Author Interview: Melina Marchetta.

Melina Marchetta is an Australian author with four very popular books released: Looking For Alibrandi her first novel which she wrote when she was twenty one has won numerous awards and is one of Australia’s favourite YA novels, In 2000 Looking for Alibrandi hit the big screen, starring Pia Miranda and Anthony LaPaglia and Melina wrote the screenplay. Her other four acclaimed novels are: Saving Francesca, On the Jellicoe Road and Finnikin of the Rock (expect it out in the U.S in 2010), she’s currently working on her fifth novel The Piper’s Son.

Can you tell people who don't know much about your latest novel, Finnikin of the Rock all about it?

After the slaughter of its beloved royal family, the kingdom of Lumatere is cursed and half its people are trapped inside never to be heard from, and the other half are scattered in exile across the Land. Ten years later, Finnikin, once the best friend of the young prince and the son of the captain of the king’s guard, travels the land taking care of Lumateran refugees. Until he’s called to an abbey where a young woman, named Evanjalin, claims she can walk through the sleep of those trapped inside, as well as claiming that the prince is alive. Finnikin doesn’t believe her, but they’re stuck with each other and it all starts from there.

Who was the hardest character to write?

Definitely, Finnikin. He’s a bit pigheaded, at times, really. But I loved sitting back and watching Evanjalin slap him down. Although it’s not written in first person, most of the action is seen through his eyes, so I had to keep him more emotionally held back than the narrators of my other novels.

Who was your favourite character?

Perri the Savage. He’s the second in command of the Guard. A very dark character, who as a child and young man was a violent bully. But I wanted to show what happens when a character is trusted and the Captain of the Guard trusts him with his son, Finnikin and from that point on there’s no turning back with Perri. When I was a year coordinator at a boys’ school, sometimes you’d get the naughtiest, less trust worthy kid to run your errands and have the keys to your office. It was a gamble, but most times it worked because they took trust seriously.
Evanjalin is a favourite as well. As much as this is Finnikin’s journey, Evanjalin isn’t merely the love interest. She’s the one who challenges him and controls the narrative. But I had to be careful with her. I wanted her to be respected by the reader for all the right reasons. Sometimes, a female character is raved about because she knows how to fight and defend herself with the best of them and really, all that means is that we like her because she’s demonstrated traditional male hero traits. I didn’t want to do that with her. Apart from one or two fight scenes she’s forced to participate in, I wanted to show how she uses her brain and her faith to get them through situations and although you feel you can’t trust her, I’d like to think that the reader, like Finnikin, can’t help loving her and wanting to follow her.

What was your inspiration for Finnikin of the Rock?

Inspiration never really comes from one place. Sometimes a character hangs out with you, gives you a bit of information and you go with it. I’m the grand daughter of migrants. Displacement and loss of homeland are part of my story.

A lot of readers of Just Listen Book Reviews have yet to read Finnikin of the Rock because it's yet to be released in the U.S, but a lot of them have read On the Jellicoe Road, can you tell us about your inspiration for that?

A strange inspiration. I just wanted to write a boarding school story because I love them. On the surface it might look like a story about the territory war between three factions of this particular area, but for me, Jellicoe is about what happens when the lines between being enemies and friends are blurred. It’s about gathering community when community has been wiped out and it’s about the role fate plays in our lives and how we either become reactive to it, or proactive.

On The Jellicoe Road was a pretty intense novel, was it hard for you to write?

Oh very. I can’t even read the last fifty pages without crying and it’s my book and I know what happens! But I love the strong bonds in this novel, especially the relationship between Taylor and Jonah. It’s a tough book on the reader. I always say, ‘Be very patient. It’s not Alibrandi and Francesca. In Jellicoe, you find out things at the same time Taylor does and sometimes it’s a long time coming but I’d love to think that the patience pays off.

Of all your characters, do you think that you can choose a favourite?

Too hard. I think it’s Frankie Spinelli (SF) Her story is personal to me so I feel I know her well and I love her relationship with the very pragmatic Will (who at times reminds me of that stubborn Finnikin). And of course I love Tom Mackee from Saving Francesca because I’m writing his story in The Piper’s Son (see below)

When did you decide that you wanted to be a writer?

When I was writing Looking for Alibrandi at the age of 21 and knew I wanted that story to be published.

Do you have any advice for young aspiring writers?

My first novel was rejected about six times. It was re-written about ten times and took about six or seven years to be published. This writing business isn’t for those who have no passion for their work. You can’t give up.

Why do you write for young adults?

I tend to say that I write about this age group rather than for this age group. I think the age of seventeen is a powerful time in a person’s life because it could be the first time you make the really big decisions on your own rather than having to rely on your parents or teachers to make them for you. It’s a fascinating age and comes equipped with conflict. Perfect for a writer.

Can you tell us (in extreme detail) about the novel you're currently working on, The Piper's Son?

Hmmm. Haven’t learnt how to articulate this one yet so this is going to sound like a ramble. Sequel to Saving Francesca except it’s about Tom Mackee. The gang is 21. Tom’s estranged from the girls because of an awful family tragedy two years prior. He just couldn’t cope and gets lost for a while. At the start of the story he’s back in Frankie and Justine’s life, reluctantly. He’s a dish pig at the pub the girls work at that belongs to Justine’s uncle. They’re all still obsessed with music and used to be in a band together at university.
The rest of their people are overseas and their story is about how they cope with the distances between them. Frankie’s still with Will (I couldn’t have put two more different people together but somehow they work) and Tom has to make amends with Tara Finke because of something intense that happened to them in their second year of uni. That relationship is explored in a series of angry, funny, poignant emails and phone calls. It’s hard to conduct a love story when they are never in the same room but I’m hoping it works because I find it pretty romantic having to rely on words.
Mostly, it’s about not being able to bury your dead and the impact that has on Tom’s family. But for all the sadness, they are intensely dark- humoured people and I’ve had fun with them, despite the fact that I could easily cry every time I write a scene. Tom’s hard to write because he can’t articulate how he’s feeling.
The grown-ups get more of a story in this one, especially his pregnant Aunt Georgie and her estranged partner, Sam. (not quite the same themes as Mia and Robert in SF, but same dynamics) as well as Tom’s very fragile relationship with his father. It’s got a cast of thousands in the same way Saving Francesca has, but it’s still a small book with big themes. How to do all that without it being a sloppy cliché? I’m working very hard at it, I promise, but I think I’ve done it before and I can do it again. I never thought I’d say I’m crazy mad for Tom Mackee, but I am.

Favourite novel of all time?

My first was Anne of Green Gables. I’ll say over and over again that my life changed when Anne hit Gilbert Blythe over the head with the slate and that it influences my writing because I think I use that scene metaphorically over and over again in my novels – think Francesca Spinelli and Will Trombal in the Tolstoy/Trotsky face off (Saving Francesca)

Anything else you want to add?

Only that I suppose it’s difficult changing genres for both the writer and her readers. But I’m ecstatic about the reviews and letters for Finnikin. I either get them from people who are avid fantasy readers or those who have never read fantasy before. Once or twice I read a negative blog and I just have to just put it down to a reader not connecting with the world I’ve created or having their own expectations of what the novel should be before they start reading it. Someone commented on their disappointment that the action with the villain is off screen. But for me the villain isn’t the one-dimensional imposter king. It’s the hearts and mind of good people who turned their back on others who were suffering. It’s why I used the Primo Levi poem. Regardless of when it was written (Levi was an inmate at Auschwitz) he speaks about retribution - of what happens to people who look the other way when bad things are happening. Perhaps, deep down, that’s what I wanted to say.

Thank-you so much Melina!!

(Remember that if you post a comment on this interview you get another entry into my contest where you have the chance to win all of Melina's books.)

Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta.

And then the dark forces of the curse entombed the kingdom, separating a people in two. This is the story, as told to those of us who were born to see such days, recorded here in the Book of Lumatere so we will never forget.

Rating: 5/5

Summary: (From melinamarchetta.com.au)At the age of nine, Finnikin is warned by the gods that he must sacrifice a pound of flesh in order to save the royal house of his homeland, Lumatere.

And so he stands on the rock of three wonders with his childhood friend Prince Balthazar and the prince's cousin, Lucian, and together they mix their blood. And Lumatere is safe.

Until the 'five days of the unspeakable', when the King and Queen and their children are slaughtered in the palace. And an imposter king takes the throne.
And a curse is put on Lumatere, which traps those caught inside and forces thousands of others to roam the land as exiles, dying of fever and persecution in foreign camps.

But ten years later Finnikin is led to another rock to meet the young novice, Evanjalin. A girl plagued by dark dreams, who holds the key to their return to the Land of light...

Review: This is a story written in third person and is about dwindling and fiery hope, about redemption and guilt, regret and love, about finding those who you love and going back for those who you left behind. Six long months I waited for this novel and I was not disappointed. Melina Marchetta, my favourite author in the world managed to once again weave another original and amazing tale.

The first thing I will say is: how does Marchetta write such original stories? When you think about the basics of her stories they sound very genial, but whenever she writes it screams originality. This was her first fantasy story and I must say that she pulled this one off.

Her story was a little complicated, she created a whole new world and learning the names of every country, every town was a little difficult at the beginning but as the novel went on you learned a lot about each and I commend Marchetta highly on being able to give so much detail to every town she created that little bit of history we were given made the story that much more realistic and moving.

Finnikin was the main character and was...well awesome. I loved how he was so determined and good natured, I read a Q&A about FOTR on her website and Marchetta said that she had trouble writing Finnikin because he kept appearing too weak or too arrogant, but I think that she crafted him wonderfully. Evanjalin was a great character and was a kick ass female heroin, Finnikin and Evanjalin's relationship was fantastic, complicated and once again, realistic, especially considering the time era. My favourite character though had to be Perri the Savage, he was delightfully miss understood and I loved that Finnikin's father Trevanion trusted him whole heartedly and gave him a chance, despite the rumors that circulated around him, when I explain it that way it sounds corny doesn't it? Well, it isn't.

But Trevanion was staring at Perri. “You,” he said. “If anything happens to me, protect my boy.”

I loved that towards the end of the book we got a look from the misunderstood Froi's point of view, he was perceived as such an awful character at the start of the novel, but he was so...sweet, after my initial hate for him I felt a little bit of sympathy towards him and when I read his perspective it made my feelings of sympathy stronger and caused me to really like him.

The others pretended that deep down he wasn't bad. That he didn't come from evil. But she knew. She saw the badness. She saw it now and shivered. Page: 244.

Melina's wonderful style shone through in this novel, her flashbacks, dream sequences and just writing was beyond enjoyable to read.

A lot of brutal things happen in this story and Marchetta is never too frank about them, which I liked, she implies a lot of what happened to the women and the reaction of her characters say more then the harsh sentence ever would.

Marchetta threw in so many twists and turns it made this almost 400 page novel one I powered through, one twist had me gaping because it was popped in at the most random time and I didn't know whether it was a dream or wishful thinking. One of the biggest twist of the novels I'm glad to say I guessed (yes, I guessed it, whooo) and it was a great twist indeed.

So, overall: the plot? Engaging, amazing, awesome, fantastic, wonderful and amusing. The characters? Gah, amazing. I loved each and every one of them for every flaw and everything that made them glorious. The twists? Amazing, fun, beyond interesting. The writing? Don't get me started on how fantastic it was, how the story was intricately weaved and just so beautiful that I can't believe someone has that much writing talent.

I want you read this book, I love it. I want you to read each and every novel of Marchetta's because each is so wonderful I want you to be able to experience it.

Are you in the U.S? Are you going insane and really want this novel? Well, you can get your hands on it Spring 2010, a little while away, but you can always try and find it on the net.

Five out of five, I think that my review says enough, please, read it when you get the chance.

--Allie

Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta.

“This morning, my mother didn’t get out of bed.”

Rating: 5/5

Summary: Francesca is beginning her second term in year eleven at an all boy’s school that’s just started accepting girls. Her mother has had a breakdown and no longer gets out of bed and she misses her old friends.

But what Francesca doesn’t expect when she arrives at her new school, seriously not wanting to be there is that the new friends she makes grudgingly are fiercely loyal and that there’s more to them then it seems. She doesn't expect to fall in love or that she has the power to bring her family that is slowly falling apart in her mother’s absence back together.

Review: This story is phenomenal. Melina writes a magical book with raw and extraordinary real emotion.

With the terrible summary I have written and provided you all with you're probably thinking that this is an awful novel with not much going for it, maybe you're thinking: depression? What a sad topic, why on earth would I want to read such an unhappy tale? Please don't let any of that sort of stuff put you off.

Marchetta has the writing ability to make you seriously care about her characters. Her characters are easy to relate to, fun and different. In each novel Marchetta produces comes with it a fantastic set of new characters and as a reader and major fan of all of her novels the characters in Saving Francesca still stand to be my favourites.

There where so many points where I was touched by the characters who are so much deeper then they seem, and there were even more points where I was laughing out loud at what a character had said or done.

It's an all star cast in this novel and if you're looking for a novel with characters that are beyond the ordinary then you must pick this book up. There's Thomas and Jimmy who make you laugh, there's William who makes your fan girl hearts go insane, there's just so many wonderful characters I could be here all day babbling about them.

Francesca is a fantastic narrator, and what you see and feel thorough her eye’s is real and true. You feel her pain about her mother’s problem, you feel her anger toward the people who just don’t get it and you laugh with her whenever Thomas is a smart ass or when Jimmy invites himself around.

The plot is interesting and I felt driven to finish this novel because...of well everything, the characters – don't get my talking about them again. The plot, original and interesting and the writing, Marchetta's style is in one word blunt and in two: blunt and beautiful. She doesn't beat around the bush, she never drags things out for too long, she tells you all the truth she can and tells it beautifully and by her doing this she has become and probably will always stay my favourite author.

This novel, to be fully appreciated needs to be read by people who are mature, when I read this novel for the first time at age thirteen the mother's depression made me feel a little sick with sadness, but when I reread it a year later I loved this book so much that I am till this day constantly reaching for this novel for comfort when I have a bad day.

This novel gets five stars. Everything about it is wonderful and amazing. I hope that you're putting this novel on the top of a very long list of books to read or running off to buy it because Saving Francesca is not to be missed by YA readers because it is definitely amongst the finest in that category.

--Allie.