Looking for Alibrandi

On Friday, Josie skips school and takes the ferry with Jacob to Manly. It’s a beautiful day—and “the most beautiful day of [Josie’s] life.” Josie can barely describe Jacob. One minute he sounds unintelligent, seems ready to beat someone, and smokes; the next, he sounds ridiculously intelligent and helps old ladies cross the street. His smile, though, is always sincere.

Josie and Jacob eat fish and chips on the beach for lunch. Jacob reminisces about coming to the beach with his mother when he was little. Josie laughs that she was always a part of those big Italian families having picnics on the beach. Jacob tells Josie about his family: he has an older sister who’s married with a baby, and Jacob lives with his dad. His dad has a girlfriend, but he’s aghast when Josie asks if they’re engaged. Josie shrugs that it’s a cultural difference; Italians don’t live together before marriage unless they’re “rebel Italians.”

Josie explains that Mama wasn’t a rebel; she was naïve. Jacob asks if Mama or a woman like her would enter another relationship or get married if her husband died. Josie admits that only older Italian men remarry because “Men can’t do without.” But if a widow tries to date or stops wearing black, people will talk about her and call her a “sex maniac.” Josie says she’d like to be a “rebel Italian” and wear bright colors to funerals. She explains that she can’t act out, though, because she doesn’t have a father. People expect her to mess up because of what Mama did.

Jacob doesn’t see a problem since lots of people have babies out of wedlock or live together before marriage these days, but Josie explains it’s different for Italians. Doing something “wrong” is an invitation for gossip, and the gossip is guaranteed to hurt someone you care about. Jacob says he’d hate to be Italian, but Josie says it’s not so bad. She resents her Italian culture sometimes and used to wish her father was Australian—but she’ll always be Italian. She tells Jacob a bit about Michael and says she thinks it’d be stupid to hate him for leaving Mama 18 years ago.

Jacob kisses Josie, surprising her. He says he loves how passionate she is. Josie says she’s angry a lot, especially because of how much people gossip about her being illegitimate. Jacob admits that he and his friends used to make fun of her, but now he knows better. They playfully insult each other and then kiss passionately—Josie’s first passionate kiss. It’s different from the romance novels and after 15 minutes, Josie feels like a kissing expert. Then Josie realizes she’s on a public beach and feels shy. When they part ways later, Josie knows she’s in love.