So this week i have finished re-reading “Looking For Alibrandi” and once again it has left me with a sense of family, ambition and overall zest for life. Looking for Alibrandi tells the life story of Josephine Alibrandi. Josie lives with her mother and is the product of teenage love, she has never known her father until now, she is 17 and doing her HSC at Saint Martha’s College, an all girl school where all that matters “is what you father does for a living” (chapter 1). Josie has had to face many years of racial prejudice for being Italian and having no father in her life.
As well as being a book, “Looking for Alibrandi” is also a well renowned Australian movie. And i consider it one of the best representations of literature through film. My favourite character would have to be...Jacob. He is the hot bad boy with a soft side that wins Josies heart, im a sucker for the damsel in distress so i absolutely loved the chapter when Jacob beats up a guy who was harassing Josie, he comes in at exactly the right moment (as heroes do) and saves josie and consoles her afterwards. They cut this chapter out of the movie because it didn’t fit with the screen narrative, i agree but in the book i think it fits just perfectly!
The saddest part would have to be when John Barton commits suicide, this affects the development of Josie’s character in a major way. She moves away from being the young teen princess hoping to become the next prime ministers queen. When he dies she realises that not everything works out the way you planned. I think it was also important in her relationship with her dad as well, he comes to her rescue and we as the readers see the true bond between this father and daughter.
Josies relationship with her father is complex at the best of times, in the beginning she hated him and wanted him dead. However as the story develops she opens up her heart to him and even encourages her mother to do so again. With the absence of a father, Josie and her mother have developed a very close bond that her friends don’t understand and it represents this reality in the real world. The readers are called to feel sympathy for Josie when she tells of how children couldn’t play at her house because she was considered a ‘bastard child’ and how being ‘cursed’ meant her, her mother and her grandmother had no right to belong. The idea of a cruel society is explored here as we are shown the negatives of divorce or unwanted teen pregnancy and the ramifications of that on the future of the child involved.
Through Josies Grandma we see the effects of war and arranged marriages on young men and women. Josies grandma was forced into a loveless marriage which forced her to face harsh conditions, be taken away from her family and denied her chance at true love. This is the real tragedy. She was a young girl who had her whole life ahead of her until it was all taken away and reality was pushed upon her. This story shows Josie that not everything is black and white, in the beginning of the book she loves but loathes her grandmother because she has a childlike understanding of her. However in the end she matures and realises her grandmother is not perfect, she is a person and was once young and foolish like Josie is at times. In conclusion, this book teaches us about culture, race and family and the various values and ideas they hold within society.
Cant wait to hear you’re feedback! Did some of you not like it? Who thought certain things and characters could have been done differently?
References: image availabel from: http://thecia.com.au/reviews/l/images/looking-for-alibrandi-poster-0.jpg
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