Review: Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta

Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta

Published: May 9th 2006
Publisher: Knopf Books For Young Readers
Page Count: Paperback, 243
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Find the Author: Website, Good Reads, Twitter
Buy This Book: Amazon, Book Depository

Francesca is stuck at St. Sebastian's, a boys' school that pretends it's coed by giving the girls their own bathroom.  Her only female companions are an ultra-feminist, a rumored slut, and an an impossibly dorky accordion player.  The boys are no better, from Thomas who specializes in musical burping to Will, the perpetually frowning, smug moron that Francesca can't seem to stop thinking about.
Then there's Francesca's mother, who always thinks she knows what's best for Francesca—until she is suddenly stricken with acute depression, leaving Francesca lost, alone, and without an inkling who she really is.  Simultaneously humorous, poignant, and impossible to put down, this is the story of a girl who must summon the strength to save her family, her social life and—hardest of all—herself. - Good Reads

Saving Francesca started out confusing for me. There were a lot of characters in Francesca's school that I couldn't tell apart and eventually I stopped flipping back and trying to figure out who was who. I also had a difficult time latching on until I was over 30% into the book. The ending did make up for it a little more, but I still didn't absolutely love it, like I thought I would. 


What drew me to this story in particular was that Frankie's Mother suffers from depression. Because I have one of those Mothers - I know how it can truly suck and how emotionally draining it can be. So, I sympathized with Frankie there. And since this was a new situation for Frankie, to see how she reacted without her Mother pushing her to be a certain way, which was something she always did to Frankie in the past.


There were parts of the book I did like a lot. The writing was just my style. I really did like Francesca and her group of friends and their chemistry together even if I couldn't really tell them apart. I did admire Francesca's personality and her honesty - I like that she didn't beat around the bush, though she was a real pushover in the beginning with not wanting to stand up to her school for their obvious discrimination to the new girls. I also loved the music and film references. Tori Amos, Natalie Merchant, Jewel, The Princess Bride and The Last of the Mohicans! Some of my favourites! 


I'll definitely be reading more books by Melina Marchetta in the future, but I can't say this book was life changing or AMAZING, but it was good. 
  
                                4 out of 5 Hello Kitties!