*https://mrsbbookreviews.wordpress.com So it seems Melina Marchetta’s modern classic, Looking for Alibrandi, which has been studied in high schools acr*https://mrsbbookreviews.wordpress.com So it seems Melina Marchetta’s modern classic, Looking for Alibrandi, which has been studied in high schools across Australia, has escaped my attention until now. With the exception of the film version that I watched when it was released back in 2000. The opportunity to participate in a read along of this novel with a bookworm friend finally allowed me to discover the work of well-known Australian novelist Melina Marchetta.
The vivacious and perceptive narrator of Melina Marchetta’s novel, Looking for Alibrandi, is Josephine Alibrandi. We meet Josephine ‘Josie’ Alibrandi at one of the most pivotal and tumultuous years of her life. Josie is seventeen, sitting her all important HSC where she holds a scholarship at a wealthy Catholic school and has aspirations to become a barrister. Josie’s year is a big one as she negotiates a renewed relationship with her absent father, delves into her first romance, learns a family secret or two and sadly experiences the loss of someone close to her. Looking for Alibrandi highlights the experience of what it is like to be a young woman growing up in Australian in the 1990’s and how it feels to be a third generation immigrant. We can learn a thing or two from this award-winning and popular coming of age piece of YA literature.
Looking for Alibrandi is one of those books that I should have read many years ago, but unfortunately didn’t and as I went to high school in the UK, I didn’t get the chance to read this via the school curriculum. I am making up for lost time through participating in a read long experience with a dear friend of mine. I thoroughly appreciated my first experience with Melina Marchetta.
The first thing that struck me about Looking for Alibrandi was the main character, 17-year-old Josie Alibrandi’s voice. Gosh, it seemed to come across as loud and clear! The characterisation is quite exemplary. This doesn’t just extend to the lead, but to the supporting character list, from Josie’s protective and devoted mother Christina, stoic Nonna, disconnected father Michael, first love Jacob, partner in arms John Barton, enemy Ivy and Josie’s friend set of Sera and Anna. Each and every one of these characters was perfectly realised, they appeared before my eyes so clearly.
For a YA novel, Marchetta tackles some fairly big issues but this is handled with a deft and light hand. From class differences, racism, prejudice, immigration, politics, education, careers and suicide, Marchetta covers a great deal within the one novel. A few of these issues did seem a little outdated, such as Josie’s illegitimacy and the ethnic relations in Josie’s school, as the book was written over twenty years ago. Readers will still find they are able to connect to the themes highlighted in Looking for Alibrandi.
As much as this is a superb coming of age tale of a young Australian girl with strong Italian roots, Looking for Alibrandi is a novel that delves into the complex nature of family relationships, head-on. There is the typical mother daughter relationship between Josie and her mother, full of tensions that we come to expect from a teenage girl. There is the fragile relationship between Josie’s mother Christina and her own mother, stemmed from strained family relations. Then there is the father-daughter relationship that sparks between Josie and her father who re-enters her life. Finally, Josie’s relationship between two boys that are the same age as her, but come from very different sides of the tracks, was a shining part of the novel for me and of course the part of the novel that moved me the most.
My final word on the brilliance of this groundbreaking YA novel, is the Sydney based setting. There are plenty of flowing and detailed descriptions of Sydney. From Josie’s brilliantly realised home in Glebe, through to some familiar spots in Sydney that I recall from a trip I made to the city many years ago. Marchetta’s prose took me right back there, despite the time that had passed since I was last at this stunning part of Australia. For international readers, Marchetta really showcases the city and seems to capture the real Sydney.
All in all, I am so very grateful for the experience of reading Looking for Alibrandi. I am now able to see why this book has received so many accolades both awards wise and the personal endorsements that this beautifully rendered book has received from fellow readers. A must read for both young adults (14+) and adults alike....more
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