Fan Post: Why I Love Melina Marchetta's Men

Today's fan post is from Bethzaida @ Bookittyblog!

Why I Love Melina Marchetta's Men

We all love a specific something about books. One of the things I look forward to when I read a book is the male main character. I like all characters but for the author to win me over, she/he has to write the perfect guy. Do you know who is the perfect fantasy guy maker?... You got it, Melina Marchetta.There's something about how she writes male characters that makes my world all happy, rainbows and unicorns included. I know Melina has said before that she doesn't use lots of physical descriptions to describe her characters. Yet I can picture them perfectly fine. Maybe that's one of the secrets to write the perfect guy. To leave some stuff to the imagination. Sometimes when authors describe every detail about a character like looks, what they are wearing and so on it just makes them, let's say... Unreal. I like my characters to feel real and alive.

For a few or maybe more than a few hours a day I want to get lost in a book. Everything around me doesn't exist when I read. So, when I'm reading about this perfect guy who does nothing wrong, well it distracts me. It's like there's a parade of dancing frogs with little top hats on their heads in front of me and I have to look at them. You know why? Because dancing frogs are pretty hilarious! Me distracted equals no good. See, Melina's characters are not perfect. Not perfect in the sense that it makes them more human like. All of them have serious issues going on in their lives. Not that I like my characters to suffer but, a little trouble doesn't hurt. At the end I know they will be ok because we are talking about Melina Marchetta here and she never ends a book without some kind of hope.

I asked a bunch of co-workers and people on Twitter what traits they love most in a male main character. Here's some of the traits:

Humorous, Sexy, Strong personality, Strong, Chivalrous , Bad boy, Smart, Charismatic, Rugged, Arrogance, Sensitivity, Common senses, Morals oh and the most popular: Handsome. There's a bunch of superficial people out there! Just kidding.

All Marchetta's characters have almost all of those traits! Isn't she amazing. She knows what we want and she delivers every single time. Here's my view of my all time favorite male characters and of course they all are from Melina's books:

Jonah Griggs from Jellicoe Road

Strong and beautiful Jonah! He's my favorite. He's so manly man yet vulnerable (if you read the book you know what I mean). He wears a uniform. What else can I ask for? I know the exact moment when I felt in love with Jonah. It was when Taylor had to go get the year seven girls because Jonah was holding them hostage. Richard the leader of one of the houses in Taylor's school was trying to take the title of leader and that title belonged to Taylor. The point is that Richard was being an idiot so Jonah smashes Richard in the face and lets him know that Taylor is the one in charge and then says:

"You okay with that decision, Dick? Can I call you that? Her being in charge?"
Chapter 13 page 165

Oh Jonah Jonah! I would have name my second baby after you. Too bad I'm not planning on having more babies.

Finnikin from Finnikin of the Rock

You know what I liked most about Finnikin? The love he had for his dad. Oh, and his red hair. Anyway, the way he loved his dad was almost magical. Thinking about it brings tears to my eyes because it was that beautiful. That love wasn't one sided because Trevanion loved his son more than anything. Another thing I love about Finnikin is that he kicks ass.

Thomas Mackee from Saving Francesca and The Piper's Son

I was lucky to get to know more about Thomas in The Piper's Son but I loved him from Saving Francesca. He is funny and mean, oh yeah and did I mention funny? There's one part in Saving Francesca where they are in Drama class and he starts dancing to " I'm your Venus" and later he tells People that he thought he heard "I'm your penis" rather than "I'm your Venus" and that's why he was dancing. I re-read this part tons of times and every time I laughed like crazy! You can find this in chapter 15 page 112 of Saving Francesca.

So there you have it. That is why I love Melina Marchetta's Men. I pick any of this guys over any other character any day. Can you blame me?

-Bethzaida
Bookittyblog.com