On the Jellicoe Road in What's the Name of That Book???

Apr 13, 2011 Eh?Eh! rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: babble-added, ah-ree-ell

I don't know how to pick apart the mechanics of writing so I'm not sure how she does it. How does she present a selfish teen who is special, popular, and loved and not make me dislike her? I think this is what Special Topics in Calamity Physics tried to be but failed for me. I think. I'm not good at the literary but YA provides steps instead of a sheer cliff face so it slowly guides me to something, something I can believe without losing me. Marchetta is terrific at this. The stories of two grou I don't know how to pick apart the mechanics of writing so I'm not sure how she does it. How does she present a selfish teen who is special, popular, and loved and not make me dislike her? I think this is what Special Topics in Calamity Physics tried to be but failed for me. I think. I'm not good at the literary but YA provides steps instead of a sheer cliff face so it slowly guides me to something, something I can believe without losing me. Marchetta is terrific at this. The stories of two groups of friends, 22 years apart, are interwoven. The setting is at a boarding school, I think open to all and including gifted but troubled orphans. There's connection between the groups and mysteries. I love the humor and I can see Marchetta has this one gag she keeps using, but I'm easy so it works on me every time.

Here's where I go off-track. My parents didn't pack me off to summer camps to build character, learn crafts, experience, get rid of me, or whatever reasons people have. The one time I had to go, I was 19 and forced to accompany a 14 year old Korean 2nd cousin who didn't speak much English. Her parents thought an American summer camp would make her practice language skills and build character and experience. I resented her hugely, packed away with her and bunch of 8 to 13 year olds for about 2 weeks. I was even older than the counselors, who ranged from 15 to 17. I don't recall a single adult although they were in nearby cabins. I hadn't camped much so I didn't pack the right clothes or, uh, lady supplies. I was at the height of my nerdy, sweaty, uncomfortable-with-everything, acne-covered, big-t-shirts-with-animals-wearing, big-'90's-glasses, boys-are-scary, I-just-wanna-read phase. It was a terrible, terrible, terrible camp for both of us.

But as I read this book, I remember this one awful and lonely time, when I realized that she and I were in the same boat and stopped hating her (so much). There was one evening, after dinner, we were sitting outside during a free hour, and my poor 2nd cousin was sitting apart, unable to participate in the swift and slangy chatter. I was sitting next to her and I nudged her when the others began clumping up for what was obviously turning into one of those bonding conversations. She yanked herself away and glared at me, and unable to suppress it after about a week of tolerating my situation for her sake, I snapped back at her. Oh man. I regretted it immediately but was confused by the mix of anger and shame, unable to choose which one to go with. We sat in silence for a few minutes. The sun was beginning its slow set through the trees and casting long shadows on the slopes where we were sitting after dinner and the girls in our cabin gathered around the 2 female counselors to ask about boys and "going down" (because camp is apparently where you learn all these things) and shrieking as one of the counselors held up a crooked pinky and considered it with narrowed eyes that denoted a real attempt to recall, and I should end this run on. I remember envying those 8-13yos, and the counselors who had started out as young campers only to return year after year. They laughed, played, fought, made up, made friends...they were golden. They belonged. I remember laughing a little at the pinky, hiding my horror that the 14yo counselor had experience in these things and I did not. My poor, reviled 2nd cousin turned to me and offered a broken English apology, with eye contact even. Ouch. It struck me that we belonged together, as those golden campers belonged together.

Damn you, and thank you, Marchetta, for making me remember that. ...more

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Feb 26, 2011 Jessica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, award-winners, youngadult

So, I've had this book on my to-read list for eons, ever since it won the Printz award and several librarian friends as well as Robison Wells also gushed to me that it was their favorite YA book that year. But I'll be honest: the cover doesn't entice me. The description doesn't entice me. But now in the last year I've also had several people tell me I MUST read her Lumatere series, and I thought, Oh, FINE. I'll get this one from the library and give it a whirl, see what her writing is like.

Okay, ...more

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Mar 15, 2015 Chelsea added it

Shelves: reread, 2015

This review is going to sound just like all the other reviews on Goodreads for this book, because they're all exactly right.

It's a slow and confusing start: push through.
It's frustrating, because Marchetta makes you work for every piece of information: it's worth it.
It's an incredibly satisfying ending, even if you still haven't quite worked out all the details: yep, you're probably going to want to reread this one.

I had put off reading this one because I thought it couldn't possibly live up to ...more

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Jul 17, 2011 Rachel Piper rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-teen, own, tearjerkers, to-re-read, best-read-in-2011

2024 reread: The audio version of this underscores how many BIG FEELINGS everyone has. It’s a little exhausting! I’m not going to change my rating but I’m glad I read this in text format first, otherwise I think at least a star would be coming off …

2011:
Just as amazing as everyone says. Hard to get into -- it jumps right into the action -- but once things start making sense: WOW.

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Apr 29, 2010 Sara ♥ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, mystery, 2010, challenge-spring-2010, tear-jerker, australia

Some books, you just can't describe. Some books, you just have to tell people to read, if they want to know. This is a book like that.

I had no idea what was going on for the first, oh, 100 pages? It was actually pretty confusing at first, as you don't really know the characters yet, and it keeps switching between the present (regular text) and the past (italicized text). And yet there was something so intriguing about the characters and something so promising about the depth of the underlying s ...more

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Sep 22, 2021 Lindsay rated it really liked it

Fast-paced read that is a little adult themed and very sad. A little unbelievable but not enough to ruin it. Overall, fun to read.

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Dec 20, 2009 Ashley rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, young-adult, contemporary

I love Melina Marchetta. The emotions in her books are so powerful, and even though I felt a little lost in the beginning of this one, by the time I got halfway through I was so invested in the characters and the story I felt lost to the book. There is so much about this book that I want to express, but there are other reviews that say everything so much better than I could, so go read them (Maggie Stiefvater's especially), and then go read this book. Can't wait to get my hands on The Piper's So ...more

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