Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

I'm not summarizing what you can read over here, so let's skip on to my babbling (warning: I'm in a babbling mood right now, beware).

Where do I start with this...? Like all other good books, I put off reading this. I've read all the other [highly rated] Melina Marchetta books and loved them, so in a way, I had both high expectations and low expectations (because of the low-ish rating) at the same time. And I supppse they were both fulfilled. How? I'm getting to that, just wait for me to get on a roll.

Now, this was my least-liked Marchetta contemporary. Yet, it is still the most relatable for me. I understood Josie completely when she was confused about something, since it was usually about culture. What does culture mean to us? Tradition, family, ethics, etc. I'm a Pakistani girl who grew up in Canada and USA, so culture played a big part in my life. My parents drilled cultural habits in me and my siblings, so we never forget where we came from. It seemed to be almost the same with Josie. I love reading about different cultures, and teenagers who are actually somewhat involved in them.

Being relatable, it was also at the same time completely unrelatable for me, regarding all the illegitimacy. I could never imagine anything like that in my family, or anyone i know even. This is after growing up all around the world, so i supppse i was a very sheltered child. Like most books, the surprises near the end were fairly predictable. Still realistic though.

Josie is an engaging character, and her relationships with her parents, grandmother, and Jacob Coote were very interesting to read about. Something that turned me off when reading this was the grammar. I don't know if there's a different version of this, but in whichever version i'd read, the grammar was absolutely horrible at times. Too many commas for my liking and some stilted writing. I've never had that problem with other Marchetta books, so dunno whether it's because this is her debut book.

I'd recommend this, especially for those whom are involved in their culture. It wasn't the author's best book, but it was still a good book nonetheless.

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