where lives have been lost. I think that death and grief is a huge aspect of the novel and it really permeates both of the parallel stories. There's a lot of grim subject matter that was quite difficult to read, death, suicide, child abuse, neglect.
Taylor Markham, main character in the current day storyline, is a student at the school. She's led a very difficult life, one that, as we learn more details, becomes more and more heartwrenching. She's tough though, and while she would like to remain distant and seperate from all in her life, it just isn't possible. When caretaker and surrogate-mother, Hannah, mysteriously leaves with barely any notice, Taylor feels incredibly lost. She's determined to learn more about Hannah and Hannah's history in order to find out where and why she's left.
Being elected leader of one of the three warring groups, Taylor must also come into contact with Jonah Griggs, one of the cadets that she's had this emotional history with. Together with a surprising cast of new friends, they discover their own personal histories as well as the school's history and the intersection between both sets of stories of students current and past.
Jellicoe Road is a beautiful story which is constructed and written amazingly well. It's so emotional and sad and hopeful. There's moments of absolute beauty and tenderness and romance. There's so many different themes to the story, that of friendship and family, grief and loss, secrets and truth. It brings tears to my eyes even now just thinking about this book.
Jellicoe Road is a masterpiece of storytelling and it will stay with me for a very long time.
2nd read 11th dec 21-26th jan 22 - it killed me just as much. I felt every single emotion just as much as the first time around. What a special book.
3rd read 13-16 dec 2022 - the feelings are just as strong, as the last time. I love it so much. Forever hard-hitting and heart wrenching...
4th read 11-16 dec 2024 - nothing has changed. I loved it just as much here the fourth time around.
_________
Who cried? Me? Nooooo, why would you think that? Red puffy eyes? I have no idea what you're talking about...
So where to begin with this story? I won't say much because reading this book is a unique experience on it's own. You have to go in without knowing anything at all.
But to sum it up, the story is about Taylor Markham, who was abandoned by her mother as a child and is now in a boarding school. Taylor is elected as a leader in the territory war games played by her school with the Townies (locals) and Cadets. But oh people, it's SO much more than that. The story might be confusion to start with, but just stick with it.
The topics varies between responsibilities and grief and battles lots of mental health problems.
I haven't read a proper YA in such a long while, but this was so much more than just that. Remember to keep your mind open and keep reading if you ever start this one, and please do.
Also Jonah Griggs has captured my heart... Not only him though, the whole crew, past and present. I just miss them so much now. I feel like they're my friends..
Another sum up would be that this book is absolutely beautiful, powerful and tragic. It will stay with me for a long time and I'm gonna purchase a physical copy, because I just need to be able to hug it.
TW: suicidal thoughts, violence, drug addictions, suicide, car accidents also mention of child pornography
Buddy read with the masters Azrah, Fares, Karima and Warda. I have high hopes of this book wrecking my heart!!
3rd read 13-16 dec 2022 - the feelings are just as strong, as the last time. I love it so much. Forever hard-hitting and heart wrenching...
4th read 11-16 dec 2024 - nothing has changed. I loved it just as much here the fourth time around.
_________
“And life goes on, which seems kind of strange and cruel when you're watching someone die.”
Who cried? Me? Nooooo, why would you think that? Red puffy eyes? I have no idea what you're talking about...
So where to begin with this story? I won't say much because reading this book is a unique experience on it's own. You have to go in without knowing anything at all.
But to sum it up, the story is about Taylor Markham, who was abandoned by her mother as a child and is now in a boarding school. Taylor is elected as a leader in the territory war games played by her school with the Townies (locals) and Cadets. But oh people, it's SO much more than that. The story might be confusion to start with, but just stick with it.
The topics varies between responsibilities and grief and battles lots of mental health problems.
I haven't read a proper YA in such a long while, but this was so much more than just that. Remember to keep your mind open and keep reading if you ever start this one, and please do.
Also Jonah Griggs has captured my heart... Not only him though, the whole crew, past and present. I just miss them so much now. I feel like they're my friends..
Another sum up would be that this book is absolutely beautiful, powerful and tragic. It will stay with me for a long time and I'm gonna purchase a physical copy, because I just need to be able to hug it.
What’s the difference between a trip and a journey?' and my father said, 'Narnie, my love, when we get there, you’ll understand,' and that was the last thing he ever said.”
TW: suicidal thoughts, violence, drug addictions, suicide, car accidents also mention of child pornography
“Hold my hand because I might disappear.”
Buddy read with the masters Azrah, Fares, Karima and Warda. I have high hopes of this book wrecking my heart!!
Oh my God, this book. It is incredible. I cannot do it justice by attempting to review it here because it really has to be experienced. I will say that the first chunk of the book can be rather confusing but this book pulled me in and has not let go.