Looking For Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta - A.K.A. greatest book ever written

Hello Readers! 
I recently re-read one of my favourite books and it is easy to say that it is now my favourite book! I think that the reasons why I didn't like it as much when I read it the first time as the second time was because I was younger and couldn't really read between the lines as much. So! I'm going to tell you everything there is to the book without spoilers!

The first thing you should know are the facts about the actual book:

Author: Melina Marchetta

Adaptations: Looking for Alibrandi (2000)

Country: Australia

Genres: Young-adult fiction, Bildungsroman

Originally published: October 5, 1992

The book summary:

Josie Alibrandi is an girl from Italian descent who is growing up in Sydney, Australia. Josie is on scholarship at a prestigious Catholic school where it matters what her father does. Josie doesn't know who her father is as she lives with her mum, Christina, all she knows was that her mother had her against her fathers wishes when she was in her late teens. Josie and her mother's lives are interfered with by Nonna Katia, Christina's mother. 
Josie's father, Michael Andretti, comes back into Josie's life with no idea that he had a daughter. When he finds out he and Josie decide to have nothing to do with each other.

At school Josie hangs out with her misfit friends, Sera, Anna and Lee. She has a crush on the school caption of their brother school, John Barton. She also meets Jacob Coote, the school caption from the local state school, who asks her out... and I know you guys probably want to know more but I can't write any spoilers! 

The main characters:

Josephine Alibrandi

• The main character in the book

• The school vice captain of a high class school

• She is Italian

• She is the only child of single mother

Jacob Coote 

• The school captain from a local state school

• Has a crush on Josie 

• Is kind of a badass

• Is Australian

Christina Alibrandi
• She is Josie's mother
• Had Josie at 17
• She's not married
• She constantly gets told off by her mother
• She is Italian

Katia Alibrandi
• She is Josie's grandmother and Christina's mother
• She is referred to as Nona
• She treats her daughter badly because she is an only mother
• She is Italian











Michael Andretti
• Josie's father
• Lives in Adelaide
• He is unaware that Josie exists
• He owns a fair amount of money









John Barton 
• He's the school captain of a hight class school
• He has been Josie's crush since as far as sh can remember
• Josie's closes boy friend
• His father puts a lot of pressure on him

So now that you have brief idea of what the story is about the characters are in going to tell you what were the best things and the not so great things about this book:

Best Things:

-Such an fast and easy book to read
-Amazing and interesting storyline that makes you wanna keep reading and never let go of the book
-Really good character development throughout the book
-Makes you realise a lot of good and bad things about having different cultures 
-Teaches you so much about Australia

Not so good things:-Cliffhanger at the end! So if that annoys you...

-When I read the book, I would have liked to know more about how Jacob was feeling through the book
-Even though it will teach you a lot about Australian culture, there are some things that you could miss if you don't know a lot about Australia.

 Michael Andretti and Christina

Josie, Nona Katia and Christina Alibrandi

Josie Alibarndi and Jacob Coote

And for you guys who like watching movies... There's a Looking for Alibrandi movie!

Initial release: May 4, 2000
Director: Kate Woods
Running time: 1h 43m
Adapted from: Looking for Alibrandi 
Movie summary and actors:  Josie (Pia Miranda) is struggling to cope with her teenage existence. She lives with her single mother, Christina (Greta Scacchi), and attends a prestigious private school, where her snobbish classmates mock her Sicilian heritage. She contends with the dramas of teen romance, divided between John (Matthew Newton) and Jacob (Kick Gurry). When her family receives a visit from Michael (Anthony LaPaglia), her mother's former lover, Josie is overwhelmed when she discovers that he is also her father.

 

Top 3 books by Melina Marchetta!

Hello book Lovers! 

I've just finished reading Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard... and it was amazing! I recomend it to any YA reader. I will post a review about it soon, so keep an eye on that, it will probably be my first post of May.

So, let's get on with Melina Marchetta. 

Melina Marchetta is a great author. She has written 3 of my fovourite books, which are Looking for Alibrandi! , The Piper's Son! and Saving Francesca! They are three breathtaking books. They are all based in Australia and in Australian life, so if you read them and something sounds weird, it's probably because Aussies are awesomely weird, by the way, I do live in Australia; I'm not just saying that because I think so. 

Looking for Alibrandi is my favourite book in the world. It is about a girl that lives with her mum and really across the street from her Grandmother. She has to spend lot of time with her granny because her Italian backround kind of makes her have to be close to her family... And because she doesn't know who her dad is, she is really close her mum and tries her best to be nice to her grandmother. She tries really hard, but it's difficult when she keeps blaming her poor single mother for everything. 

She falls I love with an Australian boy, they really like each other, but the rest of the Italian women don't accept the fact that she is dating an Australian boy instead of an Italian one. When the Italian ladies start talking about her behind her back, she hears rumors, like: "it's all her mothers fault, she is a single mother." "I'm sure the father wasn't Italian either" ... And so on, so the father thing get into her mind, she starts asking questions about him to her mother, but she doesn't get many answers. After a lot of time looking for her father, she finally finds out he lives in Sydney. But, during all the time she has been obsessed with finding her dad, she hasn't realised that she has been drifting away from her boyfriend. 

What is she going to do? Look for her father? Wait until her m gives her more information about her dad? Should she stay with her Australian lover? Why does her granny always judge her own daughter?  

There are so many question to be solved, and you can find the answer by reading this amazing book. 

Saving Francesca is so amazing! "Saving Francesca" is the story of sixteen-year-old Francesca Spinelli's coming-of-age during a time when her mother, previously the rock of her life, is bedridden with depression. As her family falls apart around her, Francesca falls in love with an unattainable boy, makes new friends, and learns to appreciate what truly makes her unique. 

The novel opens with the sorrowful line, "This morning, my mother didn't get out of bed". Francesca Spinelli is used to her mother's ridiculous antics waking her up in the morning, used to her mother's controlling presence in her life, used to her mother's seemingly unattainable expectations for Francesca to live as an individual at all times. Now, her mother is like a ghost, completely bedridden and practically unresponsive to the world around her. Recently, Francesca's mother transferred Francesca from St. Stella Academy to St. Sebastian's - which used to be an all boys' school - for tenth grade. At this new school, there are thirty girls to seven hundred and fifty boys. For many teenage girls, this sounds like a dream come true, but for Francesca, it's a nightmare. She misses her old friends and is forced to hangout with nerdy girls who transferred from her old school with her. As a result, Francesca feels isolated at school and wishes things in her life were different. 

One of the major problems in Francesca's life is the fact that girls are treated so differently in school than boys, so some of the ex-Stella girls create a list of demands and nominate Francesca to deliver their request to the house head, a no-nonsense twelfth-year named William Trombol. Even though William is gruff and sometimes rude, Francesca slowly realizes that she's falling in love with Will, and she believes Will might have feelings for her, too. At a party one weekend, Will locks eyes with Francesca from across the room, makes a beeline toward her, and kisses her hard on the mouth. They spend the rest of the party making-out, so Francesca feels blindsided when, the next day, she learns that Will has a girlfriend. Faced with a broken heart and a mother too depressed to get out of bed, Francesca feels as if she's falling apart. Slowly, she begins to bond with her fellow ex-Stella girls and forms friendships stronger than she ever could have imagined. These three girls, Siobhan, Tina, and Justine, never question Francesca's swinging moods: they love her unconditionally, which is more than Francesca can say about her previous best friends, who abandon her in her time of need. 

As the novel progresses and Francesca's mother goes from bad to worse, she is forced to lean on her new friends for strength in both her familial and social lives. She learns that being "cool" isn't the most important thing for a teenager - being surrounded by those who love and support you is. As Francesca comes out of her shell, embracing extracurricular activities like dancing and singing in the school musical, she learns to love herself and to surround herself with friends who love her for her she is, not what she represents. The more Francesca heals, the more attractive she becomes to Will Trombol, who soon breaks up with his girlfriend (although he doesn't want to date Francesca right away). Francesca learns that healing is not an overnight experience, for herself or for her mother, but when given the space to truly be themselves, both characters express the strength and determination to survive. 

The Piper's son is such an amazing book. It's kind of like a prologue of Saving Francesca becuase it has the same characters, and it is what happens after school, but Thomas is the main character instead of Fran. Even though he went to Francesca's school and they had the same friends becuase they were in the same frienship group, Thomas' life is very different and a bit more difficult. After high school, everything gets harder, Tom somehow they end up alone and  has to work out what he has to do with his life without anyone there to support him. 
This is a short summary:
 Thomas Mackee wants oblivion. Wants to forget parents who leave and friends he used to care about and a string of one-night stands, and favourite uncles being blown to smithereens on their way to work on the other side of the world. But when his flatmates turn him out of the house, Tom moves in with his single, pregnant aunt, Georgie. And starts working at the Union pub with his former friends. And winds up living with his grieving father again. And remembers how he abandoned Tara Finke two years ago, after his uncle’s death. And in a year when everything’s broken, Tom realises that his family and friends need him to help put the pieces back together as much as he needs them.


I encourage everyone to read this three amazing books because they will blow you mind! They such great books, all three of them amazingly written by Melina  Marchetta, my favourite author, and have incredible story lines. 

A Booktiful Life