The Piper's Son

by Melina Marchetta

"A memorable portrait of first love, surviving grief, and the messy contradictions and fierce bonds that hold friends and family together." — Booklist

Printz Award–winning author Melina Marchetta reopens the story of the group of friends from her acclaimed novel Saving Francesca — but five years have passed, and now it’s Thomas Mackee who needs saving. As his life hits rock bottom, Tom’s in no shape to mend what’s broken. But what if no one else is either? An unflinching look at family, forgiveness, and the fierce inner workings of love and friendship, The Piper’s Son redefines what it means to go home again.

• ISBN10: 0763660620
• ISBN13: 9780763660628
• Publish Date: 14 August 2012 (first published 8 March 2011)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Candlewick Press,U.S.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 336
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780763660628

Reviews

[bumblingbookworm]

This review was originally posted on The Bumbling Bookworm


Check out the rest of my review here!

[Bianca]

It’s all a bit of a gamble, mate. That’s all I can promise you. And we never get to see what that other life would have looked like if we don’t take chances.

[KitsuneBae]

Melina Marchetta, you never fail to amaze me. Your contemporaries aren't just about high school kisses. They're more than that. And every time I finish them, I'm always left broken. Dammit. You really have a way with words. It's like, you know... lyrical writing is a part of your DNA make up. Sighs.

[Kelly]

I made it to over a quarter the way through, and just couldn't continue. I really enjoyed Saving Francesca, but this didn't have the same magical qualities for me.

[ladygrey]

The Piper's Son is all about pain. It starts out in the middle of Tom's pain in a similar way to how [b:Saving Francesca|82434|Saving Francesca|Melina Marchetta|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327865374s/82434.jpg|18042740] started out at the beginning of Francesca's. And of course [a:Melina Marchetta|47104|Melina Marchetta|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1277655889p2/47104.jpg] can unflinchingly reveal her character's pain. She roots around and shows you the source of it even as she serves up their anger and bitterness and lets them make bad choices because of it all, and good choices too.

Except it doesn't really hurt, which astounds me because when I read my own review I think, "I would never want to read a book like that." Except if it's Melina Marchetta's. Because there's something cathartic in her books - the gentle way she exposes her characters pain and the small moments of happiness that restore them in the end, and even in the middle to, piece by piece and bit by bit.

And because it's Melina Marchetta this world is made up of rich characters who love each other so strongly and devotedly even when they're so angry at each other and betrayed. She grants each one of them healing so that in the middle of the book I have tears falling down my face through a few chapters without the need to really cry. There's such strength and such vulnerability in her writing and in her characters that they're kind of impossible not to love.