By Christine Yunn-Yu Sun
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the release of the iconic Australian film Looking for Alibrandi.
But this article is about the YA novel of the same name by Melina Marchetta, from which the film was adapted.
Published in 1992 as Marchetta’s debut novel, Looking for Alibrandi won the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) ‘Children’s Book of the Year Award: Older Readers’ in 1993.
It remains a widely celebrated coming-of-age story today.
Set in 1990s Sydney, the story features Josephine Alibrandi, a 17-year-old Italian-Australian girl in her final year of high school.
Josie is ambitious and outspoken, and despises those Anglo-Australian students from elite socio-economic backgrounds who constantly discriminate against her Italian, working-class and single-parent family.
As if completing her HSC is not hard enough, Josie’s life is complicated by the sudden appearance of her estranged father Michael, as well as her relationships with two boys, high achiever John and rebellious Jacob. Worse, she is confronted with the secrets behind her grandmother Katia’s and her mother Christina’s lives as single women.
The book makes an interesting read today because there is no Internet and social media, no anxiety about climate change, and no emotional and psychological distress about gender and sexuality.
Instead, life is all about family and relationships, and the formation of one’s identity is very much based on one’s interaction with and response to the demands of daily existence.
That is not to say the book is an easy read.
Quite the opposite: Josie’s reflections reveal the constant and complex struggles of growing up – how to map and maintain interpersonal boundaries, how to navigate the murky waters of love, loyalty and trust, and how to decipher the ambiguous senses of words such as ‘self’, ‘belonging’ and ‘loss’.
One of the highlights in the book is Josie’s relationship with John, who very much reminds this reviewer of the character Neil Perry in the 1989 film Dead Poets Society.
The author delves into the many ways in which Josie and John feel connected with each other, slowly deepening their friendship even when Josie is developing a romantic interest in Jacob.
This makes what happens to John near the end of the story particularly devastating, both to Josie and to us as readers.
Meanwhile, in the book, the outcome of Josie’s relationship with Jacob is delicately handled and becomes another milestone in her journey of self-discovery.
In comparison, Josie’s relationship with Michael is richly explored, and her love for Christina is fierce and heart-warming.
In turn, Katia’s backstory is beautifully explained and offers a rare glimpse into Australia’s Italian migrant communities in the 1950s.
If you love Looking for Alibrandi as a film, please read the book as well.
Through the eyes of teenager Josie, you will find insights into a multicultural Australia that deserves understanding and respect.
