This book, in all its awesomeness, made me a little angry. Why? Because while it seems like all I do is lament the lack of quality young adult novels during my adolescence, this book was published in 1992, meaning it was out there and I had no idea of its existence. I truly think reading this book back then would have been a momentous experience for me. Which I guess is what a “coming of age” novel is supposed to do, right?As an Italian-America, I was just so fascinated to learn that Italian families really aren’t that different, no matter where they’ve immigrated. But then I was also shocked to learn how the childhood of someone like Josie could differ so much from mine. Growing up where I live, we didn’t experience that kind of prejudice. In fact, here, anybody with even a drop of Italian blood would walk around proudly bragging about how Italian they were! I don’t know if that’s really how it was in Australia in the 90s but I hope that’s not how it is today.
So this is more of a personal, hit close to home 5 star rating for me, as opposed to the knocked my socks off Jellico Road.That book was such a sucker punch I couldn't even try to review it. But either way, having only read two of Melina Marchetta’s book, I can’t even begin to express how enamored I am with her writing!