Looking for Alibrandi

3.5
I just really enjoy reading Marchetta books whenever I need something a little easier to breeze through. The characters are always complex and interesting, and I thoroughly enjoy learning about Australian culture through the lens of teens.

4,5 stars sebenarnya. Sering sih baca review mengenai karya2 Melina Marchetta, tp bukunya baru ak baca yg Finnikin of the Rocks, itupun kelanjutan serinya gk diterjemahkan. Setelah baca buku ini ternyata bagus banget... Namun krn ini masuk genre realistic YA jgn berharap happily ever after spt genre2 YA fantasy. Kurang lebih mirip2 dgn Eleanor & Park dan Fangirl nya Rainbow Rowell. Ringan, menghibur & lucu ala teenager labi yg sedang mencari tempatnya di dunia. Overall buku2 realistic YA rata2 ak suka krn mengingatkanku bagaimana ak dulu waktu seumuran mereka, ketika hal2 penting dlm hidup hanyalah mendapat nilai bagus, lulus dgn nilai memuaskan, universitas mana yg ingin kumasuki & bagaimana perasaan dag dig dug bila bertemu cowok yg kita sukai.

Looking for Alibrandi takes me to a part of Australia I didn't know existed and includes characters I never suspected were part of Australian life. Josephine Alibrandi has never known her father, and the lack of a father is a major problem in her Italian family. Just being from an Italian heritage sets Josephine up for scorn from her solidly Australian friends, and not having a father sets Josephine up for scorn from both her Australian friends and her Italian family.

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.

A technical gripe: I listened to this in the car and the audio version cuts off the last three sentences of the novel. Way to leave me hanging!

But it's an interesting story, won a ton of awards etc etc. Very interesting to hear about schooling in Australia. The voice of narrator Josie seems quite fresh, despite the book being written in 1991. It is funny when she mentions things like Country Road jeans and Esprit clothing.