Looking for Alibrandi

by Melina Marchetta

[Kelly]

http://www.divabooknerd.com/2014/04/looking-for-alibrandi-by-melina.html
Looking for Alibrandi is an Australian rite of passage, and I'm embarrassed that it has taken me so long to discover another Melina Marchetta masterpiece. I live in Melbourne, which has almost half of the Italian Australian population. Growing up, I had friends of Italian heritage and now having family members that have married into large Italian families, I loved the European representation, it added a dramatic and source of fun towards the contemporary storyline.

Italian's are a passionate people, and no one can create a more realistic scenario than Melina Marchetta. In the eighties and nineties especially, those of Italian and Greek decent in Australia were widely called Wogs. It wasn't used as a derogatory term, but in the wrong hands it could have been. But throughout Jose's teenage years, sadly she experiences a similar naivety between both the Italian community who are very stuck in their ways and Australian's who's narrow minded views are the reason that some immigrants had decided not to assimilate.

In the midst of it all is Jacob Coote, Australian, public school student and proof that you don't need to be Italian to be overly dramatic. His character although infuriating, played a pivotal role in Jose's life. He represents the typical Australian teen boy that isn't all that different from the old values that Jose's community expects. He attempts to prove that he's more than a stereotype, but fails miserably.

I absolutely loved Looking for Alibrandi, it's such a realistic representation of Australia in the nineties and along with Looking for Francesca, Melina Marchetta has only further cemented her place in Aussie literature folk law.