Review of “Jellicoe Road,” by Melina Marchetta

“Jellicoe Road,” by Melina Marchetta is a very unusual book about the parallels between the lives of two groups of children, and the effect that their decisions and the unique place called Jellicoe Road has on them. The complex social interactions, foreshadowing, and strange clues in the story makes the it slightly difficult to understand, especially at first, but it gives the novel a powerful effect.

The main character is Taylor Markham, a seventeen year old girl who was abandoned by her mother at a gas station on Jellicoe Road when she was eleven. Fortunately she was found by a family friend named Hannah and taken to live at Jellicoe School, a selective state run school for clever children with troubled pasts.

Now six years have passed since that day, but Taylor still finds herself wondering why Hannah came down Jellicoe Road and picked Taylor up not five minutes after her mother abandoned her. Hannah has become a sort of mother to Taylor, because she lives close to Jellicoe School. Taylor visits Hannah often, trying to find out more about her own past, and traumatic events of her childhood that she has since forgotten. Some of Taylor’s only clues in this endeavor are contained in a mixed up collection of papers that are the manuscript for a book that Hannah is writing.

The story is fragmented, but its five main characters are still strong and lively. As Taylor reads about the children: Narnie, Webb, Tate, Fitz, and Jude she begins to notice strange similarities between their lives and her own life.

These five children grew up on Jellicoe Road, sharing their anguish and joy together. They pledged to stay together always, but now all that is left of them are mixed words on jumbled sheets of paper:

“It took my father one hundred and thirty-two minutes to die.”

“At that time Webb thought nothing would make sense ever again.”

“He went missing on one of the prettiest days Narnie could remember in her whole sixteen years.”

“From this distance everything is so bloody perfect.”

“Listen to the sound, Jude,” he said in a hushed voice. “Listen.”

The story of Narnie, Webb, Tate, Fitz, and Jude is intriguing to Taylor, and as she reads it she begins to remember pieces of her own past, and see that the people around her all have secrets that have all come together as pieces of her own life.

I can definitely say that “Jellicoe Road” is one of the most impressive novels I have ever read, even though it was one of the most confusing books I have ever read. The way that Melina Marchetta ties in the story of Narnie, Webb, Tate, Fitz, and Jude into the story of Taylor’s life is amazing, but it is so disorganized that it is up to the reader to piece it together in the end. When I first started reading “Jellicoe Road” I was rather disappointed because the plot didn’t seem to make any sense. But when I reached the end of the book, I found that in the last few passages everything about the story of Narnie, Webb, Tate, Fitz, and Jude and how it links with Taylor’s life came together. The end effect makes “Jellicoe Road” one of the most moving stories I have ever read.

“Jellicoe Road” is about the secrets that each of us has within us, and the anguish and pain that they can bring us. In “Jellicoe Road” what seems like a long series of unconnected events are really all decisive consequences, benefits and side effects of the actions of five children: Narnie, Webb, Tate, Fitz, and Jude, and their summer time adventures so many years ago.

After reading this novel I am highly impressed with Melina Marchetta’s writing, even if my first impression was that the story was disorganized. On the contrary, I now feel that Melina’s approach was a very deliberate and beautiful thing in that it shows the story as a real person living it would see it, allowing the reader to figure things out just as the character living it would.

This technique made the plot stand out very vividly in my mind, and its bittersweet passages will stand in my mind as the amazing work of art that they are. I highly recommend “Jellicoe Road” by Melina Marchetta to all readers.

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