Review: Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta

Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Release Date: May 9, 2006
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes & Noble

For as long as Josephine Alibrandi can remember, it’s just been her, her mom, and her grandmother. Now it’s her final year at a wealthy Catholic high school. The nuns couldn’t be any stricter—but that doesn’t seem to stop all kinds of men from coming into her life.

Caught between the old-world values of her Italian grandmother, the nononsense wisdom of her mom, and the boys who continue to mystify her, Josephine is on the ride of her life. This will be the year she falls in love, the year she discovers the secrets of her family’s past—and the year she sets herself free.

Told with unmatched depth and humor, this novel—which swept the pool of Australian literary awards and became a major motion picture—is one to laugh through and cry with, to cherish and remember.

My Thoughts:
I only wish we could have been the best or the worst in the class. Not just somewhere in between… Purgatory... I hate it so much that when I die, and if God sends me there, I’ll beg him to send me to hell instead.

What can I say about Melina Marchetta that I haven’t said before? I love her character driven novels, I wish I could meet each and everyone one of them, and if I could define novel honesty fused with passion, I’d stamp a Marchetta book cover as an example. She’s brilliant, she’s literary perfection and she’s at the top of my list of favorite authors of all time.

Well after that little soliloquy it’s probably no surprise that Looking for Alibrandi did not disappoint one bit. This little gem of a book had all of the elements that I love to experience when reading Marchetta’s novels. It starts off in undefined territory where I’m not quite sure what’s going on or where Marchetta intends to lead me, but by the time I’m done with the story, I don’t want to turn the final pages and I wish I could have just a little more time with the characters that crept into my heart and took a post.

Josie Alibrandi is everything I love in a MC. She’s full of passion, spark, flaws, honesty and hope. This book is comprised of heavy themes such as culturalism, teenage struggle, sexual pressures, faith, and finding oneself in the midst of an ongoing storm. The relationship Josie has with her mother, nonna, father and friends tugged at my heart and pulled my emotions in many different directions.

There were a couple of events I predicted, (view spoiler) but that didn’t’ stop me from feeling the hurt and pain that Josie experienced when these truths unfolded. I loved how Josie and her father’s relationship developed at a slow but steady pace and by the end of the novel, he was one of my fave characters. I was bummed about Jacob Coote, but not left without hope. Josie really showed tremendous growth from the beginning to the end of the story.

If you’re a fan of Marchetta, I highly suggest you give Looking for Alibrandi a try. It’s sure not to disappoint.

Favorite quotes
…She asked me on Friday what type of contraception I use. “Underwear,” I said. “Keeping it on prevents pregnancy.”

Face it, the age of innocence is gone. We abused the act of sex now God’s sitting back and having the laugh of his life.

Please, God, let me be accepted by someone other than the underdog.

Thank you to Nomes for challenging me to read this sooner than later. I loved it!!

4.5 Snowflakes