Saving Francesca was the first book I read by Melina Marchetta, and I knew instantly that I needed to read more. Character development is one of my favourite things in fiction, and Saving Francesca is basically built of character development! It’s not just that the main character, Francesca, develops, though she does, but that the entire cast of characters around her flourish as her attitude towards them slowly moves away from barely tolerating their ‘weirdness’ to accepting them as fully-fleshed-out friends for life.
Why do I feel as if something’s missing in my life without them and they don’t feel the same about me? That doesn’t make them bad, does it?
Saving Francesca, Melina Marchetta
There’s not a character in Saving Francesca that I don’t love, except for Francesca’s old ‘friends’ and, even then, I appreciate how will written they are as villains. They’re horrible! The arcs of Jimmy and Thomas are particularly impressive, and very fitting for a YA novel. At first, they’re other, boys, and completely incomprehensible, but they make room for themselves in Francesca’s little group and it becomes obvious that there’s so much more to them than that.
The aspect I’m least interested in is Francesca’s love story, though I can see how it’s a necessary part of her momentum through the book. I’m just more interested in the friendships, and the hints of relationship drama that are buried there.
I enjoyed the book even more this time around because I knew that I’d be able to revisit these characters in The Piper’s Son, which I’ll have to review eventually! Saving Francesca certainly makes me cry, but it’s got nothing on the sequel, from what I remember!
It’s a weird smile, but it reaches his eyes and I bottle it And I put it in my ammo pack that’s kept right next to my soul. The one that holds Mia’s scent and Justine’s spirit and Siobhan’s hope and Tara’s passions. Because if I’m going to wake up one morning and not be able to get out of bed, I’m going to need everything I’ve got to fight this bastard of a disease that could be sleeping inside of me.
Saving Francesca, Melina Marchetta
Chalk Letters Books 
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