Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Looking for Alibrandi, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Family
Identity, Freedom, and Coming of Age
The Immigrant Experience
Gossip and Appearances
Social Status and Wealth
Love and Relationships
Summary
Analysis
Josie is confused, angry, and disoriented after what happened today at Mama’s birthday party. She tells the story of what happened: Josie is at Nonna’s with about 10 other family members. Josie’s cousins and Zia Patrizia argue and joke about when Nonna and Nonno must’ve conceived Mama. Nonna would’ve gotten pregnant around Christmastime, and Zia Patrizia says that’s proof that Nonno was a secret romantic—he was working up north at the time, so he would’ve had to come home a few weekends to see Nonna. Josie laughs with everyone else and then suddenly stops. Everyone else is still laughing and joking, but Josie notices that Nonna isn’t.
The fact that Zia Patrizia believes that Nonno must’ve been a “secret romantic” suggests that few people in the family were really aware of how abusive and cruel he was to Nonna. The way that Nonna has described her marriage to him, there wasn’t much romantic about it. Though Josie has held up marriage as a goal at various points throughout the novel, Nonna and Nonno’s marriage make it clear that being married doesn’t mean a relationship is going to be happy or fulfilling.
Themes
Josie stays after the party and watches Mama leave. Mama is gorgeous and seems to glow—Josie believes that Mama deserves everything. After she’s gone, though, Josie turns on Nonna and calls her a liar. Josie says that Nonna has policed the family’s conduct for years and even kicked Mama out when Mama got pregnant—and yet, Nonna slept with Marcus Sandford. Nonna goes white, but Josie says she knows it's true. Nonna told Josie herself that she was alone for four months in the summer, over Christmas. Mama couldn’t have been conceived on New Year’s Day with Nonno away.
Nonna seems to confirm that she slept with Marcus Sandford when she goes pale at Josie’s accusation. With this confirmed, Josie realizes that Nonna has essentially lived her life as a lie. Even though Nonna did something totally outside the realm of what was socially acceptable, Nonna nevertheless has made it her business to make sure everyone else in the family follows the rules. In Josie’s opinion, this is ridiculous and highlights how out of touch Nonna is.
Themes
Nonna sobs that Mama was premature, but Josie notes that Mama was nine and a half pounds at birth. Josie shouts that Nonna had nerve to kick Mama out when Nonna slept with Marcus as a married woman. And Nonna always goes on about how Australians don’t understand Italians and warns Josie not to get involved with them. By this point, Nonna is crying. Josie desperately wants her to say that Nonno did come home to conceive Mama, but Nonna says nothing. Josie shouts that she hates Nonna for what she did to Mama and from this point forward, she’s never visiting unless Mama comes too. And Josie threatens to tell Mama the truth if Nonna complains. Nonna begs Josie not to tell.
Though Josie is upset about everything connected to this revelation, what really angers her is how Nonna’s affair with Marcus affected Mama. This is because Josie is still so loyal to her mother and wants Mama to be happy. But because of the secrecy and shame surrounding Mama’s conception, Josie realizes that Mama has missed out on a lifetime of happiness with her parents. When Josie threatens Nonna with spilling the secret, it shows how aware she is of how this could affect her family: she could ruin Nonna forever with this.
Themes
Josie pushes past Nonna and runs outside. She’s not totally sure why she hates Nonna and Marcus, especially since she once thought their story was romantic. But she realizes now that while their romance seems like a myth, Mama’s life was real. She grew up with Nonno hating her for Nonna’s transgression. Josie wonders what her life would’ve been like had Nonna married Marcus. Would Mama have not slept with Michael out of loneliness?
Nonna and Marcus’s romance might have been real and have gotten Nonna through a tough time, but Josie still can’t get over the fact that their romance doomed Mama to a miserable life. And because she was so miserable at home, Josie believes Mama chose to sleep with Michael—which doomed Mama even further when she got pregnant with Josie. In Josie’s opinion, this is all Nonna’s fault.
Themes
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Suddenly, Josie’s illegitimacy seems insignificant compared to Nonna and Marcus’s affair. She knows if people were to find out, the family would be ruined. Josie suddenly doesn’t want to be rich and famous. She wants to be normal. But this is impossible: Nonna, Mama, and Josie are all living lies.
Again, Josie realizes how much power the gossip mill has. This secret could totally destroy her family’s reputation, and simply having money or being famous won’t dilute this secret’s power. In this moment, then, Josie realizes that having money isn’t going to solve all her problems.
Themes
