So i just finished the new Melina Marchetta, 'The Piper's Son', and before i even started it i got that excited happy feeling of anticipation you only get when you know that there is an excellent read hiding quietly in your bag. The feeling that goes away when the book is finished, leaving only the afterglow, and the knowledge that those books don't come round everyday and it may be a while till that delicious anticipation comes back. I wish i had read it more slowly, savoured it more, but it was just a bit too unputdownable.
The companion novel to Saving Francesca, it is five years later and Thomas Mackee has lost the plot. His uncle Joe was blown up on his way to work and his dad has fallen off the wagon, hard. He screwed things up irreversibly with 'that psycho Finke' and so occupies his time by getting wasted and falling off stages at gigs, craving oblivion. That is until his feral flat mates kick him out, his pregnant aunt Georgie finds him on her verandah with ten stitches in his head and lets him move in, and he starts working at the local pub washing dishes with Francesca and Justine, whom he hasn't spoken to properly since Joe's death. Cleverly written and honestly voiced, Marchetta has created yet another classic laugh/cry/grow story for YA. About family, grief, and love, and what happens when grief is threatening to swallow everything else.
I first read Saving Francesca in yr 10 or 11 and have read it a couple times since. The characters from Saving Francesca have embedded themselves firmly in my mind, and alongside Moriarty's Em, Cass and Lyd, Anne Shirley and Georgia Nicholson, are firm book people friends. While I absolutely loved Looking for Alibrandi, i think that as a teenager i really identified with the SF characters, and still do. I don't know why that is, and could probably try and analyse it but cant be bothered right now... byeeee
Wow, I really want to read this book! :D
ReplyDeleteCan't wait till this one makes it to the states!
ReplyDeleteim only in yr 10 now and i first read SF when i was in year eight for a school report and instantly fell in love with it going out and bying my own copy. im so excited about this new book coming out and i can't wait to read it because i was i love with Thomas Mackee and Jimmy Hailer as well as Will all through SF. But im sure this book is going to make me sad at the lost friendship but im sure im going to love it and end up buying it anyway
ReplyDeleteI fell in love with Saving Fracesca when I read it for the first time last year in year 9 before starting to study it this year, and it has since become one of my favourites along with Looking for Alibrandi. I brought The Pipers Son as soon as I found it on the shelf last month and ofcourse, fell in love with it to. The characters are still so well known from Saving Francesca. Meliena Marchetta has become one of my favourite authors because in these books she has writen about characters who are real enough for people to relate to. I cant wait for the next book she realeses, and look forward to studing the text in English class.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bella.
I love Melina's writing style & the way it's so easy to fall in love with her characters. I can read her books over & over again & not get sick of them. I'm already in a high state of excitement over the possibility of her next book. I'm hoping she's going to write one about Jimmy Hailler
ReplyDeleteI am waiting on pins and needles for the this book to hit the U.S next year. It is a real drag when your favorite author is Australian...but I know it will be well worth the wait!
ReplyDeleteI have just finished Piper's son and loved it. I've got the after glow that you get when you have really enjoyed a book, and though I am long past being a teenager, I laughed and cried. My book club (and yes we are all Librarians) are discussing it tomorrow night -it will be interesting to hear their thoughts as we are are a varied lot in both age and backgound.
ReplyDeleteI just finished reading the pipers son, you just feel so much for Thomas. The way Melina writes this book makes you want to reach deep into the pages and hug Tom. I cried endlessly in this book and my god, my eyes were puffed the next day. Melina is oneof my favourite authors, i can totally relate to her characters and feel so good after reading her books
ReplyDeleteHi,I was so happy to read all the positive comments about the pipers son.Have just finished SF & discussed it with my book club tonight...we all loved it and were so excited to find out about this book.Bring it on.I look forward to that "I cannot put it down" feeling again.
ReplyDeletei fell in love with Saving Francesca from the minute i finished the last page, and was sad to have left a world that i felt i could have so easily fitted into. Since then i have re-read SF thousands of times, shortly followed with On The Jelicoe Road, which is another i fell every bit apart of as well!!! The piper's son is no different, it's such a beautiful story, and its nice to see the characters have grown up to, leaving high school far behind...
ReplyDeleteMelina Marchetta is one of my all time favourite authors, who always provide the right mix of love, security and intrigue to keep me turning the page and wanting me to stay part of that world for just that little bit longer...
I absolutely LOVED this book, and Saving Francesca. No matter how many times I read either of them, the stories don't fail to fill me with that just read an awesome book feeling. They have everything you could want in a book: emotion, gripping story, comedy, and it is perfectly written. I feel as if all those characters are real.
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