Looking for Alibrandi does show the different expectations placed on young people. These expectations can be in many different forms due to race or nationality or pressure to pursue a certain career path. In the novel this is shown clearly in Josephine Alibrandi and John Bartons life. Josephine has high expectations to be a stereotypical Italian girl and John Barton has a lot of pressure from his father to become a barrister and follow in his footsteps. Jacob Coote is also another character that has different expectations to family ones, his come from the general view of the public and society.
The main story in the novel is of Josephine Alibrandis life when she is 17 years old and at the end of her high school years. This is a time when she is becoming an adult and in this stage of her life she is receiving a lot of pressure from her family, especially her grandmother. During the beginning of the book Josephine presents herself as misunderstood and dissatisfied and these feelings are mainly because of her background as an Italian and the pressure there is to be a stereotypical Italian lady in the eyes of mainly her grandmother, Katia or Nonna as Josie calls her. Josie has quite a strained relationship with her mother, and Christina also has a strained relationship with her mum, this also relates to their Italian background and can come between the relationship the three of them have. There is pressure from Katia towards Christina to be a better mother and then pressure from both Katia and Christina towards Josie. In the end though you come to realise that all the pressure put on Josie is for good measure as they simply don’t want her to make the same mistakes as they did when they were younger.
During the beginning of the book John Barton is betrayed as the perfect guy, especially in the eyes of Josie, but as the book unfolds you become to realise that John Barton doesn’t live a life where everything is perfect. These come