Review: Saving Francesca By: Melina Marchetta

Title: Saving Francesca
Author: Melina Marchetta
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 343 Pages (May 9th 2006)
From: Amazon

Synopsis: MOST OF MY friends now go to Pius Senior College, but my mother wouldn’t allow it because she says the girls there leave with limited options and she didn’t bring me up to have limitations placed upon me. If you know my mother, you’ll sense there’s an irony there, based on the fact that she is the Queen of the Limitation Placers in my life.

Francesca battles her mother, Mia, constantly over what’s best for her. All Francesca wants is her old friends and her old school, but instead Mia sends her to St. Sebastian’s, an all-boys’ school that has just opened its doors to girls. Now Francesca’s surrounded by hundreds of boys, with only a few other girls for company. All of them weirdos—or worse.

Then one day, Mia is too depressed to get out of bed. One day turns into months, and as her family begins to fall apart, Francesca realizes that without her mother’s high spirits, she hardly knows who she is. But she doesn’t yet realize that she’s more like Mia than she thinks. With a little unlikely help from St. Sebastian’s, she just might be able to save her family, her friends, and—especially—herself.

Review: 4 Stars - It’s hard to come up with the words for this review. I mean this book was great. It started out a little bit slow for me but I loved the witty come backs and just how smart Francesca was when it came to most of the people around her. She really did see people for who they were and called them on it and by this I talking about her school mates. She was a straight shooter and I felt as a reader that she learned more along the way. Isn’t that what were all supposed to do in life anyway? Grow along the way?

Francesca has a hard time at school and at home. When she’s forced to change school’s she ends up one of only a handful of girls at an all boys school. The school recently opened its doors to girls and she’s stuck going there with a bunch of boys who want nothing more but their all boys school back and well, while their at it to torture the girls just a bit.

With the help of some of her fellow female school mates - they try to change things up to be a bit more equal for the girls who attend and reading what happens to their requests you could almost feel the guys cringe. Then her home life isn’t the greatest when her mom ends up bedridden with a horrible bout of depression. It forces Francesca to look at things differently. It forces her father and brother to look at things differently. It’s an uphill struggle and some truths come out all around.

With the help of some new found, yet true friends – and some realizations about friends from her old school…. Not forgetting to mention first love, Saving Francesca has a little bit for everyone. This is my first book by Machetta and it won’t be my last. I’m looking forward to more from her. Jellicoe Road is sitting on my shelf waiting to be picked up and I’m also looking forward to picking up and reading Finnikin of the Rock. If you haven’t read this one yet but keep meaning to… go for it and enjoy!

FTC Disclaimer: I DID pay for this book and have NOT been compensated at all in any way or means for reading and writing this review.