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Looking for Alibrandi Paperback – 9 May 2006
Melina Marchetta (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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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.
- Reading age12 - 17 years
- Print length320 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Grade level7 - 12
- Dimensions13.34 x 1.73 x 20.32 cm
- PublisherAlfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
- Publication date9 May 2006
- ISBN-100375836942
- ISBN-13978-0375836947
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Product description
About the Author
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Product details
- Publisher : Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers (9 May 2006)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 320 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0375836942
- ISBN-13 : 978-0375836947
- Reading age : 12 - 17 years
- Dimensions : 13.34 x 1.73 x 20.32 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 620,105 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Melina Marchetta (born 25 March 1965) is an Australian writer and teacher. Melina is best known as the author of novels, Looking for Alibrandi, Saving Francesca and On the Jellicoe Road. She has twice been awarded the CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers, in 1993 and 2004. For Jellicoe Road she won the 2009 Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association, recognising the year's best book for young adults. Marchetta holds a name for being one of the more prominent Australian Authors of present time in Young-Adult Fiction.
Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo from Goodreads.
Customer reviews
Top reviews from Australia
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Quotes I like from this book:
"It's an embarrassing contradiction when your mother gets pregnant out of wedlock because her Catholic upbringing prohibits contraception."
Lovable yet complex characters reveal a good portrait of the culture of 1950's Australia.
Australia was still so young and naive .... so ignorant and brash, like a pubescent teenager fumbling towards a maturity it doesn't yet comprehend.
The influx of immigrants bringing with them a confusion of fascination and fear. Their need to cling to the familiar...their own, somehow brought about a need in Australians to do likewise, each unwittingly fostering glaring cultural divides as they each vie and jostle for recognition and acknowledgement.
The irony was that they each felt alienated and threatened by the very same perceptions they had of one another.
Josephine Alibrandi is an Australian born of Italian descent, she is seventeen years old and lives with her mother who has raised her as a single parent...much to the chagrin of her own mother and her extended Italian family.
Being Italians they nurture strong principles when it comes to family and moral virtues, and Josephine's mother suffered a long and hard fall from grace when she fell pregnant out of wedlock and made the decision to keep her child.
Not only was her mother ostracized forever more by family and friends, but Josephine herself suffered throughout her childhood and teens from the cruel taunts of others, ranging from her fatherless upbringing to her Italian blood and her Australian birth, she struggled to find her niche.
Although Josephine carried the burden of these realities, she maintained a good sense of humour and a feisty disposition as she struggled with the pressures associated with coming of age.
With her HSC looming large and relationships with her family, teachers and even friends being stretched taut, Josephine was feeling the pressure of growing up and leaving her innocence behind.
If she thought life was already difficult enough, she was in for a real learning curve as life began to throw some very testing challenges in her way.
Josephine was about to grow up.
I loved this book, it is about contradictions, about how we perceive life, each other, values, things, and the consequences of our perceptions.
~This book made me think.
Do we ever truly understand anything? Providing things are fairly constant, we accept things as we understand them, and learn the ways to live with that understanding.
Then something happens one day which challenges those beliefs, or disproves them altogether, and totally throws us off kilter, literally erasing everything we believed and understood to be real...forcing us to re-evaluate our lives and everything that has shaped us...
And yet, if we had not made that discovery, what then? Do we ever truly understand anything? If we identify the lies we are forced to acknowledge them and are necessarily changed by that, but if we never identify the lies...does that mean they don't matter?
"Oh what a tangled web we weave"!
We so complicate things in our fervent desire for acceptance, and sell ourselves short in an effort to attain some intangible sort of (fake) nirvana, because we want to feel necessary.
I haven't come to any conclusions on my questions, but I am reminded of this favourite saying:
"All my life I wanted to be somebody
--only to discover that I am"
I can see why this book is a favourite in schools. I would definitely recommend it to all teenagers as well as adults.
I originally gave this 4★s but decided to change that to 5★s because it made me think, and laugh, and cry, and think some more.
The kids at school were so cruel and they were so ignorant, One such student telling me infront of our class that Her parents, sister and herself all "hate coloured people". I was always awkward about it and found it hard to deal with it even though my unique features are something that are hightly sort after these days, When I first read this book it was like Every thing I had experienced and faced in this book turned film. Until this day, I love This book and find myself reading it a few times a year even though i know the story in-side-out.
Top reviews from other countries

Josephine's voice is earnest and engaging. It is a joy to watch her character grow across the story and slowly develop a more mature outlook on life and what independence, tradition and identity can mean for young women in our busy, multicultural world today.


南欧系の人たちがwogという言葉で差別されるところでは、日本からでたことがないため、肌の色でいやな目にあったことがない自分は幸せなのかなあと思いました。そしてお父さんがいないということで、いじめつづけられていた主人公のところへ、お金もありそうな弁護士のお父さんが現れるところは、まるでおとぎ話のようでした。このうえは、主人公のママにも、やさしいお父さんにぜひあってほしいです。たとえその人が家族を持っていても、その人が選んだ妻である人やその子供たちはきっと主人公のママを愛してくれると思いました。

Josephine and her big, smart mouth. She's feisty and not a pushover. That along with her big mouth often gets her into trouble. Yet, she's cares about others.
Jacob Coote: So passionate and straightforward. He's not afraid to say what's on his mind. Loved this quote from him: "I've grown accustomed to you," he said. "You're just not what I'm used to." "And you've got the biggest mouth I've ever met." Josie: "Lovely. Why am I lying on the beach with a boy who's insulting me."?" Jacob: "Because you're attracted to me sexually." The romance between him and Josie is a nice blend of sweet and ornery at the same time. These two are ready to smack each other one minute, and then kiss until their lips are bruised, the next.
The old-world Italian family: Christina, Josie's mom, who gave up so much to raise Josie on her own. Nonna Katia, the hysterics and drama always surrounding her. In the beginning you find her just as irritating as Josie. But as Josie gets her history, you feel for her just as Josie does. Nonna Katia's story ends up being quite interesting and sad at the same time. And then there's Michael, the father who comes back into the Alibrandi's life. The developing relationship was heart-warming.
Here are some of my favorite quotes/scenes:
Josie: "We don't even love each other." Jacob: "I do a bit, you know." Josie: "You do what a bit?" Jacob: "You know. Like you...whatever...love you a bit." Josie: "I think I kind of love you too."
Jacob: "Didn't I once squash two eggs against your glasses?" Josie: "I'm flattered you remembered."
Josie: "He's not my type." Lee: "Why?" Josie: "He cracked two eggs on my glasses once." Lee: "Out of twelve girls in that alley, he picked you to do that to. I think he likes you."
Sister Gregory is famous for nostril-flaring. Once I commented to someone that she must have been a horse in another life. She overheard and scolded me, saying that, as a Catholic, I shouldn't believe in reincarnation.

And then her father comes back into her life.
Josephine is a wonderfully real teen, full of both worries and courage, as she unexpectedly comes to connect with both her dad and other teens.