Jellicoe Road

Sometimes when I finish a book I need to write an immediate response – turns out Twitter is fabulous for this.  The problem is with books I love, the books that without sounding like a cheesy cliche – the ones that get into my soul I have this immediate reaction, and then I want to savor.  I want to think about them, and figure out what I liked so much, and then I never, ever blog the book.  This is what happened with The Book Thief.

So I finished Jellicoe Road, and I twittered, and then I did daily mundane things, and I knew if I didn’t sit down NOW I wouldn’t, and then I’d miss the opportunity to tell you to read this book.  It isn’t that the plot was so outstanding, I mean you know that Taylor’s life is entertwined with Hannah’s story of the five kids.  But I like the stories, Taylor and the kids.  It isn’t that the characters were so inviting. Taylor is a bit of work, and I wished for more of some the other secondary characters like Raffy and Jessa. Which isn’t to say that they were repelling.  It isn’t that I developed a bit of a literary crush on Jonah Griggs, which is to say that I did of course.

But Melina Marchetta loves language.  The book is lyrical in the way it tells the story.  In that way it reminds me How I Live Now.

I just randomly opened up the book and found this:

The world sways and I sway with it until it is like being in a hypnotic dance, almost enticing me to step over.

or

She’d get bored being good.  She’d get bored trying to go clean.  She got bored being my mother.

(I like the parallelism.)

So the story in a nutshell: Taylor’s mother left her in a 7-11 on Jellicoe Road, Hannah took her in.  But Hannah is gone. It is territory war time with the Cadets and the Townies, and Jonah Griggs is back and the Brigadier, and there is a story to untangle that may tell Taylor more than she wishes to know.

Very good, I loved it.

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