Looking For Alibrandi
Josephine Alibrandi is a third generation Italian Australian. She is the Vice-Captain of a school in Sydney, where she is completing year 12. Josie often gets called “wog” and “ethic”, which anger her into performing stupid actions.
For the first 16 years of her life, Josie grew up without her father. When he arrives at her Nonna’s house one day, she is shocked and outraged. Although it takes her a long time to forgive him for abandoning her and her mother, Josie eventually becomes close to him.
When Josie realises her friends aren’t influencing her in a good way, she begins to not care what they think. A greater, better influence on her is her crush, John Barton, whose suicide takes a huge emotional toll on her.
This is a book on Josie’s reflection of herself in her final year of high school. She ultimately learns to have pride in her heritage and to not take her life for granted.
Looking for Alibrandi is a novel written for girls aged 12 and above. It answers many questions teenagers are forced to wonder, mostly relating to what life is about.
Reviews were particularly impressed by how genuine the character’s feelings were. They also liked how Josie’s problems are universal for teenagers. She is faced with family conflictions, the pressure to do well at school from her family, the pressure to not care about school from her friends, the pressure to be an innocent teenager by her teachers, the pressure to choose a career and the pressure to grow up, while still being treated like a child occasionally.
This book was made into a movie in 2000. It was filmed in Bondi, NSW.
I really enjoyed this book. It helped me to understand how proud we should be to be unique.
Thankyou to Abbey for this great review!
