Looking for Alibrarndi

Machetta, M. (1992). Looking for Alibrandi. Victoria, Australia; Penguin Books.

This is a story of Josephine Alibrandi, a seventeen year old, in her final year at high school. During the year, she is in a constant turmoil; she meets her father who has never known her existence, falls in love, discovers Nonna's secret and loses one of her best freind. In the end, Josie has got a more mature perspective toward her life and the world and become more assured about who she really is.

What makes this story memorable is the main character---vivacious and full of life Josephine. She is smart, passionate and never at a loss with words. However, she is in a constant state of anger with her life. She feels herself a misfit or a rebel at her prestigious private Catholic school, as she is not only on scholarship but also an illegitimate child. Even at home, she struggles with her strict mum and ever-meddling Nonna. Her Catholic upbringing and Italian family value do not go with the life of typical Australian teenagers.

A delightful story that still touches several serious issues that teenagers can face and have to overcome. Warning: There's an issue of teen depression and suicide. However, the positive closing of the story will surely chase away any gloom.

The lovely bones

Sebold, A. (2002). The lovely bones. Boston, MA: Little, Brown & Company.

An moving story of Susie and her family after a tragic loss of their beloved one. 

The story is most intriguing, as it is told by 14-year-old Susie who was murdered but now from her heaven watch her family and friends grieve, suffer and even fall apart without her.

Susie follows the loves of her family and friends as they struggle to cope with the devastation they are left with after her murder. Her father is consumed with guilt at having failed to save her. Her mother drifts away from her husband.In watching her family on Earth and recounts the memories she had before, Susie comes to understand the life she and her family are robbed of.

How to build a house

Reinhardt, D. (2008). How to build a house. New York, NY : Wendy Lamb Books.

Harper is in flight.

She badly needs a fresh start from emotional devastation brought upon by her father's divorce from her stepmother, Jane, the only mum she has ever known and consequently by her loss of Tess, her step-sister. She decides to escape by joining a volunteering programme to build a house for a family in Tenesseee who lost their home in a tornado. While she is helping a family to pick up pieces of their life after a tornado and move on forwards, Harper also comes to terms with her father's divorce and its consequent emotional devastation.

What makes me interested is the structure of the story. It is broken down into smaller parts referred to here and home, following Harper's stream of consciousness.