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A review by ivyninareads
Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
2.0
This was definitely a 2.5 star read for me – middle of the road.
I bought this book when I was about fifteen so that I could get it signed by the author at a writing event. I still had the book a full five years later and felt as though after keeping it around for so long, that I should finally just read the damn thing.
I can understand why this novel was dubbed the 'Most Stolen Book' from Australian high school libraries. Looking for Alibrandi was published in 1992, and for its time, this novel would have been groundbreaking. Melina Marchetta was opening up conversations that were for the most part, untapped at the time, those being the identity struggles for children of immigrant families. However, all of the complications of tradition and culture are set against the relatable background of high school and all of the various adolescent troubles one faces: heartbreak, friendship, love and change. I can really truly appreciate what this novel is doing, and what it did at the time it was published. I definitely think that there are still some poignant aspects to the book and its message, though parts of it have become a little dated in the thirty years since it was first published.
That being said, this was definitely a book that was meant for high schoolers; which I am not. And that's totally fine! But it just meant that me and this writing style didn't completely gel. This is mostly what lowered my review, because I can and will be a subjective reviewer despite its impracticality. For me the novel was just a bit of a slog to get through because I am out of the time in my life where these kinds of stories are super relevant to me.
All in all, not mad that I read it. In fact, glad that I finally got around to it. Happy to put it down and tuck it away.
I bought this book when I was about fifteen so that I could get it signed by the author at a writing event. I still had the book a full five years later and felt as though after keeping it around for so long, that I should finally just read the damn thing.
I can understand why this novel was dubbed the 'Most Stolen Book' from Australian high school libraries. Looking for Alibrandi was published in 1992, and for its time, this novel would have been groundbreaking. Melina Marchetta was opening up conversations that were for the most part, untapped at the time, those being the identity struggles for children of immigrant families. However, all of the complications of tradition and culture are set against the relatable background of high school and all of the various adolescent troubles one faces: heartbreak, friendship, love and change. I can really truly appreciate what this novel is doing, and what it did at the time it was published. I definitely think that there are still some poignant aspects to the book and its message, though parts of it have become a little dated in the thirty years since it was first published.
That being said, this was definitely a book that was meant for high schoolers; which I am not. And that's totally fine! But it just meant that me and this writing style didn't completely gel. This is mostly what lowered my review, because I can and will be a subjective reviewer despite its impracticality. For me the novel was just a bit of a slog to get through because I am out of the time in my life where these kinds of stories are super relevant to me.
All in all, not mad that I read it. In fact, glad that I finally got around to it. Happy to put it down and tuck it away.