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bookchimp 's review for:
On the Jellicoe Road
by Melina Marchetta
[Minor spoilers]
I think the biggest mistake here was that they marketed this book as "teen" or "YA." I would not give this book to any amateur/new reader unless I was 1000% convinced in their literacy skills. The book asks a lot of the reader to make logical assumptions about the world. The 'Territory Wars' and how they work is not thoroughly explained, nor is the Jellicoe School nor what exactly the 'cadets' are. I assumed many of these can be chalked up to Australian cultural differences that I was not aware of. But still, the first half of the book can be a bit of an uneasy read, and I think the amount of Goodreads reviews complaining about being confused is evident in the book's lack of significant exposition.
I did not find this to be a huge issue, overall, though. I actually preferred the first half quite a bit more than the second. The first half is a lot more "slice of life," where the second is more "coming of age." I was taken in by Taylor's character and the interesting world (and predicament) she had found herself in.
While I do not think the second half of the book is bad, I do think it leaves a bit to be desired. A lot of what is set up in the first half just sort of... stops being important. Many of the characters set up- even ones that seemed to be major characters- end up going nowhere. There are plot threads that are never unraveled. The entire Territory Wars in general take a huge backseat and become completely irrelevant. It is a bit frustrating to read a book that sets up a world with rules and then just abandons them as soon as they are no longer needed. I think Taylor's (begrudgingly accepted) role as the head of her house and the Territory Wars Commander-in-Chief was central to her development as a character, and when she ceases to be invested in that role, she just becomes a pretty standard YA protagonist.
There are some odd little things here and there, too. One character says of a Black/Italian character, "that's the wog in him," which seems pretty out-of-pocket. Another character is said to "put on an Afro-American accent," which seems definitively out-of-pocket. Our main character also drowns a cat. So, there's that.
A little tropey at the end, too. The author needed two characters to die young, so her method is to just give them cancer. I feel like cancer shouldn't be used in a book solely to be a catch-all way to get characters to be dead when it is convienant for the plot. Similarly there's a random fire near the end of the book that just kinda happens and then everyone moves on.
Even still, throughout my time with the book I kept thinking about how much I couldn't wait to jump back into it. Not sure exactly what was so enrapturing about it about I did enjoy it thoroughly, tragically heartbreaking though it is.
I think the biggest mistake here was that they marketed this book as "teen" or "YA." I would not give this book to any amateur/new reader unless I was 1000% convinced in their literacy skills. The book asks a lot of the reader to make logical assumptions about the world. The 'Territory Wars' and how they work is not thoroughly explained, nor is the Jellicoe School nor what exactly the 'cadets' are. I assumed many of these can be chalked up to Australian cultural differences that I was not aware of. But still, the first half of the book can be a bit of an uneasy read, and I think the amount of Goodreads reviews complaining about being confused is evident in the book's lack of significant exposition.
I did not find this to be a huge issue, overall, though. I actually preferred the first half quite a bit more than the second. The first half is a lot more "slice of life," where the second is more "coming of age." I was taken in by Taylor's character and the interesting world (and predicament) she had found herself in.
While I do not think the second half of the book is bad, I do think it leaves a bit to be desired. A lot of what is set up in the first half just sort of... stops being important. Many of the characters set up- even ones that seemed to be major characters- end up going nowhere. There are plot threads that are never unraveled. The entire Territory Wars in general take a huge backseat and become completely irrelevant. It is a bit frustrating to read a book that sets up a world with rules and then just abandons them as soon as they are no longer needed. I think Taylor's (begrudgingly accepted) role as the head of her house and the Territory Wars Commander-in-Chief was central to her development as a character, and when she ceases to be invested in that role, she just becomes a pretty standard YA protagonist.
There are some odd little things here and there, too. One character says of a Black/Italian character, "that's the wog in him," which seems pretty out-of-pocket. Another character is said to "put on an Afro-American accent," which seems definitively out-of-pocket. Our main character also drowns a cat. So, there's that.
A little tropey at the end, too. The author needed two characters to die young, so her method is to just give them cancer. I feel like cancer shouldn't be used in a book solely to be a catch-all way to get characters to be dead when it is convienant for the plot. Similarly there's a random fire near the end of the book that just kinda happens and then everyone moves on.
Even still, throughout my time with the book I kept thinking about how much I couldn't wait to jump back into it. Not sure exactly what was so enrapturing about it about I did enjoy it thoroughly, tragically heartbreaking though it is.