A review by thewildnorry
The Place on Dalhousie, by Melina Marchetta
2.0
A Surprisingly Disappointing Read
For someone who has a talent at making broken and angry people lovable it does not come through in this book. Neither Rosie nor Martha became lovable by halfway through the book. Actually it was at 61% that I felt anything for either of them. By this time, I was in absolute love with Taylor Markham and believed that Tom Mackee deserved the world.
What made the past two books in the “series” work was the group of friends and their changing dynamic and support. The Rosie and Martha chapters are frustrating and not pulled off with the same care as Georgie because they have practically nothing do with Jimmy as opposed to Georgie whose own story affected by and entwined with Tom’s.
I feel the this probably would have been better as a short story.
Or maybe it would be better if it wasn’t part of the Saving Francesca series because it really had practically none of those characters in it in any meaningful way—only cheap callbacks
There are some good moments. But there are also all of these magic coincidences and deus ex machina that don’t work in this story like they did for Jellicoe Road.
Let’s pretend that Saving Francesca and the Piper’s Son form a duology because this book is not it.
For someone who has a talent at making broken and angry people lovable it does not come through in this book. Neither Rosie nor Martha became lovable by halfway through the book. Actually it was at 61% that I felt anything for either of them. By this time, I was in absolute love with Taylor Markham and believed that Tom Mackee deserved the world.
What made the past two books in the “series” work was the group of friends and their changing dynamic and support. The Rosie and Martha chapters are frustrating and not pulled off with the same care as Georgie because they have practically nothing do with Jimmy as opposed to Georgie whose own story affected by and entwined with Tom’s.
I feel the this probably would have been better as a short story.
Or maybe it would be better if it wasn’t part of the Saving Francesca series because it really had practically none of those characters in it in any meaningful way—only cheap callbacks
There are some good moments. But there are also all of these magic coincidences and deus ex machina that don’t work in this story like they did for Jellicoe Road.
Let’s pretend that Saving Francesca and the Piper’s Son form a duology because this book is not it.