Saving Francesca

I had read Saving Francesca’s predecessor, The Piper’s Son, a year and a half before I read this book. I knew some of what ultimately happened to the characters and who ended up with whom. That did not ruin the book at all for me. I was instantly in love with it and had to stop myself from crying since I read it at work. That would have been embarrassing to have and explain why I was crying over a book.

Saving Francesca is a sad, touching and exceedingly moving book about a teenage girl, named Francesca, whose mother Mia does not get out of bed one morning.
This book reached close to home for me as I dealt with my own mother going through something remarkably similar to Mia. I also called her by her first name, I never grew out of show more that habit, as to distance my relationship towards her. The difference is while Francesca’s relatives gave advice ad nauseam about what was wrong with her Mother; no one blamed her for what was happening. I had to deal with criticisms for causing my mother to go through this by relatives who did not want to have to fix “it” themselves. I was painfully anticipating that confrontation that her mom would blame Francesca for her depression. She kept urging Francesca to live and take chances. I was quite worried because my own mother gave me several rants about letting life pass me by at that age. Thankfully, that did not happen. Her father was the one to avoid confronting Mia as he was worried it was his fault. Her coworkers did blame him because he was not on her intellectual level. Their father Robert's experiences are how people close to my mother looked on her children. As a dead weight dragging her down and "causing" the depression.

Francesca was rightfully frustrated with her dad. He did not want to talk to his children about what was happening, but it was not cruel.
For people unfamiliar with this situation, all I can say is, this book got it. It got how if you do not talk the feelings out they will fester and grow. It also expressed how just small things can get you through the day and when they can not.

I can’t say enough how much this book affected me. I wish it had been written when I was a teenager. I just wish I’d known about it back when it was released as I was going through quite a tough time with my mother. This book has a much sweeter relationship and deeper bond than my own. My own family are more like the Mackee’s.

Francesca's friends are hilarious. Even when she won't admit they are her friends they were described with humour and warmth. Even when Tom is burping songs or Will is annoying her.
Each character is vivid and alive in these pages.

I am praying that Marchetta writes Jimmy his own novel. He needs one. What happened to him? I gather something pretty serious was troubling him from both this and The Piper’s Son. show less

Francesca is trying to figure out life in a new school, one of only a few girls in an all boys‘ school recently gone co-ed. Stuck with only a few familiar girls from her old school who weren‘t her friends, she has no one to turn to for support when her mom falls into a crippling depression. As her family crumbles and she realizes her old friends weren‘t friends at all, it may turn out that her new St. Sebastian‘s people are her saving grace.

I don‘t know how Marchetta does this but these people aren‘t just characters, they‘re *real.* She has teenagers figured out in a way teenagers don‘t even have themselves figured out. The immaturity, the vulnerability, the creation of an image that suppresses the vulnerability. This is show more a beautiful story about flawed family and finding true friendships, the emotional climax of which made me ugly cry. I can‘t recommend it enough. show less

Thank you, Tommy! VD forever!!! ;)


I think I used to pursue only fantasy books because I thought I had to read about magic in order to have those magical transporting feelings, you might know the ones, like when Mathilda knocks over the glass with her mind and in the end stays with Miss Honey; like when Bran desperately reaches out with the crystal sword to cut the first blooming spray from the Midsummer tree; or how about when Amberle looks back at Wil and as he screams she reaches out to the Ellcrys and begins to transform; and especially like when Jenny Waynest jumps over the parapet to rise up on wings of pearl...ahh.

My reading life has had some changes and painful realizations over the past several years. Fantasy hasn't been able to show more cut it for me for a long time. I'm slowly, slowly coming to terms with the undeniable fact that high-minded literature and much of non-fiction are too high above my mind for me to grasp like they should be grasped (echoes of VirJohn!). It's been easier to admit that I still enjoy YA books; the high-minded peers through its pince-nez to sneer at me while YA joyfully launches itself into my arms. And an odd book-related lack that I've been having trouble identifying, an absence of transport and ecstatic imagination, is now pinned down: I'd been lamenting that I can't seem to find books that make me gaze at nothing dreamily and come back to myself feeling...better, maybe happier or calmer, hopeful. I may have been stubbornly clinging to the misconception that only reading about magic-magic can produce the magic-y sense.

I love this book. I got the magic-y feeling on page 103. No, not the mention of Colin Firth, I don't have a Pavlovian drool reflex at the sight of his name. Without spells or witchery, I was with Francesca with tears in her eyes and her misfit friends in front of a tv knowing that I was recognized and accepted...Marchetta is amazing. The only thing I didn't like was how neatly just about everything wrapped up towards the end, with people speechifying emotionally in a way that's too perfect to be real. Perfect and joltingly false.

It seems to be a mother-daughter story and fitting in at school, but that's too limited a description. It's family, "growing up," friendship, and love. It's funny. I was 'killing myself laughing' and despite that phrase getting repeated repeatedly I never tired of it. I'm eager to read more Marchetta and run after this rainbow's end of magic without magic. show less

Francesca Spinelli, 16, has just transferred to St. Sebastian’s from St. Stella's at the start of her Year Eleven, because her previous school only went through Year Ten. St. Sebastian’s is a formerly all-boys school that is newly co-ed, so there are 750 boys and just 30 girls. Only four including Francesca are from St. Stella's, so they begin to hang around together, even though they weren't really friends before. The St. Stella girls who were in Francesca's group have moved on, and weren’t such great friends in the first place. The new school is a lonely and alienating experience for quite a while.

Meanwhile, at home, Francesca’s world has also turned upside down. Her upbeat, manic mother Mia has gone into a depression and show more won’t leave her room. Her family starts to fall apart. Francesca tries to provide comfort for her ten-year-old and much loved brother Luca, but she is no substitute for her mother. She blames her father for her mother’s state, and relationships at home rapidly deteriorate.

For a long time, Francesca is totally at sea. Always a good student, she begins to get detention a lot, and it is in detention that she bonds with a group of kids, besides the former Stella’s girls, that will become her closest friends. She also finds herself attracted to one of the House leaders, Will Trombal, with whom she has sparred since she started at St. Sebastian’s.

Still, Marchetta is too good to give us insta-change. Francesca continues to struggle with who she is and the changes in her family. Her fear and anger lead her to take a radical step that causes everyone in her life to reevaluate their priorities.

Discussion: The characters in this book, especially Francesca’s new friends, are absolutely wonderful and so uniquely different from the usual “friends of the protagonist” fare. Francesca is a great character as well: she is basically a good person, but never had so many challenges before. She is forced to grow up in several different directions at once, and the author does an excellent job with it. Francesca changes slowly, with some steps backward along the way, but finally comes to figure out how to take charge of her life, instead of just reacting to whatever comes along.

Evaluation: This author creates some of the best characters I’ve “met” in a long time. And not one is static – not even the bit players; they all grow in some way. It may sound from my summary like this is a depressing, issue-oriented book, but it’s not that at all. This is a happy, character-driven story, and this reader was happy in addition for having another book to read by this excellent author. show less

Wow. Starts out with a whiny teen in a 'Hallmark Hall of Fame' situation but quickly reveals itself to be real. Deft - we don't get to know Francesca for a long time, but that's because she doesn't know herself. We don't know much about Dad or brother, but that's because F. is wrapped up in her own coming-of-age challenges and being distracted by worries about Mummy. Good lessons for teens and for parents, told smoothly, almost lightly, with wit, insight, and heart.

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 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 show more into a million pieces. Damn you Melina Marchetta, for making me cry at work again. *shakes fist* show less

First off, let me say that there are stories that you love, then there are stories you feel like you are in, and then there are stories in which you assume a character's role. Somehow, Saving Francesca is, without exception, all three of these things. Francesca and her words crept into my ear, down my throat and into my heart. There was no way I couldn't not talk about how wonderful this book is or how lovingly poignant and beautiful her story is to read.

I never expected the amazing depth the book has judging by the cartoon clad cover. Yeah, I know, color me a snob, but it was my first Marchetta - what did I know? Francesca is one of the most wonderful, tender, vulnerable ans strong characters I've ever met. She hid her true personality show more in junior high due to peer pressure, but it was the sneaky, subtle, mean girl kind of pressure - you know what I'm talking about. The kind where you don't even know you're giving the best parts of yourself away because you are under the spell of belonging. Anywho, strong and vulnerable, right? Sounds like a flipping cliche, right? Well, maybe, but that's because Francesca OWNS it. Seriously, flip that cliche over. It will say: MADE IN SYDNEY BY FRANKIE, BABY.

And Francesca really is the story. She's the oldest of two and adores her little brother (so refreshing to see). You get the sense of discord right from beginning, as her mother simply won't get out of bed. Her mother absolutely runs their lives. So, in this home, no active mother = no family foundation. Her father is completely devoted to her and tries to cope as best as he knows how to, but Francesca and her little brother have to take second place. It is heart wrenching to see their pain, and it's a powerful reminder that a family is a unit. When one member suffers, everyone does. Francesca is really in a perfect storm of a situation. On one front, she is feeling a sense of having no place in a hostile new school. The old, pre-mean girl Francesca could've adjusted better, but the more subdued Francesca does not, and she feels lost. On another front, her type-A, encouraging, overbearing (and sometimes resented) mother is no longer with it enough for her to get support from. On the third front, Francesca is struggling to connect with people. She has this group of quasi-friends, but she doesn't really feel like she has anyone specific to turn to.

That's the plot in a nutshell. Francesca Spinelli is learning how to cope with a new school unprepared and unwilling to accommodate its new female student body. Her dad has to be emotional support for her mom, she has to be that for her little brother, which leaves no one to be it for her. She's learning to reclaim her own sense of self that she gave away years earlier in an attempt to fit in. Along the way, the absolute best supporting cast of characters I've read in so long come into her life and made me laugh, *snort*, hoot!, awwww and yes, even cry. Usually, I'd stop right here and declare Marchetta a Master of Characterization, but honestly, she's just a Master, period. Marchetta is a Master Writer, and that's all there is to it.

I'm not exaggerating - the mastery extends to setting, as well. The story takes in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia, and yes, there are direct references to the area. What I am really talking about, though, is Marchetta's ability to write about a very specific place and make it feel like you are walking in your own neighborhood. I loved it, and, as a former Catholic school girl who grew up in an area with significant Italian, Irish and Eastern European influences, the school setting, community, and little nuances that make this story come to life made me feel like I was touring my own high school and city. Adding in Francesca's emotionally charged narrative and her authentic, true-to-life friends made me feel like I was time traveling back to my former teenage self.

This book is heartbreaking and hilarious - there is such a blemish-free balance between the serious tone and the laugh-out-loud moments. It's like a friend holding you while you cry and then that person says something that sets off a huge chain of laughs that makes you think, "Yeah, this is it - this is living." There is just something so special about this book. . . It's a perfect story, and I absolutely encourage you to pick it up and experience it for yourself. show less