Saving Francesca

by Melina Marchetta

Sixteen-year-old Francesca could use her outspoken mother's help with the problems of being one of a handful of girls at a parochial school that has just turned co-ed, but her mother has suddenly become severely depressed.

• ISBN10: 0375929827
• ISBN13: 9780375929823
• Publish Date: 28 September 2004 (first published 1 June 2003)
• Publish Status: Unknown
• Publish Country: AU
• Publisher: Random House Australia
• Imprint: Knopf Australia
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 243
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating: 4.5 Stars

This was a really beautiful and heartwarming story of family and friendship. A lot of things in Francesca's life changed all at once, and at first, she was drowning. She always believed that her mother was the anchor of the family, and with her unwell, Francesca was forced to face a lot of truths and find other ways to cope. She began confronting the truth and assembled a wonderful rag-tag group of friends, and in the process, rediscovered herself.

I am ecstatic that I finally took the plunge and read my first Marchetta book, because it definitely delivered the feels and the smiles I was looking for.

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[Bianca]

“I was born seventeen years ago. Do you think people have noticed that I’m around?”

“I notice when you’re not. Does that count?”

Why did I wait so long to read this? My heart is bursting.

[KitsuneBae]

Not as good the Jellicoe Road and The Piper's Son but good nonetheless. I love the friendship dynamics between Francesca, Siobhan, Tarah, Justine, Thomas and Jimmy. And the romance between Frankie and Will Trombal is really cute. I really wonder as to how Marchetta manages to squeeze a lot of things in a little space without cluttering the whole story.

[Kelly]

http://www.divabooknerd.com/2013/11/saving-francesca-by-melinda-marchetta.html
Saving Francesca is a deep, compassionate coming of age story, told from the perspective of a girl who is struggling to find her place in the world without her mother. Francesca's mother has depression, the vivacious and educated woman had shut herself off from the world, her family and her children, and Francesca can't cope without her. Her mother has always told her who to be, what to do and has involved herself in every aspect of Frankie's life, so when Frankie needs to stand on her own two feet, she doesn't know how.

Melinda Marchetta crafted a realistic world that would remind most adults of those awkward high school days, but touches on the very serious diagnosis of depression. That even the strong can be struck down, and most of us are unaware of the early signs. Frankie's character is your average teen, she struggles to fit into any particular social group, and finds herself avoiding others that could be seen as committing social suicide. But she learns to march to the beat of her own drum, and it isn't until she lets go of what others think of her and her choices, that she finds she has a support network of amassed friends that she didn't expect. I didn't particularly like Will, Francesca's love interest, he was pompous, boring and under any other circumstances, Frankie probably wouldn't have given him a second thought. Like most young adult contemporaries, Saving Francesca doesn't have a definite ending, but her novel The Piper's Son continues the story somewhat from another point of view.

[Jyc]

★★★★ // i initially thought that i wouldn’t like this, but it turned out to be a really lovely read. i absolutely loved each and every character, especially the main friends. i think this is the first YA book that i read in which i was able to find a portrayal of depression and how it ultimately affects those close to you in a non-romanticized way. it has this bubbling sadness underneath it that was no less palpable.

[ladygrey]

I honestly didn't expect to love Saving Francesca. I know it's [a:Melina Marchetta|47104|Melina Marchetta|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1277655889p2/47104.jpg] so it's going to be brilliant but I read so little contemporary fiction I wasn't sure I'd enjoy it. Also, there's a sense of play in reading books for me, a relaxed frivolity that's my version of fun. Reading Melina Marchetta isn't fun - it's good but you know it's going to require something from you as much as it gives you so much more than other books can hope to. It's Les Mis to their Newsies (and I like Newsies).

But the thing I loved in this book is Francesca. I loved the particular way in which she's a smart ass. I liked that her wit is dry and clever and she's numb and also bold. And above all I loved that she's honest; with the reader and therefore herself even if she's not always entirely honest with the people in her life. That honesty just made all of her struggles so beautiful.

And of course I loved the secondary characters, because this is Melina Marchetta and she always does well developed characters. Some of them reminded me of people from her other books - Francesca's friends were like the group of women in [b:Quintana of Charyn|10165761|Quintana of Charyn (Lumatere Chronicles, #3)|Melina Marchetta|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1331187719l/10165761._SY75_.jpg|15064476] who seem so unlikable at first but then turn out to be really brave and awesome only these girls were also very kind. And Jimmy was like Griggs from [b:On Jellico Road|1162022|On the Jellicoe Road|Melina Marchetta|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1212708945l/1162022._SY75_.jpg|6479100] in his own gruff but also gentle and really companionable way. And Thomas and Will - they're all really hard to like at first because they're so broken but that's what Melina Marchetta does so unbelievably well. She writes broken characters who are also really good and that goodness makes them impossible not to like. She reveals what's really beautiful about her characters in the midst of their brokenness.

The thing that blows me away though, is that Melina Marchetta manages all that in the most incomparable language. It's makes me laugh. And then I just wanted to underline half the book because it's full of lines that are so poignant and romantic they break your heart and lines that are so simple and so eloquent it doesn't seem possible that someone can write like that but she does.

I should have known she would blow me out of the water. I just wasn't ready for it.

[notajammiedodger]

First Read September 2011

As always Marchetta creates a wonderful world of fantastic characters that you can't help but love.

Francesca is trying to deal with fitting in at a new school, an all boys school that has started accepting girls, she feels like she has enough to deal with without her mother's problems too, who suddenly won't get out of bed. Francesca's mum is suffering from depression. The story follows Francesca as she tries to blend in at a new school, falls in love and tries to cope with her depressed mother, when in the end she learns that she can help bring them back together again, and decides to save herself.

Francesca is a very real character, she's easy to connect and relate to. She's just a normal teenage girl, trying to fit in at a new school and deal with her family problems. I think everyone can relate to in some way or another. Will Trombal, where do I start. I love Will Trombal. He's sweet, and smart and sometimes just seems like a confusing arse hole, but, as with all of Marchetta's wonderful characters, you just can't help but love him. All of Francesca's friends were wonderful. They're all so opposite, but exactly the same and fit together so well.

As with the other two books that I have read by Melina Marchetta I really liked Saving Francesca, I didn't find it as sad as the other two, but I still loved it.

This review is also on my blog The Confessions of a Book Nerd :)

[violetpeanut]

This should be required reading for parents of teenage girls. The author really does a great job of showing the angst that is the teenage girl's life at 16. It's written honestly without being over-the-top like many other YA novels. It's also a window into the lives of a family dealing with depression and how it can affect each member of a family so profoundly.

The author evokes emotion well and the cast of characters is fleshed out well. I really ached for this girl.

Super read. Highly recommended.