Tuesday, March 6, 2012

On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta




On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Published by: Harper Teen
Release Date: Aug 28, 2008


Blurb(GR):
My father took one hundred and thirty two minutes to die.

I counted.

It happened on the Jellicoe Road. The prettiest road I’d ever seen, where trees made breezy canopies like a tunnel to Shangri-La. We were going to the ocean, hundreds of kilometres away, because I wanted to see the ocean and my father said that it was about time the four of us made that journey. I remember asking, “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.

We heard her almost straight away. In the other car, wedged into ours so deep that you couldn’t tell where one began and the other ended. She told us her name was Tate and then she squeezed through the glass and the steel and climbed over her own dead – just to be with Webb and me; to give us her hand so we could clutch it with all our might. And then a kid called Fitz came riding by on a stolen bike and saved our lives.

Someone asked us later, “Didn’t you wonder why no one came across you sooner?”

Did I wonder?

When you see your parents zipped up in black body bags on the Jellicoe Road like they’re some kind of garbage, don’t you know?

‘Wonder dies.


My Thoughts:
Damn you Marchetta!!! I not a crier, I do not cry in movies and I do not read books that make me cry as a rule, but you have crushed that rule with your 419 page breathtaking novel. My eyes are so puffy that I can’t even see straight! I am so mad at you for this, but oh I am so very very thankful that you wrote this book.
Jellicoe Road is beautiful and breathtaking with its mysteries, love, friendships, war, and forgiveness. I will not give any type of a summary as there is no way that I will ever do this story justice. I will just say that Marchetta is a genius. I have read a couple of her previous books and loved them as well but this one is my all time favorite. I heard going into it that the beginning was confusing as hell and I totally agree with that, but just because it is confusing doesn’t mean it isn’t gorgeously written. I now fully believe that this woman can write anything and I will love it. Her way with words is like a song, they just sing to the reader.
The story of Webb, Narnie, Tate, Jude, and Fitz was the hardest story I have ever read and I loved every minute of it. I loved trying to figure out all the confusion that Marchetta weaved into her story and I am proud to say that I figured out everything except for one detail that I should have seen but overlooked as my love for a character shadowed my eyes. Taylor was a great character. I loved her relationship with Jonah. She took no poo from him and he took no poo from her it was a very realistic from the start. There was one part in the book that my heart literally jumped right out of my chest and when you read this you will know the exact page where it happened because that scene is very overwhelming and so real that it hurts. I am so in love with all of these characters and even though the book ended spectacularly I still want to hold them in my hands.
Please read this, I promise that you will not regret it. FAVORITE OF ALL TIME! 

5/5 snowflakes....Okay this book is in a category of its own so I am going to say 100 billion, trillion, million snowflakes!!
 

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