Looking for Alibrandi

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Summary: Looking for Alibrandi
Review: Looking for Alibrandi
By: Melina Marchetta

Josephine Alibrandi knows how it feels to be caught up in her teenage years. She is a seventeen-year-old descendant of Italian immigrants living in Australia. Josephine being in her last year of high school has a lot of things to deal with. She is trying to balance her father becoming part of her life, her social life, and her schoolwork. Josephine feels lost like she can't find her self. As you read Looking for Alibrandi, you will be taken through the life of an everyday teenager who is trying to come to terms with all the changes in her life as she gets older.
Josephine's father abandoned Josephine's mother while she was pregnant with Josephine. Now seventeen years later, he has come back into Josephine's life. At first Josephine and her father decide to stay out of each other's lives. But when Josephine gets in a bind at school and needs her father's help, things start to come together for them.
Besides Josephine's father, Josephine also has to deal w/ her friends who she likes being with but every now and again want her to do things she doesn't want to do. For instance, when all of her friends wanted to skip school, Josephine didn't want to but she did anyway. They did end up getting caught. At the same time John Barton, who Josephine always liked, begins to show an interest in her. So does the captain of Cook High, Jacob Coote.
Looking for Alibrandi had some parts I did and did not like. I did like the novel because it ends up having a good message. I think teaching kids to not just give up and throw their lives away is one of life's most valuable lessons. Looking for Alibrandi was also not a boring book like the other two novels we had to read over the summer. I did not enjoy reading the novel because although it had a good message, I did not like the overall story. Some reasons are John Barton killing himself and how Josephine fights with her mother and grandmother all the time. I think reading about John Barton killing himself was a bit of a heavy topic to read over the summer.
Looking for Alibrandi is similar to the other two novels we read in that they all deal with the lives of teenage girls. The main girls from the three novels had something to deal with all the time. The novels are all about teenage girls but in completely different cultures and different time periods.
I would and wouldn't recommend this novel to other people. I would if someone was feeling lost and confused in life. However, if someone was trying to find a good novel to read for pleasure, I would not recommend Looking for Alibrandi.

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Summary: A Story Of Courage
Review: I thought that this book was great. I loved how Josie would always get mad at her mother and grandmother for everything.

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Summary: Looking for Alibrandi
Review: Looking for Alibrandi was a very good novel. I really enjoyed it because it hade a very nice plot. Three new people where coming into Josephine Alibrandi life. One, her never before seen father, John Barton, rich and going to law school, and Jacob Coote, Josephine's boy friend and working class and not that rich. The story takes place in Sydney, Australia. It is mainly about Josephine's relationships with the three new men that where introduced in her life. The book talks about what Josephine does with her dad, John, Jacob, and her parent, and friends. There wasn't anything that I didn't like about this novel. It is the type of book I like to read. I choose this novel to write about because it was the most interesting than the other two novels I read this summer. This was an excellent novel and I would recommend it to people. I think people would like it because of how the story goes and it is very interesting.

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Summary: Looking for Alibrandi
Review: Looking for Alibrandi is an excellent novel. I liked this book very much because even though Josephine Alibrandi is older than me I can relate to many of the things that happen to her in her life. Something that happens in the story that I can relate to is that sometimes Josephine doesn't get along with her family very well especially her nonna. Sometimes when my parents or siblings are really bothering me I don't get along with them very well. This novel relates to some other novels I've read about people around my age and just their daily lives. I really like books that I can relate to. I really liked this novel and I definitely would recommend it to other kids my age. I would recommend this story to other kids my age because like I said, you can relate to it and really enjoy reading it. It was a great book.

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Summary: Looking For Alibrandi Review
Review: Looking For Alibrandi is a book about a seventeen-year-old girl named Josephine Alibrandi who lives in Australia. She learns how to cope with a lot of her problems she has in her senior year of high school. She has three best friends and they aren't helping her stay out of trouble the slightest bit. She has a very strict mother and an extremely severe grandmother. They try to help her endure her problems, but in a lot of ways they make them worse. There are three new men in her life. One of them is her father, Michael Andretti, whom abandoned Josephine and her mother, Christina Alibrandi, before Josephine was born. Michael is trying to gain acceptance from Josephine for the first time in his life. When she refuses at first, he changes his perspective of her, but still manages to get closer and closer to Josephine. Another of the three men in her life is her new boyfriend named Jacob Coote. He is one of those men who doesn't care about schoolwork, and gets into trouble a lot. You could call him a "bad boy", but there is just something about him that changes a lot of ways that Josphine feels. The third man in her life is John Barton. He is one of her friends that feels he can never live up to his fathers expectations of him. Meaning, he feels he is good enough already by getting great grades, being rich, and having plans for his later life, but his father doesn't feel the same way. He wants more of John. John Barton is romantically interested in Josephine, but knows she loves Jacob Coote. Josephine learns to deal with lots of her problems, but to know about that you need to read the book.

I liked a lot about Looking For Alibrandi. I liked learning about her Italian heritage and how she felt about it. It was very interesting when her grandmother, Nonna, told Josephine about how she moved to Australia and who her family really was. It was also very interesting hearing about how Josephine and her three closest friends, Sera, Anna, and Lee, get into trouble. It causes much suspense when you don't know what will happen to them after they do all sorts of bad things. Hopefully, what happened to the girls after they did those bad things will teach people not to do them. I didn't like any of the inappropriate scenes that took place with Josephine and Jacob. I think those parts certainly were not needed.

I think that Looking For Alibrandi was more mature than a lot of the other books I have read. It had a lot of inappropriate scenes in it and a lot of badly chosen behavior for kids. I think it might influence some people in a bad way. It was also different because it had a lot of interesting Australian words that I would never have understood if I didn't have a list of what some of them meant. I think that the Australian words were one of the things that definitely made Looking For Alibrandi interesting.

I feel that this is a very good book overall because it explains to people how they should cope with problems they may have. It shows the readers how to accept people for who they really are, and that they can't change anything about their natural personalities. I would recommend this story to others because it is influential because the bad things that they did will make other people think first before they do something like that because in this book they got in trouble for it. I hope that people will continue to be influenced by this book just like me.

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Summary: Looking for Alibrandi
Review: Humorous though mostly sad, Looking for Alibrandi easily became one of my favorites this summer. I found this book interesting from the fact that the setting of the book took place in Australia. I enjoyed the perspective of learning about the similarities and differences of Australian teens and Italian teens through the eyes of a seventeen year-old girl. Another reason I liked reading Looking for Alibrandi is that I enjoyed "watching" Josephine grow from a misunderstood, uncontrolled teen into a better, understanding, more controlled teen. Although Looking for Alibrandi didn't make my all time favorites, I still recommend this book to both girls and boys.

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Summary: Looking for Alibrandi
Review: Looking for Alibrandi is a novel about a seventeen year old girl, living in Australia, learning the lessons that life has to offer. In this novel, I enjoyed how the author made the events in Josephine's life so real. For example, when the story about Josephines' mother's pregnancy was told, I realized that getting pregnant at a young age really does happen in real life and that action has serious results.
When I compare Looking for Alibrandi to Beyond the Burning Time, I find that Looking for Alibrandi is a much more interesting read. Looking for Alibrandi takes place today, whereas Beyond the Burning Time takes place in late 1600's. I believe that reading current literature is more interesting because I relate better to the situations and events in the story.
I would recomend this story to others because there are many life lessons this book taught me, such as appreciateing my ethinic background, I learned not to be too quick to pass judgement, and to always stick up for what I believe in. Josephine Alibrandi's life is very complicated due to her Italian-Australian background, family, and relationship misfortunes. It made me realize how easy most things are for me. This was one lesson that any reader of this book will learn. I found this book interesting and hope other readers learn the lessons I did.

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Summary: My review on the book Looking for Alibrandy
Review: I thought the book Looking for Alibrandy was very interesting, and described some of the things that happens to kids today, and ways to prevent them. I thought that this book was very real and showed what a typical teen life was, and things that you have to face in life.
A couple examples are when one of her very close friends decides to commit suicide, that is increasing more and more today. Another one is where she is faced with the option of having sex with her wild boyfriend Jacob.
I think this novel was better then the Fifth Chinese Daughter, and, Beyond the Burning Time, Because it was more real to me. And I can compare to some of the things that Josephine went through.
My overall impression of the novel was a very good one, I really like it being so real with things that every day kids can compare to. This is definately a story that I would recommend to other people, just because of the fact, and I'll say it again that it shows kids that they arent the only ones going through that kind of stuff, hanging out with the right people, having sex or not having sex, friends commiting suicide, and family issues. It was just so real to me, so I'm giving this book 4 stars.

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Summary: Looking for Alibrandi
Review: By far one of the best novels I have ever read! I enjoyed the book's authenticity of real life. I dont think that I disliked anything about it because it helped me a little on trying understand myself. Josephine's biological father just came into her life and she had never met him before, that mixes in to my life a little because I have never met my biological father. If I could compare this novel to others I would probably say this was better. I am very pleased and impressed by the novel and I would definetly recommend this book to others. I would recommend this book to others because it is a great book for teens and it really helps you have a sencnd view on your life.

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Summary: An Overall Great Novel From Melina Marchetta
Review: I thought that this novel was fabulous. It really made you think about other cultures, customs, and religions. I liked that I could relate to the main character in this book. She has my idependence, intelligence and self-confidence.

This book didn't even compare to other books I have read. It was the absolute best book I have read. Other books I have read have either been too serious or too fake and corny.

My overall impression of this book was, a great read. This is a book that I would recommend to all my friend, and all kids my age. I would recommend this book to others, because it makes you think about your future.