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Looking for Alibrandi

by Melina Marchetta (Goodreads Author)

3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 · rating details · 6,978 ratings · 547 reviews

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...more

Paperback, 313 pages

Published May 9th 2006 by Knopf Books for Young Readers (first published October 5th 1992)

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On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta

Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta

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5th out of 9 books — 147 voters

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Feb 14, 2012 karen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: why-yes-i-ya, distant-lands

this book is like a dragon egg. it is somewhat unusual compared to others of its kind, and it is pretty, but you know that when it hatches it is going to let loose some magnificent beast beyond human reckoning.

marchetta is a magnificent dragon.

and this book is good, and you can see the beginnings of what she will become, but it is definitely a first novel, before she understood her own power.

i reluctantly love josie alibrandi (although we are not friends, so i must call her josephine) she is a c...more this book is like a dragon egg. it is somewhat unusual compared to others of its kind, and it is pretty, but you know that when it hatches it is going to let loose some magnificent beast beyond human reckoning.

marchetta is a magnificent dragon.

and this book is good, and you can see the beginnings of what she will become, but it is definitely a first novel, before she understood her own power.

i reluctantly love josie alibrandi (although we are not friends, so i must call her josephine) she is a complete teenager: she picks silly fights with her mother and grandmother and acts like a little brat, she has a completely mystifying relationship with a boy whose behavior is equally littered with teenage sulks and irrational outbursts, she succumbs to peer pressure and complicates her own life, she gets in fights and acts out in wildly erratic and melodramatic ways. completely unlike myself as a teenager. koff.

but even though most of the time you want to smack her and send her to her room, you can tell that once she reigns in all that energy and free-floating rage, she is going to turn into a captivating adult character. probably in another marchetta book.

her relationship with her father is both uncomfortable to watch, but also ultimately satisfying. i kind of love how reluctant they both are to mean something to each other, and how awfully they behave. particularly him - even when he is trying to be nice, he is kind of a jerk, and it is oddly refreshing to have the adult character being just off enough to not be a good role model, but not flat-out evil the way it would be so easy to write in a less ambitious author's novel.

and her mother. ohhh. i want her to be happy.
that's all i can say there.

although most of the sandwiches i eat are thicker than this book, there is somehow plenty of room for her characters to grow, to come to realizations that feel natural and not literary. it doesn't feel smooshed, despite it being such a short book.

the italian-australian experience is one that i have encountered in other marchetta books,briefly, but nowhere else in my life. and i would have been blissfully unaware of this tension without her, but i really found it fascinating. not that people are cruel and xenophobic and classist, but the historical segments about her grandmother's experiences really came alive for me in a bigger way than the contemporary segments. i loved her grandmother, and if marchetta were ever to delve into historical fiction, i would be the first one there .

so the three stars is probably only in relation to what she has become, which is a consistent five-star writer. it is definitely worth reading, i just think it feels more like a typical YA book in scope, with some unexpected barbs than a marchetta masterpiece that kicks every other book out of its way. with its dragon wings.

(less)

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Mar 25, 2012 Tatiana rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ala-ya-2000, 2010, ya, 2012, aus-nz

Enjoyed Melina Marchetta's debut novel very much, even though it was not as strong and heartbreaking as her Printz-winning Jellicoe Road.

Looking for Alibrandi is a simple coming-of-age story (oh, how I hate this expression!). Josephine is a 17-year old Australian of Italian descend. She is in her last year of school and it's a time in her life when she needs to face many important things - what does she want to be? how should she deal with her newly acquired father who appears after being MIA fo...more

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Mar 03, 2011 Janina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-fiction, contemporary, from-down-under, on-my-shelf, read-in-2011

Looking for Alibrandi is Melina Marchetta’s debut – and after the emotional rollercoaster that were Saving Francesca, Jellicoe Road and The Piper’s Son, I have to admit that I am a little underwhelmed. Don’t get me wrong, compared to a lot of other debuts, this one is still excellent, but on the Melina-Marchetta scale it is probably my least favourite (This sounds bad here, but except Finnikin, all her other novels are among my absolute all-time favourites).

Why? Simply because it didn’t tug on...more Looking for Alibrandi is Melina Marchetta’s debut – and after the emotional rollercoaster that were Saving Francesca, Jellicoe Road and The Piper’s Son, I have to admit that I am a little underwhelmed. Don’t get me wrong, compared to a lot of other debuts, this one is still excellent, but on the Melina-Marchetta scale it is probably my least favourite (This sounds bad here, but except Finnikin, all her other novels are among my absolute all-time favourites).

Why? Simply because it didn’t tug on my heartstrings and it lacked this all-consuming, how-is-it-possible-that-books-like-these-even-exist-and-why-aren’t-there-more-of-them feeling that her other novels gave me. Maybe the reason for this is that while parts of Looking for Alibrandi were fantastic, there were simply some aspects I didn’t really care for. First of all, that was the friendship between the four girls. I admire the way Marchetta is able to bring unlikely friendships alive, but here, it played an almost subordinate role. We don’t get to know that much about Josephine’s friends and their relationship just didn't feel special to me. Also, I didn’t like the romance between Josie and Jacob. I have to admit that I have a little crush on both Jonah Griggs and Thomas Mackee, but on Jacob? Never. He just didn't feel developed enough for me to really care for him or even understand his motives. I fear I have to say that I strongly disliked him at times. There I was, rooting for John Barton the whole time (view spoiler).

On the other side, I loved Josie as a character – a little overdramatic and more than a little spoiled, but in a charming and refreshing way – and the love-hate relationship she had with her grandmother. The three women in the Alibrandi family definitely have it in them and I thought that both Christina’s and Nonna Katia’s story had so much more potential; I would have loved to hear more on that level. It was interesting to read about a different period in Australia’s history and how hard it sometimes was for immigrants to adjust – and how difficult it was to balance a culture you wanted to maintain and a culture you wanted to adapt to.
The relationship between Josie and Michael, her getting to know her father after he’d been absent for seventeen years was probably the most fun part of the story – even though I didn’t expect that at all. At the beginning, the atmosphere is very hostile between the two of them – understandable, as Michael tells Josie right away that he isn’t interested in being a father and she on the other side is furious that he left her mother back then – but soon they started warming up to each other and their conversations often were simply laugh-out-loud funny.

So in the end, even if this novel didn’t fully meet my expectations, I remain a glowing fan of Marchetta’s writing. If you haven’t read anything by her yet, you should definitely give her a try. In my opinion, she certainly deserves all the praise she’s been getting, and it makes me sad that her novels seem to be more of an ‘insider tip’ – Goodreads was the first place I ever saw people talking about them. So: go out there and read more Marchetta! I would even recommend starting with this book and working your way up – it probably makes for the better reading experience.

#2 Aussie YA Challenge 2011(less)

15 likes · like · see review

Apr 03, 2013 Maggie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, aussie-aussie-aussie-oi-oi-oi, aussie-2013, i-ve-just-read-you-and-i-love-you

The first Marchetta. The only one I hadn't read. It was as precious to me as a last born in Charyn and I kept it hidden away for as long as I could. And then Carla declared that it was time to break the emergency glass on this book.

Josephine Alibrandi had me from the beginning. I knew I was dealing with a kindred spirit when on page 5 she says,

"Believe me, I could write a book about problems. Yet my mother says that as long as we have a roof over our head we have nothing to worry about. Her naiv

...more

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Jan 07, 2012 Aly (Fantasy4eva) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: conflicted-thoughts, digging-the-premise, it-s-you-not-me, what-happened-to-you

I'm good at the reviewing part. The thoughts come and I just jot them down, but damn I must have tried to write this one for at least 3 times now. And frankly I'm getting pissed off. So let me try this one more time.

It's the weakest Marchetta novel I've read to date. It doesn't pull on your heart-strings. And whereas her books are so character driven, I felt no connection to any character this time around (apart perhaps a little to John.) I did find how Josie dealt with not feeling accepted and...more I'm good at the reviewing part. The thoughts come and I just jot them down, but damn I must have tried to write this one for at least 3 times now. And frankly I'm getting pissed off. So let me try this one more time.

It's the weakest Marchetta novel I've read to date. It doesn't pull on your heart-strings. And whereas her books are so character driven, I felt no connection to any character this time around (apart perhaps a little to John.) I did find how Josie dealt with not feeling accepted and trying to find herself interesting, though. Friends are often a topic of great focus to me when it comes to her books. But this time around I was very let down. We get like one line describing each mate of hers, and although it's explained that they are all very different from one another, I sensed no camaraderie, no affection, trust, or inkling that they even liked being around one another. I did not get the sense that they were close mates whatsoever. They seemed to hang around together more out of habit. Actually it's a little odd. Lee and Josie pretend they have nothing in common. They're a little indifferent towards one another. Sera who actually seems more like a enemy than a mate and spends a whole lot of time insulting our MC. And Anna' the nice one in the group. The one everyone takes the piss out of.

The pops. I found how he gave her the whole, idontwanttoknowyou thing kind of cold. Of course I'm not delusional, I know it happens. I just found it odd how they went to not really caring much for one another to the 2nd-3rd meeting to being all 'omgyou'rekindofawesome' a little baffling. I felt like there was this whole chunk missing which I missed out on. I don't think Josie meeting her father for the first time was really explored as well as it should have been.

Let's talk love interests. I wasn't swooning this time. I have to admit. A bit of a shame because Marchetta knows how to write her boys. I don't think I was rooting for either of the boys. Neither did much for me. Jacob, in fact, was pretty much a prick. And I'm trying to be kind here. Pressuring her into sex, yeah, I don't think you're a very nice guy, and the ending, yup, pretty much just confirmed your douche status. John, oh John. He's obviously a very depressed guy who is dealing with a lot of expectations. I really felt for him, although a certain part didn't hit me as hard as it should have.

The book was fast paced and pretty readable, but darn it I had top notch expectations. I thought it would be a lot more well written. And heck, I wanted my eyes to water at that horrible moment and I wanted to like our MC more. And call me spoilt but I wanted to swoon over both boys, and I wanted the other to have more of a shot with our girl. He had this small history but it served no purpose since it was clear from day one that he didn't stand a chance with her. Not to mention Josie claiming to be in love after like the first date was a major turn off. Not to mention she had the tendency to be very dramatic. Annoyingly dramatic.

I know I should keep in mind that it was Marchetta' debut, but, but, but still!! I expected more. I kind of hoped for a lot more. Keep in mind that I liked it, I did. I just know that it had a lot more potential.(less)

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May 31, 2011 Lisa O. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-lit, australian, favorites

I knew it. I just knew that my complete love for Melina Marchetta was clouded only by her 3rd person POV. And this book is the proof that I was right! I'm relieved I got that out of my system.

I loved this book. Loved it. It's up there with Saving Francesca and Jellicoe Road. But possibly, I loved this book even more than the others. Now I'm going to tell you why.

In 1956, my grand-uncle was 16 when he kissed his mum and dad goodbye, jumped on a boat and took off for Australia in search of fortun...more

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Jul 08, 2011 Stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: coming-of-age, favorites, realistic-fiction, young-adult, family-drama, aussie-mate, amazing-storytelling, beautiful-prose, books-that-linger, bosom-friends, contemporary, held-me-captive, snotsobs-and-tears, there-is-a-message, writers-i-love

What else is there to say? Marchetta owns me. I'll continue to read anything she writes.

Okay, so really all I can say is this book made me laugh, cry, rage, forgive, and accept. I don't know what it is about Marchetta, but she really gets the dynamics of human relationships and the layers of the individual.

This is another one of her works that doesn't disappoint. Not only did Melina touch on the person to person relationship she's done in her other works, but this time she also brought the are...more

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Oct 03, 2012 Katy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

4.5 stars - This book is totally different from Marchetta's Lumatere Chronicles, but I can honestly say I am more than impressed with her debut. This book had me laughing so much, and even made me shed a few tears.

Disclaimer on Audiobook: (view spoiler)...more

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Mar 27, 2012 Rebecca rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: aussie-ya, you-make-me-smile, aussie-ya-bk-chal

When I first cracked open the book and read the first couple of pages, I was already chuckling and smiling to myself. I loved the way the book began, it was funny and entertaining, and made a great first impression. I liked how it started; as it gives you an inside look on the main character, Josephine, through a quiz. However, she is interrupted by no less than an angry nun. Doesn’t that make for an interesting beginning?

This book displayed so many emotions. It was funny, bubbly, passionate, c...more

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Jan 03, 2011 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Heather by: Mon Amie T

Shelves: 2010, faves, ya

Saving Francesca is still my favorite Marchetta book to date, but Looking for Alibrandi comes in a very strong second. Regardless of how drastically different Marchetta’s heroines are described, I always identify with them. They are so wonderfully complex, yet simply described. I want to befriend them, at times I wish I was them. I love reading their stories as they go along their respective journeys, which are always emotional and strife with life lessons on love, fate and family. I may even b...more

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Jan 27, 2011 Isamlq rated it 4 of 5 stars

Humor, passion, family and friends are all bound up in this tidy little book. I have come to expect all these things from Melina Marchetta. She does not disappoint in this one: Josephine Alibrandi is smart, sassy, melodramatic, loud, and funny as hell. Vice Captain in her school she considers herself a social outcast, or at least not among “the beautifuls“. Why? She is of Italian descent. Does this make her less? Not according to her, but she feels that others feel that way. A lot of the crap sh...more

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Sep 23, 2011 K. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: hit-me-in-the-heart, ok-fine-its-ya, this-shelf-is-divine, to-buy, 20th-cent, identity-and-psychology, slippery-as-waterweed, society-culture-and-politics

I have never come across an author whose work I swore by. I've read many great pieces of literature but they stand alone, they are individual. A writer's first novel might leave me uninspired but his second novel might break my heart. Its like music, not every song by a musician is going to be a hit. Until Melina Marchetta. I wasn't even worried when I picked up Looking for Alibrandi because I knew it would be good. And it was. I feel like all of her books are on par with each other, except for...more

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Nov 30, 2011 Trinity rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sawoon, favourite, poetic-prose, young-adult, swim-fan, lets-hear-it-for-the-boys, home-grown-aussie, contempo-casual

*Fangirl warning*

How do you review your favourite book in the universe? Well I was going to say you can't and just continue leaving this unreviewed. Instead what follows is some insane gushing and personal Trin facts.

When I was 15 I received a copy of Looking for Alibrandi for Christmas, I had never heard of it, though at 15 I'd never really heard of much besides the Backstreet Boys. I remember looking at the cover and being skeptical. It had been years since I'd really read anything that wasn't...more

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Mar 06, 2011 Arlene rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Arlene by: TBR Reduction Challenge #5 - Nomes

Shelves: ya-contemporary, read-2011, aussie-books, young-adult

Rating Clarification: 4.5 Stars

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....more

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Jan 31, 2011 Jillian -always aspiring- rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: All fans of Melina Marchetta (seriously -- go read it if you haven't!)

Shelves: ultimate-favorites, exceeded-my-expectations, glad-i-gave-it-a-chance, 2011-reads, made-me-cry, stories-with-a-message, thought-provoking, writing-to-which-i-aspire, fab-writing, best-endings, best-characters, amazing-storytelling, want-a-sequel, humorous, realistic-fiction, wish-i-could-write-a-book-like-this, will-love-it-until-i-die, wowed-me, i-am-not-worthy, realistic-teenage-voices, prose-envy, writer-crush, reviewed

Well. It's been a long time coming, reading all of Melina Marchetta's available novels (the others being Saving Francesca, Jellicoe Road, and Finnikin of the Rock to all you [as of yet] non-Marchetta fans). . .but I did it. Now, I can't help but wonder: what am I going to do in the meantime until the release of her next novel? Marchetta is EXACTLY that kind of author to make you feel that way.

First confession: I would likely never have given this author a chance if I hadn't so adored her first f...more

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Aug 29, 2008 Swankivy rated it 2 of 5 stars

All through the reading of this book, I felt like the author hadn't been able to decide quite what she was writing; is this a teen's journal or is it a first-person narration book? Every chapter seemed to address some subject of the main character's life, and mostly they seemed really disconnected. I didn't think the writing was smooth at all, though it wasn't because it was trying to imitate a teen's voice. I liked some of the concepts, but overall it just seemed like there was a pattern of "st...more

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May 20, 2012 Watermelon Daisy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Looking for Alibrandi is an unusual book, because there’s no way to classify it.

It’s not exactly romance, but not adventure. So the best way to describe it is a coming-of-age story, where the main character, Josie, finds herself through a course of one year. There aren’t any words to say, except that I loved how mature the main character got throughout the book. She started off as childish, rebellious and rather annoying and developed as somebody who seemed much older and more serious about lif...more

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Apr 12, 2012 Nikita Ompang rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: wish-list, novel

Want a book that slaps reality straight flat on your face? READ THIS!

It's just so realistic. It felt so real to me being a 17 year old lass myself. Studying at a catholic school and all that 'ethnic' type of living with cultures to follow and rules that doesn't apply to most people in your place, it's sooo like my life. This book drove me crazy especially the last part of it! I was exasperated when I finished reading the book. I, for a second, regretted even starting reading the book for the rea...more

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Oct 14, 2012 April rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own, ya, fill-in-the-gaps-project, highly-recommended

You guys, I’ve FINALLY lost my Melina Marchetta virginity. Based on how much I trust book bloggers and Goodreads for recommendations, you’d think i would have read Marchetta by now. But I’m usually the last person to get in on what’s cool. I decided my first Melina Marchetta read should be a book I already own, a library discard of Looking For Alibrandi, Melina Marchetta’s debut and definitely not her best book (I like to save that for last).

Read the rest of my review here

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Jan 10, 2009 Jervine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Josephine Alibrandi berumur tujuh belas tahun, duduk di bangku terakhir SMU. Hidup bersama ibunya yang single parent dan nenek kuno yang bikin sakit kepala, belum lagi melakukan persiapan untuk menghadapi ujian akhir. Tapi itu belum apa-apa. Josie masih harus menghadapi kenyataan bahwa ternyata tidak semua rencana yang disusunnya dengan begitu saksama dapat terwujud seluruhnya. Tanpa diduga dia harus menghadapi kenyataan bertemu dengan ayahnya untuk pertama kali seumur hidup, jatuh cinta, dan me...more

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Apr 01, 2013 Agnes rated it 4 of 5 stars

Category on the bingo board...
A book with a female main character;a 17 year old prefect of St Martha's, Josephine Alibrandi

Why I decided to read it?
Form teacher recommended it to me. It is also used as a novel study so I wanted to see what I could interpret from this book independently.

Interesting yes/no?
I found this book very interesting because it's not too serious. It's a book where as a teen you can relate whether it's family, schooling or socially. Josephine Alibrandi, a student of a wealth...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-that-made-me-cry, realistically-voiced-by-author, young-adult

I've put off reading Looking for Alibrandi due to other Goodreaders' warnings that this book isn't nearly as good as Melina Marchetta's other works. After all, it is her debut novel and it was first published over 20 years ago - back when teased hair, shoulder pads and Vogue-ing were what's considered contemporary. I've repeatedly declared my love for Ms. Marchetta's writing and I was afraid to tarnish her "perfect score" in my head. And after finishing Alibrandi, I do have to agree that it's no...more I've put off reading Looking for Alibrandi due to other Goodreaders' warnings that this book isn't nearly as good as Melina Marchetta's other works. After all, it is her debut novel and it was first published over 20 years ago - back when teased hair, shoulder pads and Vogue-ing were what's considered contemporary. I've repeatedly declared my love for Ms. Marchetta's writing and I was afraid to tarnish her "perfect score" in my head. And after finishing Alibrandi, I do have to agree that it's not my favourite among her work, but it has more to do with my preference of writing style rather than the actual story. Firstly, it was written in first person POV, which I am not a huge fan of. Secondly, there was her tendency to be overly descriptive, especially in the beginning of the book. The writing does get better as the story progressed. And despite being imperfect, I still found this to be better written than most books I've read, YA or not. The story is moving. Her intent is obvious. And you'd see the skill or its potential, at least. I don't know why it took her over a decade to release her next novel but I'm glad she didn't settle for mediocrity. I read that she was a teacher during that period and I'm sure she was busy honing her craft, because when she finally produced Saving Francesca, her storytelling was absolutely amazing. Each succeeding book have since proved to be better than the last and all of them have NOT failed to touch me with her beautiful writing.

So what's this book about? Josephine Alibrandi is a 17-year old girl who struggles to fit in her school and among her peers. She is a scholarship kid among the rich and privileged, as well as a "person of colour" (being of Italian descent) in a sea of white kids. In addition to what she perceives as a disadvantage, she also grew up being the object of ridicule of some kids due to her being from a single-parent home and being an illegitimate child. She was raised single-handedly by her mom, who had her when she was just a teenager herself, after her father moved to Adelaide shortly after she was conceived and not knowing about her existence at all. Things change, however, when her dad moves back to Sydney and it's impossible for Josie to avoid him, seeing that he belongs to their tiny Italian community and is well-liked by her grandmother. She's determined that she'll be content not having a relationship with him. However, she later realizes that she needs him more than she cares to admit to.

In typical Marchetta fashion, the characters and the story are realistic and imperfect. Josie is a girl with glasses, baby fat and unruly hair. She is insecure and angsty. She acts and says things without thinking most of the time, thereby getting her constantly in trouble at school and with her mom and grandmother. Then there's her father Michael, whose presence she unexpectedly craves. There is also a swoonworthy boy by the name of Jacob Coote, who makes the perfect recipient of Josie's love and heartbreak.

I really found Josie's voice refreshing and real. I easily related to her thoughts and feeilngs, being raised by a single parent myself, being lower middle class within a relatively wealthy community, and being a "mixed" kid in a predominantly mono-cultured school for 12 years of my life. It's true, kids can be mean and at that time, what people around you say can really scar you. I felt vindicated when Josie finally learned to let go of the opinions of people who don't matter. I think it was great that her eventual understanding of her culture and upbringing was so honestly portrayed. Her growth was touching to read about, as were her relationships with her mom, her dad, her peers and her boyfriend. I cried buckets when she finally learned to forgive and accept.

Overall, I found this book to be a great read. It's no wonder why it is a widely recognized literary piece in Australia. It tackled the subject of families, multiculturalism, racism, first loves, sex, friendships, dreams, sacrifice, death, social exclusion, and even religion. I highly recommend this to the teens of today, even though some might roll their eyes at the generation gap present, being an older novel and all. Older readers will definitely appreciate this better. (less)

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Mar 22, 2013 Rashika rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-treasure, books-that-changed-me, good-female-leads, read-2013, 2013-favorties, realistic-contemporary, ya, books-i-want-to-buy

There are spoilers in this review

So yesterday after possibly reading one of the best fantasy novels (The Princess Bride), I kind of wanted to cool off. I wanted to read something on the realistic side, not a chic lit, I wasn’t in the mood for those. Then I remembered this. Right after reading Saving Francesca I kind of stalked the rest of Melina Marchetta’s books. I remembered seeing this but the reviews left me with mixed feelings, most people said that this wasn’t the best of her works but it...more

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Feb 21, 2013 Kurollama rated it 1 of 5 stars

Dear lord. I had.....aaavvveerrragggeee hopes for this book before I read it out of sheer boredom one Wednesday afternoon. Purely because I knew it was an acclaimed novel.

I was sadly mistaken.

While the writing itself is adequate, the storyline is droll, and it quite honestly reads as if Mrs. Marchetta found her school diary, inserted herself as Josephine (Baaaaaddd idea) and tried to change a few facts out of guilt.

Josephine is portrayed at numerous times to be innocent in practise and not all t...more Dear lord. I had.....aaavvveerrragggeee hopes for this book before I read it out of sheer boredom one Wednesday afternoon. Purely because I knew it was an acclaimed novel.

I was sadly mistaken.

While the writing itself is adequate, the storyline is droll, and it quite honestly reads as if Mrs. Marchetta found her school diary, inserted herself as Josephine (Baaaaaddd idea) and tried to change a few facts out of guilt.

Josephine is portrayed at numerous times to be innocent in practise and not all that lucky with men. Yet when it comes to kissing Jacob, our lovely typical bad boy right down to the earring, long hair and motorbike, she is only 'embarrassed' at kissing him. I'm quite sorry, but what 17 year old girl who hasn't been in relationships since she was 12 doesn't have some explosion of emotion, good or bad, when the resident hottie and antagonist (he is, he really is) kisses her unaware! According to the book, she took it as calmly as if they'd been married a decade.
This also doesn't fit with Josephines 'I'm a strong Italian woman who don't need no man' image.

Another thing is how she acts with her mother and Nonna. Now I understand having a yelling and screaming match at your mum, and then running to them half an hour later sobbing your apologies. We've all done. Well......maybe all us women, at the least. But Josephine borders on bipolar. One minute she is fine and happy, the next 'furious' and red hot and then desperately confused then miserable, then getting screamed at by her mother and then pondering how someone as always calm and soft and gentle as her mother could ever have raised her. And while you read this, you feel like your eyeballs have skipped a few sentences, such is the....gutlessness of the emotional description.

I won't tear into this anymore, because I've been mean enough. But for a book that covers some seriously delicate teenage, racial, gender and even religous issues, it is seriously lacking! You finish the book, and it feels as if it has been split and half deleted. But not in that good way which leaves you eager for a sequel or to mull on delicious half hinted at facts. It is not inspiring, it is not helpful, it is not a warm-fuzzie, it's not even a 'lets have deep thoughts after this one' book. Judging on the praise for her other books (which I wonder if I can trust after hearing the praise for this one), maybe this first book was her way of figuring out how NOT to write a teenage drama....(less)

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Feb 07, 2013 Emi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: australian

Looking for Alibrandi is a decent book. It’s got its rough edges and flaws, but also some highlights, leaving it to be a good, solid read overall.
I got into Melina Marchetta quite a lot later than all my friends. I had two in particular who were massive Marchetta fans when we were in Year 8 and they spent all their time urging me to read her work. Years later, having read some of her newer works, I finally read the debut novel that put Marchetta’s name on the map. Being both older than the prot...more

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Oct 08, 2012 Jill rated it 4 of 5 stars

After I read Jellicoe Road and fell in love with this author, I couldn’t wait to go back and read her first book, because it was the one that garnered all the awards. I have to say however that I think all of her later books are better than this first one, but it’s still very good, and definitely worth reading.

Josie Alibrandi, 17, is a high school senior at St. Martha’s, in a suburb just outside of Sydney, Australia. She lives with her single mother Christina, who was practically disowned by her...more

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Oct 08, 2012 Surin rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have a confession to make. I had never heard of Marchetta till late 2012 and it was because my GR list was going on and on and on about Quintana of Charyn and its release date in October. Naturally I was intrigued cause the Lunatere series was fantasy, the ratings were good and the author was Aussie. So I read both Finnikin of the Rock and Froi of the Exiles and was absolutely blown away. I quickly decided to read all of Marchetta's book starting with On the Jellicoe road followed by Saving Fr ...more I have a confession to make. I had never heard of Marchetta till late 2012 and it was because my GR list was going on and on and on about Quintana of Charyn and its release date in October. Naturally I was intrigued cause the Lunatere series was fantasy, the ratings were good and the author was Aussie. So I read both Finnikin of the Rock and Froi of the Exiles and was absolutely blown away. I quickly decided to read all of Marchetta's book starting with On the Jellicoe road followed by Saving Francesca and The Piper's Son.

And now I'm at the end of my Marchetta journey and it's funny to read her books in reverse to when they were published. I can see how much Marchetta has grown as a writer. Alibrandi writing wise isn't as plot driven as On the Jellicoe road or as emotionally invested as The Piper's Son or as romantic as Saving Francesca but yet there are things in Alibrandi that are so wonderfully unpolished. The writing, the language, the plot is just so raw, gritty and most of all it just feels so real. It's almost as though Josephine Alibrandi is a real person who wrote a memoir about growing up in the Sydney suburbs. I really liked that the characters themselves felt like they are true accounts of real people and the first person POV doesn't sound overly mature for a 17 year old girl.

Alibrandi deals with a lot of relevant teen issues (belonging, finding direction in life) and also bigger issues at play like racism, immigration and being at odds between two cultures. I can easily relate to being a immigrant living in a foreign country (4th generation Chinese in Malaysia and was living in the US for about 5 years for school).

While not as emotionally heavy as some of Marchetta's other books (only towards the last half), Alibrandi makes you love it for being very realistic. I think the scenarios in Alibrandi don't alow for much to be overtly emotional or it'll end up being melodramatic and I appreciate that. I also like the ending because my one comment about Marchetta was how everything gets resolved neatly because she puts her characters thru so much hell however in Alibrandi this wasn't the case. I would say the ending isn't really a happy ever after but more like an open ended ending so the story of Jozie still continues on even when the pages close. I'm glad that Marchettta allowed us to follow on this journey of growing up and even though the book has ended, I know that the story of Josephine Alibrandi hasn't and now that she has found her 'emancipation', the journey has only begun. (less)

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Aug 21, 2012 Jill rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya

I didn't find Looking for Alibrandi to be exceptional in any way, but that does not mean it is a bad book. Indeed, it is a good book, simply unremarkable.

We follow Josephine Alibrandi, a senior in high school torn between two cultural heritages, two boys, and two ways of life. These are issues that any thinking teenager faces--how do I fit in yet maintain my sense of self? What do I want to be when I grow up? What if who I am is in opposition to who my boyfriend is? Marchetta explores these que...more

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Jun 28, 2012 Cerise rated it 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

Though not particularly climactic or life-changing, Looking for Alibrandi was a sweet read with a well-developed, believable protagonist.

One thing I loved about Josephine is that she is flawed. She's a teenager trying to explore herself and her world, and there were quite a few times I wanted to smack her - but it was never in "that" way, like where you think some characters have Too Stupid Too Live Syndrome. She was a character you could relate to a bit, and those close to her - Mich...more

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Jun 16, 2012 Kelsey Jacobs rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book was interesting, in that I think it's the "worst" (read: least good of very excellent books) of Marchetta's backlog, but it was the easiest to get into. Usually, with a Marchetta book, I find myself liking it well enough, but it's not until the halfway mark that I find myself in eternal love. In LfA, it was about the 40-page mark that I really found myself enjoying the book.

The thing that I enjoyed the most, I think, was the perspective of someone who grew up in a culture that seems so...more This book was interesting, in that I think it's the "worst" (read: least good of very excellent books) of Marchetta's backlog, but it was the easiest to get into. Usually, with a Marchetta book, I find myself liking it well enough, but it's not until the halfway mark that I find myself in eternal love. In LfA, it was about the 40-page mark that I really found myself enjoying the book.

The thing that I enjoyed the most, I think, was the perspective of someone who grew up in a culture that seems sort of outcasted in that country. Here, it's the Italians in Australia, but I could really relate that to the Hispanics in America. I'm glad I read LfA specifically for that, because I can really see the perspective now, of clinging to something for protection so much, that even though a person can be a third-generation immigrant, they're still outsiders. Maybe "clinging" isn't the best word, but having that culture so pressed into you, it becomes almost a physical thing on its own. And in that way, I could relate to that myself; early on, there's a line from Jose about how the Italians in Italy have actually progressed into modern times, and the Italians in Australia are still staunchly caught in the conservative old ways. The descendants of Norwegians all seem to gather at the Sons of Norway club and eat lutefisk. My senior year of high school, there was a Norwegian exchange student there, and I managed to ask her if they eat lutefisk in Norway still. She kind of wrinkled her nose and said, "Only old people eat that." So it was great to see that kind of cross-cultural experience.

Josephine at the beginning is kind of frustrating because she almost deliberately picks fights, and yet, I can remember myself doing the same thing, so it was very realistic. And the main people around her - her mother, her father, her nonna, Jacob, and even John - all seemed very realistic. And when John commits suicide, which is very frustrating, Jose airs exactly how I feel about suicide of the rich myself - that they had everything, they haven't experienced my problems at all, and they don't see around that.

However, a few things that knocked this book off of a 5-star rating. First, nothing much happened with Jose's 3 friends. In fact, Sera almost felt like an antagonist - she said way worse things than "Poison" Ivy did. And yes, it's true, your friends can get away with saying some horrible things, because they're your friends and you know they don't mean it. But here? I didn't get the feeling that Jose knew that Sera didn't mean what she said. In fact, this book was entirely missing those magical friends that Marchetta dreams up that the rest of her books have. Yes, it's her first book, but I think it was lacking in that department. It's almost made up for by the friendship/relationship with Jacob Coote, and that of John Barton (and even, to an extent, Ivy), but it didn't really work.

Also, most of the major "twists" were very predictable. I see John's death coming, and that Marcus Sandford was really Jose's grandfather. Yes, Melina Marchetta books are more about the experience than they are about the plot twists, but I think she could have done a bit better here. Also, on that note, there were some details that were introduced at the beginning that weren't ever brought up again, i.e., the downstairs neighbors.

All in all, though, this was an outstanding read, and I have no doubt that I'll reread this one several times in the future.

Note: this is my 4th Melina Marchetta books, and the order I read them in were Jellicoe Road, Saving Francesca, the Piper's Son, and Looking for Alibrandi. And while I don't regret reading Jellicoe first, because it made me want to read the rest of Marchetta's backlog, I love to work up to the "best for last" approach (will be reading the fantasy trilogy - the first two - soon). So, my current thought approach would be to read them in the order of SF, tPS, LfA, and then JR. But really, you could read them in any order you wanted, so long as you read Saving Francesca before the Piper's Son.(less)

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About Melina Marchetta

Melina Marchetta was born in Sydney Australia. Her first novel, Looking For Alibrandi was awarded the Children's Book Council of Australia award in 1993 and her second novel, Saving Francesca won the same award in 2004. Looking For Alibrandi was made into a major film in 2000 and won the Australian Film Institute Award for best Film and best adapted screen play, also written by the author. On the...more

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Finnikin of the Rock (Lumatere Chronicles #1)

Froi of the Exiles (Lumatere Chronicles, #2)

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“Promise me you'll never stop dreaming.” — 81 people liked it

“Living is the challenge. Not dying. Dying is so easy. Sometimes it only takes ten seconds to die. But living? That can take you eighty years and you do something in that time.” — 78 people liked it

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