Review: Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

I loved this book. It was just every kind of perfect. Ever since I first read the Lumatere Chronicles by Melina I have wanted to read more by her. Her writing is just so stunning. I love all her words. I was worried about reading this book, though. I was thinking that I wouldn't like it. I blame that on me not having read the summary all that well. Also, summaries lies. First, I thought it would be a boring book with at least two different point of views. But it wasn't. And it was so extremely good.

In the beginning this book confused me a bit. I loved the writing from the beginning, and the story did seem so good. But yeah. I was a bit confused about the war between all the teenagers in the Jellicoe town. Wasn't sure what it all meant. But it didn't take a long time for me to figure it out :) And once I understood it a bit better, everything just got even better. And I could not stop reading this book at all. The characters are perfect. The writing is stunning. And the plot is so great. Only thing I might have disliked was the ending :D Which was kind of perfect.

We get to know so many characters in this book. And they are all perfect. And full of flaws, which I just love so much. They are just all so broken and it's just so much love and I cannot handle all the goodness that is this book. The main character in this book is Taylor Markham. She is amazing. And kind of adorable. She's kind of broken, though. Hurting. And angry. And I just adore her so much. I always seem to love the broken ones. She's a bit mean at times, but she has a soft and strong heart. She's loving.

We get to know her very well. She's just such an amazing character. And I loved her a whole lot. She's been abandoned by her mother when she was just 10. When she was taken in by Hannah, at this school. We get to know so much about that. And while this book kind of takes place on a school, we never get to see them attend a class, thank god ;p I actually loved that school, with all the different houses and "leaders" and such. It was all pretty amazing. And written very well. I couldn't help but love it.

It centers around this war between the school, the Townies and the Cadets. It only happens six weeks of the year. But it's so amazing. It seemed like so much fun. They have divided up the town into their own parts, which place of the earth and clubs and such that each group own. And then they fight each other for it. Kind of. And if one on the other team crosses the boundary line things get ugly. Kidnappings, beatings. And yeah. I must admit that I loved it so much :D It was just so unique and amazing.

I loved reading about these teenage wars. They were pretty amazing. And so well told. Won't say more about them, just that they are pretty awesome :) The Cadets is this other school from far away that visits this town for six weeks each year to camp there in the forest. All of those guys seemed amazing. I'm pretty sure they were just boys, no girls. One of them is Jonah Griggs. Pretty much my favorite character in this book. He's a broken asshole. My favorite kind. But he's also really sweet and loving and I could not have loved him any less. He's an asshole in the beginning. Which I totally loved, to be honest.

There is a whole bunch of amazing characters in this book. Like Ben. He was just very sweet. Not a love interest at all :) I also really liked Raffy. Kind of think she's Taylor's best friend. She's just adorable. And a great friend, I liked her a lot. I also actually liked Jessa. She seemed a bit young and annoying at times, but she was also sweet. Then there was Hannah. Who I'm not sure if I liked or not. She was sweet, and she seemed kind. But she also didn't seem to care much for Taylor, and Taylor loves her so much. But yeah. Those things are explained, so I might have liked her a little bit ;p She was great.

I loved reading about all these different characters and their lives and it was all just so perfect and I need a sequel to this book. I need so much more from these characters. We get to know them all so well. Like Jonah. He's just so sweet. And broken. We get to know a lot of shit about his dad. And I hated it. And loved it. It was just perfect and heartbreaking. And Taylor. We learned so much shit about her mom. It was awful. And it broke my heart so many times. But I also wanted more and more pain.

Like when Taylor and Jonah have this small meeting with this old friend of Taylor, Sam. It broke my heart. He has it so bad. His mother is all kinds of crazy. She let so many bad things happen to him when he was smaller. And now he's living as a junkie and selling his body and it just broke my heart and it was so perfect. I need more books like this perfect one. I loved reading about Taylor's past. Even when it was so awful and heartbreaking. I just wanted more and more and more. I might be a bit awful for that.

The book is from Taylor's point of view. She is also reading this manuscript by Hannah, though. So we also get a few pages from the point of view of five other teens. Felt like we got too little. I adored reading about them. Webbs. Jude. Fitz. Narnie. Tate. They seemed so amazing. And what happened to them all was awful and it killed me and I just wanted even more. I loved reading about them. About all the things they did. About their romance and just everything. They were the perfect five. So amazing.

Another thing I kind of really liked in this book was the small things that made me think of other books. Like Chairman Meow, which makes me think of Magnus from City of Bones. <3 That fills me with love. I also liked the mention of Home and Away. Which I kind of watch. A bit. Norway is a couple of years behind, though, but I do know of a John Palmer, which is the name of a principal in this book ;p Also. Did I mention yet that I adore Melina? Because I do. I really, really do. Must read more books by her.

Everything about this book was perfect. Writing, story, tragedy. There are funny moments. Serious moments. Sad moments. There is also romance. Which I loved so much. It's sweet and perfect. I, of course, wanted more. Like I always do. And I very, very much want a sequel to this book. I know that there doesn't have to be one, but I don't want it to end. I want more. I also wasn't entirely pleased with the ending, cause I never support separations :p The ending was also perfect, I don't want to change it.

You must read Jellicoe Road. You must read it because it is perfect. It was so much more than I thought it would be. The summary doesn't give it justice. It's even more perfect. This book has it all. It made me cry. It's beautiful. And I cannot wait to re-read it. To read my favorite Jonah moments. Which there are many of. You really must read this book. It's so, so good. Now I must buy all the editions <3

"Because being part of him isn't just anything. It's kind of everything."

Goodreads - Buy it 

Update: Newer and better review of the book can be found here.