TBR Jar Review: Review: The Piper’s Son by Melina Marchetta

This was the most recent pick from my TBR Jar and I actually quite enjoyed reading this book. 

It is the story of a young man, Tom, in his early 20s I believe, trying to get his life back together after having let it fall apart following the death of his uncle Joe. We hear bout how his family used to be close-knit, but after the death of Joe, everyone seems to be flailing. His father is drinking, his mother left with his sister, he pushed his friends away and screwed up big time with the girl he liked. 

After taking a spill from a table cutting his head open and landing himself in hospital he slowly starts to pick up the pieces. I enjoyed seeing his life come back together. I got the feeling of how it used to be, both his family and his group of friends sticking by each other, and how everyone now seemed to be drifting apart. We see how he slowly changes from an angry, hurt, disillusioned young man into someone who takes responsibility for his actions and tries to make things right. Sometimes he puts his foot in it, but he tries. 

As I said I enjoyed reading this book and getting to know everyone. It is definitely character-driven as not a lot happens plot-wise, but for once I enjoyed that. But having finished it I find that I don’t really think about it that much. And you know the mark of a great book is that it stays with you even after you’ve turned the last page. But I find the story already slipping away. So I enjoyed it while it lasted, but it didn’t really make a great impact on me. And apparently that is true of more of Marchetta’s books. This is actually sort of a sequel to “Saving Francesca” which is about the same group of friends, but with a different main character. I had considered whether I should read that one first, but this seemed more like a companion novel so I figured I was fine. Turns out, I HAVE read that one. Apparently I read it 3 years ago and I have absolutely NO recollection of it. At all! And even if sometimes you forget the finer plot points you can usually remember *something* about a book. But it seems I find (some of) Marchetta’s book enjoyable but forgettable. 

I gave this 3 stars out of 5 on Goodreads. 

My next pick from the jar was not available from the library so it went back in, and the next one that came up was “365 Ways To Change The World - How To Make A Difference - One Day At A Time” by Michael Norton. Incredibly, I own this book and have been perusing it on and off for a wile, but maybe this will give me the incentive to actually buckle down and get through it.