Saving Francesca

What teens say:

Fabulous! It made me laugh and cry. Just about my favorite book of all the ones I’ve read.

Still liked it even though it is not my favorite.

What I say:

Francesca's mother no longer wakes her up with motivational songs and messages. Mia is so depressed that she cannot even get out of

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bed. Francesca is at a new school and no longer has her peer group to help her navigate. What's more this new school used to be an all male school; many students are not happy with the female invasion. Francesca's world is gone. She's not sure she can make it anymore and she does not yet even know the full story.

Marchetta made me care more about these characters than any book I've read in a long while. What's more she made me care AND surprised me in the process. I even liked Thomas by the end of the book. The title is perfect because it begs a discussion germane as to who is doing the saving? While Francesca says at the end of the book that it is time for her to save herself, that statement is in the context of her learning to love and value her family in deeper ways, her friends in ways that are respectful, AND herself. Maybe, however, the best explanation for why I liked this book is the fact that I could not talk to anyone for a few hours after I read it because of the strong emotional pull it has. This book is still in my emotional memory months later. Highly recommended! [Note: As I add this to Library Thing in November of 2007, I STILL very clearly remember this book, remember the characters, and still dearly love it!]

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Review also posted at The Wandering Fangirl.

I very nearly passed this over without a second thought. On the surface, there doesn't seem to be too much to this book; Francesca is in one of the first girl classes at a formerly all-boys boarding school. Yawn, right?

Saving Francesca turned out to be so

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much more beautiful and intricate than that.

The boarding school and Francesca's struggles within are the supporting players to the turmoil, the loneliness, the sadness and occasional happiness she finds. I don't suffer from depression and I don't know anyone who has had a breakdown the way Francesca's mother has, but I found I could truly understand what she was going through. I could almost relate, I could sympathize, I was right there with her every step of the way, and it made the normal teenage things -- the crush, the new friends, finding out who she truly is -- feel so much more than the sum of their parts.

And sad as it may be at times, it never drags you down into the depths, but instead shows you enough of a glimpse to understand what it's like.

This is a gorgeous novel, one I would highly recommend to anyone. After reading On the Jellicoe Road last month and having finished Saving Francesca, Melina Marchetta has become one of my favorite YA authors. I'll be reading everything of hers I can get my hands on.

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Francesca is accustomed to struggling with her vibrant, overbearing mother, until the day that Mia doesn't get out of bed. To make things worse, Francesca is the only one in her group of friends to begin 11th grade at St. Sebastian's, a formerly all-male school still adjusting to its transition to

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co-ed status. As Francesca's family falls apart, she loses touch with her old, shallow friends and finds herself bonding with an unlikely group of girls and boys. She is embroiled in an initially adversarial flirtation with House leader William Trombal, who unfortunately already has a girlfriend.

The strengths of Saving Francesca are both the subject mattter (the ripple effect of Mia's depression strains Francesca's relationships with her father and teachers in addition to her mother) and the slow, deliberate filling out of characters through Francesca's sometimes unreliable narration. Francesca's eventual group of friends isn't just a clique-y group of girls as in many teen school-based novels, but a mix of slightly outcast boys and girls whom circumstances have thrown together. The characters are fresh and vibrant, and the ending brings the story to a satisfying full circle.

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I cannot describe in coherent terms how much I love this book. I'm a fan of Marchetta's writing, but this book was one of the most beautiful, heartbreaking and wonderful books I've ever read. I devoured it and am on a mission to read as much of her books as possible. I also loved, being a Whitlam's

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fan, the references to a specific album/song which I know and love. I don't know what else I can say, except A+ would read again and again.

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Yr. 9 - Yr. 10.
Francesca is at the beginning of her second term in Year Eleven at an all boys' school that has just started accepting girls. She still misses her old friends, and, to make things worse, her mother has had a breakdown and can barely move from her bed. But Francesca had not counted on

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the fierce loyalty of her new friends, or falling in love, or finding that it's within her power to bring her family back together.

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This was definitely chick lit, but it was a lot deeper than most chick lit, due to Francesca's mother's depression (which, as as fellow-depressive, I thought was realistically depicted). The story was believable and not over-the-top at all, just the trials and tribulations of an ordinary Australian

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teenage girl. The stuff about Italian-Australian culture added spice.

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Saving Francesca was a book about a girl named Francesca who goes to a basically all boys school. When her "mum" becomes depressed, Francesca finds her life much more complicated. She is angry at her father, becomes separated from her brother, and is having to deal with a very much up and down

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relationship- all while trying to help her mother.
I really enjoyed this book. It is a TEEN book, I would not want a kid to read it. There are cuss words in it ( a lot unfortunately). But it was still a good book and was a fun read.

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This was a pretty average book. It took me a little while to read it because there was very little forward action. There really wasn't much of a plot other than the typical "girl faces problem and must learn to deal with it as she grows into adulthood" thing you see almost everywhere. The

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characters weren't bad, but there just wasn't much there to keep me interested.

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Francesca has a lot going on in her life. She just started at the newly co-ed Saint Sebastian’s without any friends and her usually vivacious mother has sunk into a deep depression. Melina Marchetta has created a strong, believable character in Francesca and takes readers on a fun, but realistic

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journey as Francesca grows through her experiences.

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Saving Francesca is a well-paced, well-written exploration of Frankie’s school and home life as she starts year 11 in a new school, documenting her everyday challenges and triumphs. Marchetta has unerringly captured the culture and place that she has chosen

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(Italian/Australian/Catholic/Sydney/High School) and also gets top marks for strong character development, relationship development and readability.

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Within just a few days (and books) Melina Marchetta has become one of my favorite YA writers. Just like my other favorite author E. Lockhart, she writes about teens and she knows what she is talking about, unlike some YA authors who should not be named.

Let's take Saving Francesca. The story is set

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in St. Sebastian - a not so long ago all-male school that just recently turned co-ed. You might expect this book to be quite a romp - this school at first appears to be a paradise for girls with male to female ratio of 25 to 1. But Marchetta knows better. St. Sebastian is a deeply sexist place where girls are either completely ignored or viewed as sexual objects. Neither are the boys portrayed as suave sex gods (as seems to be the trend these days). They are quite obnoxious, sometimes infuriating, and stinky creatures with (maybe) some redeeming qualities.

Francesca Spinelli is one of the "lucky" 30 girls. She is having a tough time. She doesn't have any friends in her new school and acquiring new girl friends out of so few is not easy. Plus, her mother, a rock of her family, suddenly succumbs to an acute depression.

Saving Francesca is about Francesca's journey to find her strength and save herself from despair, to find friendships in the most unexpected places and maybe love.

The book covers all familiar topics from Marchetta's other novels. It is about mothers and daughters, friendships, finding strength in yourself. It is full of humor and honest emotion. It is funny and it is heartbreaking.

I enjoyed every sentence of it.

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I think I'm on a boarding school kick, after previously reading "Skippy Dies."

Heart-wrenching account of a girl named Francesca and her junior year at school. After having transferred to a former all-boys school, Francesca must now make new friends and discover who she really is.

On this journey of

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self-discovery, she also finds herself attracted to a complicated boy and has to deal with her mother's sudden onset of depressions.

Beautifully written with a mixture of emotion and humor, Marchetta authentically portrays teen angst when dealing with friendship, love, change and growing up.

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This is an amazing author!

Great book, great story, you won't be sorry your read it.

Francesca thinks that transferring to an all boys school that just started allowing girls is the worst thing that could happen. Then one day, her strong, loud, supportive mom doesn't get out of bed. At all. She isn't physically sick, she just can't deal anymore. Suddenly, Francesca has to navigate

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a new school and at the same time learn to deal with a broken family.

There are some laughs along the way, but this book is a lot heavier than it seems. This was an amazingly well-written book. I didn't always like Francesca's choices, but I understood why they had to happen. I will be looking for more books written by Ms. Marchetta in the near future.

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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

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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 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.

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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

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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 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.

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Where has Saving Francesca been?! I feel a bit cheated for not having read it sooner. Saving Francesca is a book which just blows you away! I started off reading Saving Francesca and of course I liked it. I was surprised when after each chapter was over, I was starting to like it even more. By the

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end of Saving Francesca, Melina Marchetta had me IN LOVE with her brilliant story!

Francesca may have changed and transformed the most in a book I’ve EVER seen a character change before. I was so proud of her by the end of Saving Francesca. She’s dealing with a new school, her mother battling with depression and just wanting friends. Somewhere during her pre-teen/teen years Francesca lost herself for whatever reasons and through Saving Francesca we see he start to gain her character back. Francesca learns not to suppress her dreams, goals, like or dislikes just because others may judge you for it. Francesca’s mother, Mia, had some intelligent advice to give! You knew that deep down Mia was a strong woman, but too many depressing events happened to her which brought her down.

In every contemporary novel I’m usually expecting some type or romance, I think most of us are to some degree. Of course Saving Francesca has romance in it, not tons, but for some crazy reason I wasn’t begging for Melina to add more. Don’t get me wrong, at first maybe I hated Will and even called him an *ssh*l* in my notes, but Will’s personality is what makes him attractive. I find this to be different than other contemporary fiction novels I’ve read that focus on looks as well as personality. Again, don’t get me wrong, I love hot guys in books like the rest of you, but Will was just a change of pace.

I felt like I took my time reading Saving Francesca, but it was over before I knew it! I will be picking up more of Melina Marchetta’s books in the future, including The Piper’s Son which includes some of the same characters as from Saving Francesca! Oh yeah…AND ANYONE WHO HASN’T READ THIS…DO IT NOW! Anyone who has recommended, reviewed, or mentioned Saving Francesca at all where I saw it…THANK YOU for bring Saving Francesca into my life, I’m grateful! I seriously need my own copy of this story because I’m sure my library will want their book back!

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Melina Marchetta is one of the best consistently amazing authors that I've come across, and Saving Francesca is no exception to this statement! For no reason really, I kept putting off reading it. Then, in a reading trade I made with Ashley at Basically Amazing Books (an "if I read this, then

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you'll read this..." type deal), I finally picked my copy up.

The characterization could not have been better. I became so emotionally involved in these characters, I even ended up practically crying at one point towards the end. Francesca, through a cruel twist of teenagery bad luck, gets stuck at a boarding school that is accepting girls for the first time. She really doesn't know all that many people, so the group of friends she ends up with is pretty much like her: made of other kids that find themselves without a group. The situations they find themselves in are constantly engaging and entertaining. Also at times either hilarious or poignant.

Things at home aren't going very well either. Her mother is suddenly bedridden with intense depression - out of nowhere Francesca and her family have to learn how to cope with their new reality. Very very emotional story line here, as Francesca explores the feelings she had for her mother - both the before and after versions.

So basically, this book is all about the characters. If you've read any of Melina's other books you know that this is where she excels. It is so easy to become invested in the lives of these people who are so realistically portrayed. You'll spend most of your reading time either laughing uproariously or having your heartstrings tugged at! Everyone from the seemingly immature Thomas to Francesca's love interest Will bring something different to the table. I'm really looking forward to moving on to the sequel/companion novel, Piper's Son, that features Thomas as the MC.

So, whether or not you're already a Marchetta fan, this is a contemporary YA novel well worth reading. And if you do end up picking this up as your first of hers - I can promise you with absolute certainty that it won't be your last!

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Sixteen-year-old Francesca Spinelli is having a rough time. She is in her second term at a boy’s school that has just started accepting girls, and to make matters worse her dynamo of a mother, Mia, didn’t get out of bed this morning. Francesca’s vacuous old friends have gone to a different

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college leaving her along and repressed. Things don’t improve and her father decides to split up the family. He stays home to take care of Mia while Francesca and younger brother Luca go to different family members. Things at school seem to be deterioating and just when Francesca thinks she can't handle anymore she has a run in with smug House leader Will Trombal. He’s irritating but there is just something about him…

This is the first of Marchetta’s books that I have read and I was extremely impressed. It’s painful, moving, funny and realistic. The author delves into the history behind Mia's clinical depression and the impact this illness has on family dynamics. The subject is a hard one to tackle but is addressed with sensitivity and understanding as the slow journey of recovery is undertaken. The support that Francesca finds from her eclectic bunch of misfit new friends and the blossoming romance with Will are explored by an author who obviously has a deep understanding of human interaction. An excellent read.

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I loved this book. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

You know that feeling that you get when you have something savory, like say a chocolate chip cookie or a piece of chocolate cake, and you want to just enjoy it slowly and appreciate every little morsel and bask in that greatness as long

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as you can? Yeah, that's what this book is like. I found myself reading the pages slowly and enjoying not only the story of Francesca and her (depressed) family but also the incredible writing style of Melina Marchetta.

This novel is about a girl whose mother, for some reason or another, has become depressed. It's about how Francesca comes to deal with this in her life and how it affects her life and the lives of her entire family. There are lots of things that have changed in her life other than her mother's depression - she now attends what used to be an all-male boarding school (and the boys aren't too happy about the girls being there). And here is where we find something that every teenager goes through - and that is wanting to be accepted. Francesca often conformed to what her friends (and mother) told her that she should be instead of being her own person. And now in this new place, she doesn't know who she is (especially without her mother telling her who to be). Throughout the novel though, Francesca finds her own voice (even if it is yelling at her father).

And the ending, well, it broke my heart.

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My second book by this author and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The novel is basically a concoction of the usual contemporary issues - love, friendship and family. But in the hands of Melina Marchetta, it becomes a highly engaging read!Meet Francesca. An ordinary girl who has recently transferred to St.

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Sebastian - a former boys school but now a co-ed. It is a place where every girl wish to be. Everyone except for Francesca. The guys there are not what they seem to be. They are not portrayed as macho, or easy on the eyes but as disgusting slobs. There, she unexpectedly finds a sense of belonging, first love, her identity and most importantly, the strength to save her family from tearing apart. After reading this, I can't wait to pick up the author's next book: The piper's son - following Thomas Mackee's story.

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Great fast read about a teen whose mother has a nervous breakdown. Francesca goes to a catholic school that was until this year, an all boys catholic school. She faces many obstacles concerning friends, family, adults, social issues. I felt very close to the characters and the writing was witty and

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real. It would also make a great movie.....

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One day Francesca's mom just doesn't get out of bed. She suffering from a major depression and Francesca doesn't quite know what to do. Francesca's mom has always been there to guide her and now Francesca must find her own way. Francesca is in a new school and is beginning to see who her real

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friends are.

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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

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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 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.

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