Looking for Alibrandi - Chapter 29-30

Plot summary


Josie, St. Anthony and St. Martha people all went to John Barton's funeral and Jacob Coote, even though he didn't like John still was angry at him for ending his life like that. After HSC was over, they had an award's night and Josie got the award for English, Italian and Science. After she got all these awards Jacob wanted to end their relationship because Jacob thinks that he isn't good enough for Josie. Jacob said that by him standing next to her makes him feel pressured and has a lot of burden.

Challenges faced by the Character(s)/information revealed about character(s)

Important Quotations


"I met her at one stage in the ladies and I realised that she wasn't Poison Ivy anymore. She was just Ivy." (pg 241)
"I've been passionate about two things in my life. One was Christina Alibrandi. The other is Josephine Alibrandi." (pg 243)
"I can't run away again. Because I'm older and I run slower. I want to have my time with you now." (pg 245)
"I didn't know how to approach the subject of the adoption or my change of name. Mama, not knowing about the Marcus Sandford story, had no idea how little the Alibrandi name really meant to us." (pg 246)
"But I have you and I can still have Michael without him adopting me." (pg 247)
"Jacob Coote and I are finished. I know I've spoken about our fights before, but this time it's definitely over." (pg 248)
"I know deep down I will never get over it. Jacob Coote is not going to be in my life anymore. I will never fall in love again. (pg 252)

Personal Response


I think that Jacob is very selfish because he didn't want to be with Josie just because she was smarter than him and he didn't want a serious relationship.

Definition of 3 difficult words encountered

Looking for Alibrandi - Chapter 27-28

Plot summary


In chapter 27 Josie and John were at the rugby match and after that John was walking Josie home. They were talking about how the HSC test was the next day and that John isn't going to follow his dad's footsteps. In chapter 28, Ivy told Josie that John was dead. Josie was really angry at John because he said that he would compete with Josie in the HSC. Also Josie doesn't get why John has to commit suicide.

Challenges faced by the Character(s)/information revealed about character(s)


In chapter 28 Josie had to accept the fact the John died.

Important Quotations


" I just want it to be over. I want this year to be over, but another part of me is so petrified. God, John, we're never going o be at school again. We were top dogs here in a way. At university we'll be nobody." (pg 229)
"Thinking of the six years ahead of me at university I figured that patience was something I was going to need plenty of, but somehow having John and Jacob, Michael, Mama, Nonna and my friends, I couldn't possibly go wrong. (pg 230)
"I looked at her in numb shock. My mouth opened to say something but not a sound came out." (pg 231)
"My hands started to shake first and I wanted desperately to vomit but I tried to keep it down. I sank down in front of her, grabbing her shoulders." (pg 231)
"Later o, when eight St. Anthony's boys carried the coffin out of the church, I cried. It wasn't just a physical burden on their shoulders, it was an emotional one. The pain and grief on their faces was indescribable." (pg 240)

Personal Response


I think that John shouldn't of ended his life like this, he should of thought about all the people who loves him and that life is actually very precious.

Definition of 3 difficult words encountered

Looking for Alibrandi - Chapter 25-26

Plot summary


Josie found out that Nonna had an affair with Marcus Sandford and she was really angry at her Nonna but then she realised that everyone's not perfect, so she went back to her Nonna and tried to figure ut the whole story.

Challenges faced by the Character(s)/information revealed about character(s)


Josie couldn't believe that her Nonna had an affair because her Nonna is really strict with these things and her Nonna was like a saint.

Important Quotations


"You are a liar,'I whispered hoarsely.'All our lives you;ve told us what to do, when to do it. You trained us to be respectful so people would think we were perfect and nobody would comment about what Mama did." (pg 216)
"But then today when everyone was joking about Mama being conceived on New Year's Day, I thought it was impossible. How could Mama possibly be conceived on New Year's Day." (pg 217)
"I was shouting and she was crying, but I was too shocked to care. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe grandfather had come home for a weekend during that time." (pg 217)
"Katia Alibrandi, Christina Alibrandi, Josephine Alibrandi. Our whole lives, just like our names, are lies." (pg 219)
"I hugged her hard and cried my guts out. More than I've ever cried in my whole life because I had never thought her capable of dreaming like me." (pg 222)

Personal Response


I think that her Nonna did the wrong thing because she should of left Nonno and went with Marcus, but because of her background she couldn't in case everyone was talking about her and she didn't want her family to feel ashamed of her.

Definition of 3 difficult words encountered

Looking for Alibrandi - Chapter 31-32

Plot summary


Josie has graduated from high school and she starts a new life, with uni, Michael, Christina and her Nonna. Even though she is still sad about Jacob she still thinks that they would be back together one day.

Challenges faced by the Character(s)/information revealed about character(s)

Important Quotations


"But I love Michael Andretti more and more every day. I love him double to what I did maybe a month ago yet I see his faults now too." (pg 259)
"I do believe that one day I will be with Jacob Coote again. So I took the card out of the garbage and put it on my mantelpiece." (pg 260)
"I've figured out that it doesn't matter whether I'm Josephine Andretti who was never an Alibrandi, who should have bee a Sandford and who may never be a Coote. It matters who I feel like I am - and I feel like Michael and Christina's daughter and Katia's grand-daughter; Sera, Anna and Le's friend and Robert's cousin." (pg 261)

Personal Response


I think Josie is really strong and that her new life may lead her in other things that she hasn't been through before.

Definition of 3 difficult words encountered

Looking for Alibrandi - Chapter 22-24

Plot summary


In these three chapters, Josie was with her mum, nonna and Jacob. She was trying to make her relationship with them stronger. But even if she does, there are some things that she doesn't want to tell them, like when Josie and Jacob were out and they were close to Nonna's house she wouldn't let Jacob meet her, which made Jacob think that he's not good enough to meet Josie's Nonna.

Challenges faced by the Character(s)/information revealed about character(s)

Important Quotations


"He's not talking to me at the moment, by the way. Ever since I had to get him to sign the walk-a-thon sheet he's gone on and on about it. He reckons he's disgusted with me." (pg194)
"You are the only person who really loved me properly. Everyone else I've ever loved has hurt me. Michael Andretti broke my trust. My mother has always held back and my father never loved me in the first place. But you have never left my side and the disrespect you've shown me has been the disrespect any child shows her parent." (pg 197)
"I guess it's the photos that I'm really drawn to. Mama always says that if we ever had a fire the first things she'd grab would be me and out photo albums. Because photos are a testimony that someone did live. A reminder of a past we may have loved or hated. A piece of our lives." (pg 199)
"Oh no you cold not be friends with Australian men. Not even Italian men. Women were friends with women,' she said with a definite nod of her head." (pg 200)
"So one day I can tell my children. And so that one day, my granddaughter can try to understand me, like I'm trying to understand Nonna." (pg 202)
"You're different. You come across all tough and fearless while deep down you're a softy. She comes across a softy, whereas deep down she's tough and fearless. I mean a lot of single parents botch up and she didn't. In fact she did a great job." (pg 205)
"You know something? I had no hassles in my life before I met you. Now everywhere I turn I face a brick wall. I'm always giving you time. I can't sleep with you because you need time. I can't meet your grandmother because you need time. What the fuck are you waiting for?" (pg 206)
"You live with such freedom, Jacob. You live without religion and culture. All you have to do is abide by the law." (pg 206)
"Forget it Josephine. We'll both be happier. I can associate with my kind and you won't have to put up with some cultureless Aussie with no heat and soul." (pg 208)
"Naw, Jacob is different to others. He's aware of more around him. Of what he can and can't do." (pg209)
"He was a loving person. His need to touch my face or hair made me feel closer to him than if we were making love." (pg210)

Personal Response


I think that Josie should try and break away from her Nonna's rules and that she should think more of herself as a Australian.

Definition of 3 difficult words encountered


decadence - moral degeneration or decay
nostalgia - a wistful desire to return in thought or fact to a former time in one's life.