Jellicoe Road

I had heard a lot of good things about Melina Marchetta's "Jellicoe Road," so I decided to give it a try. As I started reading it, I was kinda disappointed. The writing was good, but the story was confusing and the main character didn't seem likable. I put the book down in the middle of chapter 3 and didn't know if I wanted to finish it. But last night, I decided to give it another try, and I'm SO glad I did. It is an amazing book! Seriously. After I picked it up the second time, I didn't put it down until I finished it . . . at 3 o'clock in the morning. But the book was so good, it makes being exhausted today totally worth it.

Here's the summary:

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.

It's hard to explain why I like this book. I don't normally go for "troubled teen" stories, because I don't relate. But, I don't know, something about this book and it's main character just hits me in the heart. It got a hold on my emotions and still hasn't let go. It's a day later and I'm still thinking about this book.

So read it! And don't give up . . . you have to read at least until chapter 6. It takes a while to get into the story and understand what's going on and why, but once you do, you'll be hooked. And once you finish it, go back and re-read the first two chapters . . . it'll all make sense.