For all the people who have read 'Looking for Alibrandi' and 'Saving Francesca', I was just wondering which you preferred? I personally liked 'Saving Francesca' more, but I know people who favour 'Looking for Alibrandi'.
It would interest me if anybody had any comments. :)
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*beep* I thought it was totally *beep* I wasnt all that impressed with Saving Francesca. I think its pretty sterreotypical with the whole 'teen angst' concept and therefore very predictable. It had the same storyline as her first book and it was annoying that she couldnt move away from that genre.
On another note, my friend was taught by Marchetta, and his friends are mentioned in the acknowledgments. Some of his other friends constantly bagged her out for inconsistencies with references to "skatie" culture when it was released.
How can you say they have the same storyline?
Looking for Alibrandi was about a girl dealing with a friends suicide and meeting her father for the first time?
Saving Francesca is about a girl in a new school environment dealing with her mother's depression.
I preferred Saving Francesca. I could relate more to Francesca and I loved the characters of Jimmy and Thomas.
But I preferred the romance in Looking for Alibrandi.
Some people are just born with tragedy in their blood - Donnie Darko
But think sbout it - the group of girls both were of different backgrounds, mushed together in a school they felt they didnt belong in. They have trouble with thier social status. there was even the same amount of girls in the group.
The same with Ivy and Eva.
Both main characters fall in love, they are both the same age.
Very similar writing styles.
Both families were italin!!
both had prominant mother daughter relationships.
Actually, talking abou this reminds me of telling my brother that digimon and pokemon are really different variations of the SAME thing!
Still, I enjoyed both books but I felt they could well have been sequels
I think while there are similarities (girl being Italian the major one) the differences are much bigger. She might have been an outsider, but in completly different situations. Francessa's race wasn't a huge issue (with other people, she didn't suffer the same racisim that Josie did) she was at a completly new school, her parents were together and very much in love. She was at a new school, where she knew no-one and was learning to cope with that.
share
I loved "Saving Francesca".I would read all my favourite parts again when i got bored. It was definietly something i think a lot of people could relate to. I loved how Francoise (tuba guy) and Justine got together. It's so cute.
I would also prefer Saving Francesca to Looking for Alibrandi, but they are both well written and well structured novels. I think it just comes down to personal taste.
They are both well written but i prefer "Saving Francesca" as I can relate to it more, appealing to be more modern than Looking For Alibrandi, which I am currently reading now for like the 10th time.
They should now make "Saving Francesca" into a movie.
talica_t
i loved Saving Francesca. I loved how she and with Will Trombal were like in love and everything. I havnt read 'Looking for Alibrandi' yet but i will. I did have troble figuring out Luca's age and the year 5's or something becoz in New Jersey its 9th grade 10th grade 11th grade and so on. so i tried to use Harry Potters years bcoz they're both foriegn and use the years but it only goes up to year 7 (age 17) and Luca was in year 5 which would make Luca like 15 and he was realli like 10. but all in all i realli liked it and i hope they make a movie of it.
shareIn Australia we have 13 years of school Kindergarten(4-5y/o)-year 12(17/18y/o) so Luca would have been around 10 in year 5.
The only reason we die is because we accept it as an inevitabilty..wuhow~ Stewie Griffin
well i own both those books and i really can't decide its really a matter of personal taste. i like the friends that francescha had better than josies but i liked jacob better than will in the end....\
but melina marchettas new book =on the jellicoe road= is my favourite book i could recite it to you i've read it soo much!!! i have to say i likethe new book beter than the other two but i want saving francescha to be made into a movie
God, The Majority Seemed To Like Saving Fracessca But I sadly Have To Disagree. lol. I Found it easier to understand Josie's Point Of View And her struggles, also i like the romance between Jacob Annd Josie!
Anyone For Plum Jam?
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when i first read saving francessca i didn't like it but now i really do favour it over Looking 4 Alibrandi.
but melina is an excellent author and my fave by far!
i read saving franesca about 2 years after i had seen [[and forgotton]] about looking for alibrandi. i loved the book and was reading the back panel after i finished it and when i saw the connection i started FREAKING OUT because i rememebered the movie!! i cant find the movie ANYWHERE to buy it and online its all for foreign dvd players. gosh i just wanna watch the movie!!!!
sharewhere do you live cause its pretty easy to buy in Australia
-you bleed just to know your alive-
I loved both books because their cool to read, looking for alibrandi, quicker and easier, and the movie, a laugh. But it would be so brilliant if Saving Francesca was made into a movie. Saskia Burmeister could play either Tara or Siobvahn. Pardon my spelling.
sharei liked saving francesca better than looking for alibrandi, mostly because of the character development. but i liked on the jellicoe road even better; it was an amazing book, and different to the other two.
c'est maintenant... ou jamais
i love on the jellicoe road the best actually its just soooooooooooo good
-Fifty years from now,don't you want to be able to say you had the guts to get in the car?-
Oh i prefer looking for alibrandi
but come to think of it i dont have a great recollection of the storyline of saving francesca so maybe if i read it again my feelings will change
i think i will have to go read on the jellicoe road
on the jellicoe road beats the other two unquestionably.
in fact, it happens to be the best book i've ever read.
Hold my hand or I might disappear.
T~O !! Jacob Black respect.
Team SWITZERLAND!!
well i just read on the jellicoe road and it beats them both
i live in Yass WOOO! go me!
and my best mates dad is a postman here
i dnt trust him anymore lol
and I went to boarding school in the general area of where this book is set
very different though
I read Saving Francesca first so it was like my first love. I read and reread it so many times I can almost remember every single detail. I couldn't find Looking For Alibrandi in bookshops so I only had it shipped recently. I loved it too, I could relate to both Josie and Francesca but Looking For Alibrandi kind of depressed me a bit. I cry everytime Josie does lol.
Saving Francesca is better for in the regards that it ended happier than Looking For Alibrandi. I'm a sicker for happy endings.
Since I bought "Saving Francesca" when I was 13, I'm reading it at least once a year. I could relate to it so much when I was younger and, at 18, I still do.
It's my second favorite book (after His Dark Materials and that probably only wins because it's more complex and longer and another genre.)
I read "Looking For Alibrandi" only once so far and wasn't all that impressed but I'll give it another try.
I loved the way "Saving Francesca" was written, with all the music and movie references and the subtle humor. I liked Francesca more than I liked Josy and I love Thomas Mackee and Jimmy Hailler.
So many people say, that "On the Jellicoe Road" beats them both, so I will definitely have to read it! I can't wait!
I love all the books by Melina Marchetta that I've read; 'Alibrandi', 'Francesca' and 'Jellicoe'. I could find things to relate to in all of them. However, I think 'Alibrandi' is my favourite. 'Francesca' was a little too...I don't know. There was something about it I found less authentic than the other two. Admittedly, that could be due to the fact that I've had my own experience with a depressed mother. It was hard to read in some ways. But, yeah, 'Alibrandi' just resonated with me in so many ways. Like the poster above and their experience with 'Francesca', it's one of those books that I think are timeless. I first read it when I was 15, I'm almost 19 now and I still love it.
I can't live with or without you...
I read Looking For Alibrandi first when I was thirteen, and I remember being completely in love with it until the very bittersweet end. I just didn't know how to feel about it...but now, five years down the track and I'm still in love with this book. I wouldn't have wanted it to end in any other way. It made me cry so much. And it just hits a very special place in my heart...I haven't read it since then, but I love it. So I think I'll have to read it again soon.
As for Saving Francesca, I was never as big of a fan of it as I was with LFA. I don't know why. It was pretty good, and, like LFA, I haven't read it in a couple of years, but it just never resonated with me as much. I only remember vague parts of it, whilst a lot of LFA is still so vivid for me, and I've read HEAPS of young adult fiction since then. It's still one of my favourites...and thinking about it hits pretty hard even now. I just found it so relatable, and clearly I still do :)