Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta (2 Viewers)

[dark`secrets]

WILL TROMBAL IS SWEEEETTT !! LOL

 

[astro]

I loved 'Saving Francesca'...it was a great book

 

[stressed monkie]

my yr 12 legal teacher went to school with melina (the author) and apparently she did crap in english, which goes to prove anyone can become an author, but i did like it very much but i also like looking for alibrandi (her first book) more convincing to reality

 

[Blackalicious]

yeah the book is good but Josie whines alot saving Francesca

 

[welshi]

Put it this way - IMHO, saving francesca was better written but LFA is just so classic. it's one of those books that you can't grow up in australia without reading. it's a pity it dates a little. but i totally related to SF, especially as i went thru that whole thing where i was the scapegoat for my group of friends in like yr 8 all picking on me, and i have had experiences with depression and that total exhaustion where you just want to sleep all day!!!! this whole rite-of-passage chick stuff is what marchetta does best - as far as we can tell, she's onyl written 2 books!! if anyone knows where i can find will trombal, please let me know. can we petition marchetta for a sequel to SF? LFA stands alone but i really got a lot more involved wit the characters like Tara and Tom (i want to see those two hook up properly!!!)
skylegs is by Irini savvides, who i know and she is the sweetest person! she teaches - i think she's still there anyway - at blue mountains grammar school. she's written another one called willow tree and olive, which is a bit darker than skylegs but so fantastic. skylegs was beautiful tho. amazing writer.

 

[glitter burns]

Originally posted by welshi

skylegs is by Irini savvides, who i know and she is the sweetest person! she teaches - i think she's still there anyway - at blue mountains grammar school. she's written another one called willow tree and olive, which is a bit darker than skylegs but so fantastic. skylegs was beautiful tho. amazing writer.

Ah, Irini! Sorry, don't know why I thought it was Marianne. I got the last name right at least.
I've read the Willow Tree and Olive too (a bunch of times actually), it was good, but something about Skylegs really grabbed me.
I loved that she used real places in her book - I went to Vivianna's Creations a few months ago and felt like the girl in the book.
Ooh man I'm a dork.

 

[welshi]

yeah i'm the same (dorky beyond belief)... i'd just come back from our annual summer hols in byron bay when i read it and when she described the main beach and sleeping woman island, and the centre for miracles which is right down the road from our place up there... i just went AHHHHHHHHH! and earth ns sea pizza lpace, which is beyond tasty.
has anyone read raincheck on timbuktu by kirsten murphy?

 

[braindrainedAsh]

I liked it, but I also thought it was very similar to looking for alibrandi....

 

[steph@nie]

Similar to looking, but better. As if you didn't want to have a boy like Will Trombal once you finished reading it!

 

[inasero]

i think its pretty sterreotypical with the whole 'teen angst' concept and therefore very predictable...also not much character development and was a disappointment for considering the author had written looking for alibrandi. otherwise, not bad

 

[sez_04]

i read SF like a yr ago wen my eng teacher suggested we read it for related material for our prelim course...and i did and i enjoyed it heaps. i havent read LFA so i feel so deprived right now n wen i read LFA i guess i can compare the two...i love wil tromball. My ex was taught by Marchetta, n his friends r mentioned in the acknowledgments so im almost positive the characters r based on st marys boys. if only i knew which one wil tromball was!!!!!

 

[Demandred]

Anyone found the ending a bit too abrupt?

 

[capsicum]

Originally posted by virgin^sexy
i wasnt all that impressed with Saving Francesca. I read Looking for Alibrandi a few years ago and thought it was okay, better than the movie at least. But when i read SF, I just thought it was exactly the same type of story (i know this has been said) and she didnt really seem such a good writer anymore.

On another note, Melina Marchetta is an English teacher at St Mary's in the city and my friend goes there and he said that she said that she based alot of the boys in the story on boys at the school, so perhaps that means there really is a Wil Trombal out there??

Uh huh, I agree. I read Looking for Alibrandi a few years back and loved it. The movie was a disappointment (no offense). Saving Francesca was alright, not as good as the first. It didn't touch me as much.

 

[blah says she]

Originally posted by welshi
has anyone read raincheck on timbuktu by kirsten murphy?

yes!!!! i loved that book, i can read it again and again without getting sick of it

 

[Leap]

I actually really liked Saving Francesca. Especially the whole concept of the all boys school that has just started accepting girls, because it reminds me of a school that I used to go to.
Its been a while since I read it though, actually I think this was the book I was reading during my HSC exams, I remember I borrowed it from the library while I was procrastinating in Stuvac or something.
Like everyones said, it is similar to Looking for Alibrandi, but i don't think thats a bad thing, because Melina Marchetta is so good at writing that type of thing. Also, the characters are *so* realistic. A lot of the guys in it are exactly like several guys that I used to know.

 

[= Jennifer =]

i think it was a good book overall and had similarities to looking for alibrandi

 

[welshi]

Originally posted by blah says she
yes!!!! i loved that book, i can read it again and again without getting sick of it

i loved it so much i wrote to her (NERD ALERT!) and she wrote back, she was really cool. where can i find a nick? where do all these cute boys come from who are rmoantic interests ni aussie girl-growing-up novels?

 

[stressed monkie]

Originally posted by welshi
8
skylegs is by Irini savvides, who i know and she is the sweetest person! she teaches - i think she's still there anyway - at blue mountains grammar school. she's written another one called willow tree and olive, which is a bit darker than skylegs but so fantastic. skylegs was beautiful tho. amazing writer.

irini taugt at my school as well catherine mcauley she was drama/english teacher i like willow tree and olive the best out of her 2 books

 

[capsicum]

I actually really liked Saving Francesca. Especially the whole concept of the all boys school that has just started accepting girls, because it reminds me of a school that I used to go to.
Its been a while since I read it though, actually I think this was the book I was reading during my HSC exams, I remember I borrowed it from the library while I was procrastinating in Stuvac or something.
Like everyones said, it is similar to Looking for Alibrandi, but i don't think thats a bad thing, because Melina Marchetta is so good at writing that type of thing. Also, the characters are *so* realistic. A lot of the guys in it are exactly like several guys that I used to know.

i read it again today and actually found it quite good. i decided to use it for my english extension critical book review cuz i realised all the things i could write about. things made more sense this time round when i read it. and i like the concept of how at Sebastian's no one gives a shit.

 

[Cicciolina]

i also love that i got alot more of the references (cause its written write now! i dont know why.. that i loved)... Kick ass book

That's why I liked it too - it was just so relevant, all the HSC stuff, the 'boy-with-at-the-bus-stop' thing. And Will Trombal is just *sigh*