Melina Marchetta

I picked up this Young Adult fantasy novel at the library, after reading a very good review in the Sydney Morning Herald. I'd also previously read Looking for Alibrandi by the same author, and enjoyed it very much. This is her first attempt at writing fantasy, and I do hope that she continues in this vein!

The beginning of the book is told in a dreamy, almost mythical style. A teenaged Finnikin and his two friends - Prince Balthazar and Lucian of the Mont - pledge to protect their kingdom show more Lumatere forever. Only then the Five Days of The Unspeakable happen. It's not clear to us - or to the characters in the book - exactly what happens, but the royal family is slaughtered; Finnikin's beloved father and stepmother are thrown into prison as traitors; an imposter King takes the throne; and the kingdom is locked off from the rest of the land by a curse, leaving Lumateran exiles searching for a new home, subject to the xenophobia or carelessness of their surrounding neighbouring kingdoms. And no one knows what is happening inside the kingdom.

We jump forward a number of years to when Finnikin, now a young man, is assisting the former King's First Man to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis (yes, the crisis is still going). He and Sir Topher pick up Evanjalin, a young novice and Lumateran exile, who can walk in the dreams of those within Lumatere. She proves to be the impetus towards finding a solution to re-enter Lumatere, rather than remain wandering in exile for ever.

This was a complete pageturner, one of those books I just couldn't get enough of. I resented spending time away from Finnikin and Evanjalin, and ended up staying up until the wee hours of the morning to finish it off. (I regretted that later, but not at the time.) And I want to re-read it. Right now. This instant. Matter of fact, why am I typing this, instead of re-reading it???

It's not a fluffy young adult novel. The exiled Lumaterans are subject to a whole range of harsh treatment, both from some callous Lumateran lords who are more interested in saving their own skins, and from the people of the other kingdoms of the land, who - at the very least - aren't interested in helping anyone other than themselves. There are tales of mass graves, slavery, abandoned children by the roadside. And then there is the fever, killing many people within the camps. And when you find out what's happened inside of Lumatere, well, they didn't have it any easier.

This was published a couple of years ago, when the refugee crisis and detention camps were big news in Australia. One can see that this was an important influence on Marchetta, and I found it rather invigorating to have such a topical subject in my young adult reads. While it's quite clear which side of the debate she falls on, I'm on that side too. Others of a different political persuasion might find it a bit more tub-thumping than I did, but I do hope they don't.

Highly recommended to any lovers of young adult fantasy, but with an adult concept warning for younger teenagers. show less

After I read Jellicoe Road and fell in love with this author, I couldn’t wait to go back and read her first book, because it was the one that garnered all the awards. I have to say however that I think all of her later books are better than this first one, but it’s still very good, and definitely worth reading.

Josie Alibrandi, 17, is a high school senior at St. Martha’s, in a suburb just outside of Sydney, Australia. She lives with her single mother Christina, who was practically show more disowned by her strict Italian family when she got pregnant with Josie at age 16 and the father took off. Josie, whose school is dominated by rich Anglo-Saxon Australians, feels doubly persecuted, both for being illegitimate and for not being “pure” Australian. Still, life is fairly normal until Josie’s "nonna" (grandmother) decides to be a surrogate mother for a friend’s son who has just moved to town, Michael Andretti. Michael, it turns out, is Josie’s father. And suddenly Josie's world turns upside down.

Discussion: Josie is overly focused on her perceived status as a victim, because she doesn’t have a family with money, prestige, or a nuclear family, and because she doesn’t look Anglo-Saxon. She is constantly on the defensive, seeing prejudice even where there is none, and antagonizing people when they really don't deserve it. She thinks her own problems are worse than anyone else’s. When not obsessing over herself, however, she is smart and funny and interesting. But she has a great deal of growing up to do. Take this exchange, between Josie and her mom after Christina announces she is going on a date and Josie throws a fit:

"‘Does me being your mother make me less human, Josie?’ she yelled, grabbing hold of my shoulder. ‘I have needs like other people, and once in a while I like being with people my age.’

‘Oh great. So now I find out she regrets having me and I’ve stopped her from being human,’ I yelled, walking to the kitchen and opening the oven.

‘Well, just remember that he won’t just want to hold your hand,’ I said, throwing the meat loaf down the sink.

‘How dare you say that to me?’ she said, shaking her head almost sadly.

I stood by my desk and stuck my fingers in my ears so I could ignore her, but she walked over and pushed me back.

‘You are such a selfish, unreasonable child, Josephine. One day you’ll understand.’

‘Screw your understanding,’ I yelled, throwing my books across the room angrily. ‘Why should I understand you when you’ve never understood what I’ve gone through? I’ve suffered in my life, you know, and you’ve never understood.’

She walked away in disgust.”

But finally Josie starts to change. She actually starts listening to her nonna, and learns a lot about her mother and the rest of the family that she didn’t realize, especially the extent to which her suffering is nothing compared to what they endured. And she gets to know her father, who also has much to teach her about perspective and forgiveness. I loved this wonderful discussion Michael has with Josie, when she asks him what happened between him and her mom:

"‘We can look at it now, Josie, and say that you were a result of it, so it had to be worth it, and we can never regret you as long as both of us live, but it was a thing that we couldn’t handle. Kids shouldn’t play grown-up games. I don’t mean having the baby bit either, because I wasn’t around for that so I don’t know how hard it was. I mean the sex bit. It was a whole new ball game for me, because I was involved emotionally and not just physically. What we did made her feel so ashamed and me so inadequate. I wasn’t making her feel good as far as I was concerned, so I hated her. When I think of it now, very few men know how to make teenage girls feel good emotionally as well as physically. They always lack something. It comes with practice.”

Josie also falls in love, and not with a boy that would “have people look upon me with envy” as she used to envision, but one that just makes her feel good. But she has to learn that one must give and not just take. After she finds out she has hurt Jacob, she tells him she is sorry, but he isn't buying it:

"‘Why is it that every time I apologize to someone these days they won’t accept it?’ I asked in frustration.

‘Because you probably come across as insincere. You probably think that an I’m sorry is going to make you feel better,’ he said angrily.

‘I didn’t realize.’

‘You never do,’ he said in a tired tone. ‘You go about whining and wailing about the way people treat you, but you never think about the way you treat people. I was hurt. But you wouldn’t understand that, would you?”

I’ve quoted way too much, and this isn’t even my favorite book of Marchetta’s! But her characters are so good – so alive, and so real – I love them all. They try so hard, like Josie does. She sincerely wants to be better and get things right, but somehow keeps screwing up. But she doesn’t give up, and you just know that eventually, she’s going to figure out how to be a whole and mature person in the world, even when she doesn’t know all the answers.

Evaluation: One reason Marchetta got so many awards for this book was her groundbreaking portrayal of ethnic bias in Australia. But in addition, she is just a darn good writer, and an excellent conjurer of character. It is probably my least favorite of all of her books I have read so far, but that doesn't mean it isn't a terrific read! I highly recommend it. show less

This book about love, guilt, and forgiveness in the contexts of family and friendship is so good that it’s hard for me not to feel overcome with the emotion that arises from reading a wonderful book. It pulls you into the world of the story and as you find out more about each character, you can’t help but become more attached to each, until at the end, you feel bereft when that final page is reached. How sad it will be not to “hear from” these characters anymore, who have become so show more real to me. How wonderful to find an author who makes one feel so bereft.

The story is told from the alternating points of view of Tom Mackee, age 21, and his aunt Georgie, age 42.

Tom is the son of Dominic Finch Mackee, known as “the pied piper” because others – particularly his siblings - have always copied whatever he did. Dom’s sister Georgie is his twin, and is now pregnant by her ex-husband Sam, who has a lovely, shy six-year old son Callum by another woman (which was the cause of Georgie and Sams breakup). Dom’s younger brother Joe was one of the fifty some people killed on the subway in London in July 2005 when Islamic suicide bombers blew up trains across the city. His body was never recovered, and no one in this close, contentious but loving family has ever been able to reach closure. Over 40 years earlier, the father of Dominic and Georgie was declared missing in Vietnam, and his body was never recovered either. Although the twins never knew any other dad besides their stepfather Bill, they have never wanted to accept Bill – it might jinx the possibility that their dad, Thomas Finch, could one day come home.

Joe’s death led to a host of complications in the family, from Georgie and Sam getting back together, to Dom falling deep into alcoholism and leaving his family, and Tom’s mother and sister moving to Brisbane. Tom has had his own problems, including dropping out of the university, hanging out either drunk or stoned with losers the whole year, and blowing off all of his former friends, those people from the book Saving Francesca with whom he previously had close bonds. One of them, Tara, he was even in love with.

All these dysfunctions come home to roost when Tom is evicted and moves in with Georgie, and Dom comes back, sober, and also moves in with Georgie, and Georgie copes with the growing discomfort and emotional volatility of her pregnancy, and her strained relations with Sam and Callum.

Discussion: This is a totally character-driven novel, with dialogue that seems astonishingly authentic and with character growth that pushes its way through pain in a way that makes you want to hold every character in the book. And what love this family has, in spite of everything and in spite of the hurt they dole out to one another. Listen to this memory Tom has of him and his father when he was small:

"‘I was shaking like crazy and I remember my father took my hand and asked me if I was scared. But I lied and told him I wasn’t and he just looked at me and said, ‘Well, I am, so you’re going to have to hold my hand tight.’”

And Tom, so believably awkward with Tara when face-to-face with her, is so much more romantic in his thoughts. When he finds out she was at the same place he was many years ago:

"Maybe she’d always been there. Maybe strangers enter your heart first and then you spent the rest of your life searching for them.”

The Piper’s Son is a follow-up or companion volume to Saving Francesca. It takes place five years later, and it isn’t necessary to have read the first to enjoy this one. But by reading it first, you will know more about the friends who love Tom like family, and grant him the same kind of space, and criticism, and acceptance that loving families do with one another.

Although marketed as a YA book, like other books by Marchetta, I feel it is more accurately described as a crossover book; indeed, Tom is 21, and the other main character, Tom’s Aunt Georgie, is 42. It could be said that Tom "grows up" in this book, but it’s certainly not in the way that would happen were he fifteen.

Evaluation: This is a lovely, lovely book. The family dynamics and dialogue brought Tana French to mind for me a bit, but of course French adds murder and mystery to her books. Here, we just have a family with too many members seeking oblivion, and the story of how they fight their way back to redemption, through time, patience, and above all, love. show less

Oh Melina Marchetta...why you gotta do me like this? Why do I always seem to bawl my eyes out on lunch break while reading your books? What is it that makes your books so gosh darn amazing? Is it your ability to create main characters that, regardless of their flaws, I find so easy to empathize with? Yes. Maybe it's the secondary characters that you create. Every person in the main characters close circle of friends make me wish that I could reach through the pages and steal them to be part show more of my life, too. It probably also has something to do with your ability to write such beautiful and honest sentences that just a few simple words strung together have the ability to either make your heart feel like it will burst with joy or break into a million pieces. Damn you Melina Marchetta, for making me cry at work again. *shakes fist* show less