Looking for Alibrandi is an
australian novel, - and now a
movie - written by
Melina Marchetta an
author of a lot of
popular Australian modern young adult literature. Published by Puffin in 1992, it is the winner of
multiple awards, and has fast become a
classic must-read for
young adults. However as a book originating from and based on much
Australian culture it's popularity remains mainly
local.
The Blurb:
"And what's this about you and your friends driving around Bondi Junction half-dressed last week?"
"Who told you that?"
"Signora Formosa saw you. she said you and your friends almost ran her over. She rang Zia Patrizia's next-door neighbour and it got back to Nonna."
Telecom would go broke if it weren't for the Italians.
Josphine Alibrandi is seventeen, illegitimate, and in her final year at a wealthy Catholic school. This is the year her father comes back into her life, the year she falls in love, the year she discovers the secrets of her family's past and the year she sets herself free.
I'll run one day. Run for my life. To be free and think for myself. Not as an Australian and not as an Italian and not as an in between. I'll run to be emancipated.
Like
many books, this is one that deals with the
life of a teenager, and other exciting
youth issues, foremost among them
teen angst. Fortunately
unlike much other
shitty teen angst literature where every second sentence bemoans the
woes of the universe,
Looking for Alibrandi actually offers a relatively
stimulating and
thought provoking book. By no means a
Pulitzer Prize winner, but definitely clear of the massive
sub-
genre of
shitty bitchy pointless bleak literature for
halfwit teenagers. You might have noticed
I hate media about teen angst.
Kick it to the curb girlfriend!.
Taking
that into consideration, and the fact that I still rate this book as
above average the
book must be doing something right. It actually makes reading about teen issues
bearable - even
enjoyable!
This defies the fundamental laws of my universe. In my memory it is one of the most
notable and
distinguishing things about the book.
It follows the
exploits of
Josephine Alibrandi, an
illegitimate child, as a schoolgirl in her last few months of
high school. Issues such as
identity,
peer and
parent relationships,
single parent families,
friendship,
depression,
sexuality and all sorts of other
exiting things are addressed.
I suppose in a
very very loose way you could liken it to
The Catcher in the Rye.
Please don't hurt me It also classifies as one of those
books that teachers make you read for
literature tasks.