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On the Jellicoe Road
by Melina Marchetta (Goodreads Author)
by Melina Marchetta (Goodreads Author)
Stacia ~ Mistress of Mediocrity's review
bookshelves: favorites, young-adult
Apr 03, 13
bookshelves: favorites, young-adult
Read from August 06 to 10, 2011
Simply incredible. I cried way too much, but it was so worth it. Will review tomorrow when I can wrap my head around what to write.
*moves ahead a day in time*
After sleeping on it, I'm still struggling with how to write a proper review. There are some books which are virtually impossible to explain, and this is one of them. The GR book summary gives no indication what the book is really about, and truth be told, I'm not sure you'd want to know what the book is about before reading it.
The first 150 pages or so are completely frustrating and confusing. I knew this ahead of time, but I also knew that just about every single person who has read this has said the exact same thing, yet still gave the book 5 stars. There is a reason for this. The first part of the book is only giving you glimpses of the player's lives and their world. It almost reminded me of one of those movies that you watch in reverse, where the ending is the beginning and the beginning is the end - yet not quite.
All I can do is echo the voices of those who prodded me to read the book - DON'T GIVE UP. You will not forget this book. You will not regret reading. It is so worth the read. Keep some tissues handy.
As the story unfolds, the author starts giving us a crumb of information, then another, then another. Slowly the pieces of a broken story come together as one revelation follows another in a wave - a very emotional wave at that. Just when you think you've heard it all, more starts to come. Then more, then more.
Pay attention to every single character. Just about every person's life is intertwined with the other characters in this story.
I'm done trying to prod you to read this. Just read it. You will not be sorry for making the effort. Please, I beg you...battle through the first part of the book (which is confusing) until you get to the part that starts to get into your soul. Let's call this a dare. I have yet to find one person who did not love this book.
*moves ahead a day in time*
After sleeping on it, I'm still struggling with how to write a proper review. There are some books which are virtually impossible to explain, and this is one of them. The GR book summary gives no indication what the book is really about, and truth be told, I'm not sure you'd want to know what the book is about before reading it.
The first 150 pages or so are completely frustrating and confusing. I knew this ahead of time, but I also knew that just about every single person who has read this has said the exact same thing, yet still gave the book 5 stars. There is a reason for this. The first part of the book is only giving you glimpses of the player's lives and their world. It almost reminded me of one of those movies that you watch in reverse, where the ending is the beginning and the beginning is the end - yet not quite.
All I can do is echo the voices of those who prodded me to read the book - DON'T GIVE UP. You will not forget this book. You will not regret reading. It is so worth the read. Keep some tissues handy.
As the story unfolds, the author starts giving us a crumb of information, then another, then another. Slowly the pieces of a broken story come together as one revelation follows another in a wave - a very emotional wave at that. Just when you think you've heard it all, more starts to come. Then more, then more.
Pay attention to every single character. Just about every person's life is intertwined with the other characters in this story.
I'm done trying to prod you to read this. Just read it. You will not be sorry for making the effort. Please, I beg you...battle through the first part of the book (which is confusing) until you get to the part that starts to get into your soul. Let's call this a dare. I have yet to find one person who did not love this book.
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Reading Progress
Comments (showing 1-50 of 64) (64 new)
message 1:
by
Wendy F
(new)
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rated it 5 stars
Aug 11, 2011 07:04am
May I suggest that you add Saving Francesca and Piper's Son to your TBR list? The Piper's Son was also amazing, I loved it. But since it's a companion book to Saving Francesca, you should read it first. It was good too.
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I have her whole published collection, so it's in the game plan. Finnikin was the first one I tried a while back and I didn't get a chance to get too far in, so I'll probably read that one of hers next.
message 5:
by
Stacia ~ Mistress of Mediocrity
(last edited Jul 07, 2012 02:16pm)
(new)
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rated it 5 stars
I just commented about it in group, but you seriously need to read Forbidden. I liked that one almost as much and it was also very emotional, and also written by an Aussie author. *edit* nm, found out she's British, haha.
I have it, and I want to read it pretty bad. I've found that I just love Aussie authors.I want to move there just so I can hobnob with them!
That book was another one that I didn't expect to be so emotional near the end, even though I had been warned.Why do I never listen to people?
Finally wrote my review and I think it sucks, but this book is kind of hard to explain.
I had a hard time with my review too. I just went with how it made me feel. Trying to explain the book makes you feel like you're stuttering.
Is it silly that I like how the sweater has finger holes so it's like this half glove thing? I want a sweater like this. I know you're tough, so you can make it through the confusing start. Once you get about halfway in, I'd make sure you're reading alone somewhere. I was glad my husband was in bed because I was sniffling. He would have made fun of me.
I want a sweater like that too. It makes me long for fall, sitting on the porch and drinking coffee. In fact I am going to stop at Starbucks on the way home. I feel like if I can endure the first 3/4 of Feed and the first 20% of Kushiel's Dart, I can get through anything. Haha. My husband would have made fun of me too. Thanks for the warning. :)
Too bad we can't all just meet for coffee -- with our books, kindles, nooks and ipads in hand. :) I am off to buy an iced coffee and I am going to be very naughty and add cream and sugar.
I'm craving an iced coffee today and I thought of you guys.If we all met up somewhere, I probably wouldn't want to bring a book. I'd have more fun chatting with all of you!
We would have so much to talk about... Mmmm coffee, I could go for a really BIG iced coffee right now. It's really hot in Sacramento today...
This is the perfect review for this book! I have been pimping this one out big time so the next time someone asks me what it is about, I'm just going to direct them here.
Thanks, haha...so they can see my : wait...it's not that bad!!! comments? Only friends would have gotten me to read this one. I'm so glad I did because it's now one of my favorites but wow, if I hadn't had prodding...this never would have happened.
Awesome review Stacia!! I really enjoyed this book too! I will admit that the beginning was a bit confusing, but the rest of the book was definitely worth reading!
message 34:
by
Stacia ~ Mistress of Mediocrity
(last edited Jan 14, 2013 11:49am)
(new)
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rated it 5 stars
Thanks Dd (and Ronyell too, I never saw your comment!).
It almost reminded me of one of those movies that you watch in reverse, where the ending is the beginning and the beginning is the end - yet not quite. I love this storytelling trope for movies (I LOVED "Memento"), in books it tends to confuse me. I've been hearing great reviews about Marchetta but her blurbs and reviews end up intimidating me because I'm scared I may be that one person who won't get it. Is this a good book among her backlist to start with?
This is the best book of hers I've read so far. The other two I read were good but not great. This particular book is just something magical. It's hard to explain. It's really only confusing to start but once you can get past the first part, it becomes easy to read.Rebecca, I might not be doing any updates because I've got other books in progress, so I'm going to be skim re-reading just to be able to keep up with the discussion.
Ash Wednesday (Cheese and Crackers) wrote: "It almost reminded me of one of those movies that you watch in reverse, where the ending is the beginning and the beginning is the end - yet not quite. I love this storytelling trope for movies (..."
Yes! You must read it!! It's one of the best books I read last year and definitely in the top 5 for best of all time for me.
Oh darn, Stacia. I guess that just gives me an excuse to reread it myself, hopefully soon!
Lol okay, within the week then. I wasn't sure between this one and Finnikin of the Rock, but I guess I'll start with this one :)
I still haven't been able to finish FotR. Everytime I start it, I can't stay interested, although I hear that the series gets better and better with each book.
I had a love/hate with Finnikin. It was really good in parts and very slow in others. I think I had a hard time with it because I was expecting a very "high fantasy" book and it didn't read as hard-edged in that regard. But I'd heard from a friend who felt the same way about book 1 as I did that the second book was absolutely brilliant, so I plan on continuing with the trilogy at some point. But I think I'd rather read Thomas MacKee's book first.
I loved that one, Stacia. It seemed much more dark than this one and def more than SF, but I just loved every single character in Tom's book. They felt like real people.
Stacia (and her imaginary friend) wrote: "Ash, did Joan message you about the group?"Yup she did. She hasn't replied back though :)
I agree with it being confusing at first. I was frustrated because everyone on GR seem to love this book and I can't understand a thing but as the strong goes on, it starts to unveil its magic and it broke my heart.
