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A review by tepidgirlsummer
Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
4.0
This was my first Marchetta book, which is fitting since it is also the first Marchetta book. From what I’ve read in other reviews, Melina Marchetta develops from a good YA author to an amazing YA author in her subsequent books, so I’m very excited to read them. If I like them half as much as I did Looking for Alibrandi, reading them will be well worth my time.
I saw a lot of my teenage self in Josephine. I wasn’t particularly rebellious, but I was (I say in past tense like I am now mature and delightful) moody and argumentative as hell. I went to Catholic schools growing up and while we weren’t poor, I definitely wasn’t as rich as some of the other kids at my high school, so I can sympathize with how Josie felt being on scholarship and feeling looked down upon. And coming from Italian stock, lines like “Italians are so used to bitching about people that they tend to whisper a lot even when the person is one thousand miles away or even dead” made me laugh out loud because oh, I have lived it.
The adults don’t necessarily behave badly but they certainly aren’t ideal. Josephine’s father doesn’t want to be part of her life and is very forthcoming about it. Her grandmother is a nitpicky nightmare (although I really enjoyed her stories about her youth) and smothers her daughter and granddaughter. Josie’s mom tries to reconcile her role as Josephine Alibrandi’s mother with her own personal needs, much to her daughter’s chagrin. And the nuns catch everything, as nuns do.
Josie’s female friends were the only fly in the ointment of this book. In such a female-oriented book they seemed like weak characters. For instance, Sera seemed like someone Josie was only friends with because it was more convenient than not being friends with her. Anna and Lee were all right but they still seemed like a “yes, my main character has friends” filler than anything else until nearly the end of the book.
This is one of those books I read and loved and then went right on to the next book in my pile before writing my review, so I can’t remember everything I wanted to say. Basically, I strongly urge you to read it. What are you waiting for? GO!
I saw a lot of my teenage self in Josephine. I wasn’t particularly rebellious, but I was (I say in past tense like I am now mature and delightful) moody and argumentative as hell. I went to Catholic schools growing up and while we weren’t poor, I definitely wasn’t as rich as some of the other kids at my high school, so I can sympathize with how Josie felt being on scholarship and feeling looked down upon. And coming from Italian stock, lines like “Italians are so used to bitching about people that they tend to whisper a lot even when the person is one thousand miles away or even dead” made me laugh out loud because oh, I have lived it.
The adults don’t necessarily behave badly but they certainly aren’t ideal. Josephine’s father doesn’t want to be part of her life and is very forthcoming about it. Her grandmother is a nitpicky nightmare (although I really enjoyed her stories about her youth) and smothers her daughter and granddaughter. Josie’s mom tries to reconcile her role as Josephine Alibrandi’s mother with her own personal needs, much to her daughter’s chagrin. And the nuns catch everything, as nuns do.
Josie’s female friends were the only fly in the ointment of this book. In such a female-oriented book they seemed like weak characters. For instance, Sera seemed like someone Josie was only friends with because it was more convenient than not being friends with her. Anna and Lee were all right but they still seemed like a “yes, my main character has friends” filler than anything else until nearly the end of the book.
This is one of those books I read and loved and then went right on to the next book in my pile before writing my review, so I can’t remember everything I wanted to say. Basically, I strongly urge you to read it. What are you waiting for? GO!