JaReview: Jellicoe Road

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta can be described in one word that I rarely use – profound. The summary explains it as one girl's journey to find her mother, but I think that really dumbs it down too much. It goes beyond that. It shows persons resilience under tragic circumstances. And contrarily, how even the most resilient person can be completely and utterly broken over a single loss or event.

Personally, I think it is the best book of 2010 (so far). I don’t know that I’d call it completely realistic, I think it paints a significantly more tragic picture than what most people experience. But the darkness and tragedy itself seems so real, which I suppose is just a statement as to how awesome the writer, Melina Marchetta, is. It had a brilliant balance of fluffily happy and depressively sad to satisfy my tastes.

But this book has it all. Intriguing mystery. Turf wars. Star crossed love. Awesome side pairings. And of course the requisite hot and mysterious male lead – Jonah Griggs. I don’t {heart} Jonah as much as other people or think that he is "the MOST compelling" character ever written. The latter, though, is mostly because I fell in love with Gabriel Wolfe 14 years ago. But Jonah Griggs definitely holds his own. He’s got it all in spades- moodiness, adorable jealousy issues, arrogance and mystifying past. Those might not necessarily be construed as good things, but when combined with unwavering loyalty, sweetness, ability to overcome horrible circumstances and the desire to protect at all costs, you’ve got yourself one awesome package.

The author writes relationships and their dynamics so well. Not simply between to love interests, but also between friends. She’s got side characters that rival the awesomeness of the Henderson Brothers.

The “story within the story” was a bit confusing in the beginning. Though I guessed most of it within the first few chapters. But that didn’t diminish my liking of the book. Even though I had my suspicions from the get go, the “journey” was definitely well worth it. If it’s confusing to you in the beginning, chillax, because eventually it all makes sense.

So if you haven’t read this book yet, I suggest you do so. Right now. I’ll wait. And then later we can point and laugh at the unknowing masses that are missing out on such awesomeness.

~J~