Jellicoe Road

I have no clue as to how this book landed in my holds pile at the library.  I just showed up one day and there it was.  I'm sure at some point I had a reason to want to read it, but that totally is lost somewhere out there in the ether.

Regardless, I did pick it up and read it.  In the end it was a really good YA coming-of-age story that lacked the usual trite crap that the majority of the genre has.  I did almost put it down in the first third though, abandoned forever.  The book has very little exposition at the beginning, so I was truly confused for most of the first bit.  By the middle of the book it all started to make sense, and by the end the lack of a strong beginning even makes sense as a literary choice.  I can see that it might lose some readers by the confusion alone, especially if, like me, they lack any sort of patience.  

Again, this book features the "story within a story" device, which I am not a fan of.  Not going to lie, I totally glazed over as soon as the text turned italic, which, looking back, may account partially for my confusion.  

The strength in this book comes from the unravelling of the history, and the well-drawn characters.  While the end wasn't exactly a huge surprise, it was well done and without smarm.  Is Smarm even a word?  Can it be a noun, or is it only used to describe something?  If I am smarmy, do I contain a certain degree of smarm?

Regardless, good book.  I might be tempted to pick up another book by this author next time I get a YA hankering.  I give it 3.5 suicidal hermits out of 5.