Aussie Readers discussion

Elaine and I, and possibly Patty, are planning to read this in September. If anyone else wants to read and join in, please feel free. This thread is for discussion of the book. Please mark spoilers - and perhaps note where in the book you are up to if referring to specific events.

Great idea Kathryn! I should pick it up myself (but probably won't!!) Enjoy when you read it!

I read this a long time ago, a few years after I had finished high school. My sister was actually assigned this book for English class and I picked it up one day and finished it before she did. It was pretty good.

Thanks, Brenda!

And Ryan, I didn't study this at school, nor do I think it was an option (it would have been a reasonably recent release then - now that's showing my age!), but I do remember someone - either a teacher or my mother, I think - suggesting I read it, and I think I turned my nose up at it then!!

But I read Saving Francesca recently and enjoyed it, so hope I like this one too!

when i was in hs we studied the movie and book...it's worth it :) hope you guys enjoy it!

Good idea setting up this thread Kathryn. I plan on starting it soon but have a few books that I need to get to as well. So I'll see how I go but the more the merrier so it'll be good if others join us here.

I started this yesterday and am enjoying it so far. I'm up to chapter 11 and Josephine Alibrandi is a bit of a firebrand at times!

I can see why teenagers would like Melina Marchetta's books. I think I will end up liking Saving Francesca more than this one, because Josephine is a little difficult for me to relate to - I have certainly never (view spoiler)[spat at some one, ridden on a boy's motorcycle - let alone while still in high school(!) or broken a girl's nose, and she says things to her mother and teachers that I would never have been allowed to get away with (hide spoiler)], so she's rather different to me!

Would you be able to add your pages to the read-a-thon Kathryn if you're reading this weekend? Pretty please;) x

I read it back in high school for class. I remember literally nothing about it though :P

Brenda wrote: "Would you be able to add your pages to the read-a-thon Kathryn if you're reading this weekend? Pretty please;) x"

Alright, Brenda - if you desperately need more people, I'll oblige... Will head over there in a minute.

I'm up to chapter 14 and just had to laugh at a couple of lines.

(view spoiler)["I'm so boring I can't even change my sins from term to term."

And for anyone around 40 years old or older: "I'm a bit in love with Father Stephen. He's not young or anything. He's about forty." (hide spoiler)]

Oh I should start it!!! Is it good Kathryn? I might start it tonight. I was hoping to finish another book first but I'll have to just read them simultaneously otherwise I may not get to comment here.

It's a quick and easy read, Elaine... I just finished it! But you start it whenever you like :-)

Liam wrote: "I read it back in high school for class. I remember literally nothing about it though :P"

I was going to reply before and got distracted! You are very welcome to join us for a re-read, if you want to refresh your memory, Liam!

Complete and utter spoiler for anyone who hasn't finished chapter 28:
(view spoiler)[
I've realised that if anyone replies to my comment, then the first couple of lines below are included in the reply and since that defeats the purpose of using the spoiler tag, I'm filling in with waffle!
*
I really wasn't expecting John to kill himself!! I know he was under a lot of pressure from his father, and that could certainly affect your mental health, and I can understand it's even harder to say that you don't want to do something, when you don't know what you'd rather do instead, but still...

And then Josephine blamed herself for not picking up on his intent, but what could she have said or done to have helped?? Other than just be there and listen, which she did anyway. I think it's great that mental health is becoming less of a taboo subject, and we have RU OK? Day, but if you are truly feeling like John was, I wonder whether you would tell anyone just how you were feeling. I know he kind of did early on in the book, but even if you did pick up on it, would you ask if killing himself is what he actually meant? (hide spoiler)]

It's still on my list, but my reserve at the library hasn't turned up yet. I remember enjoying the movie very much a long time ago, but I admit I don't remember much detail, so I'll come to the book reasonably fresh, I think. Hope it turns up soon.

Kathryn wrote: "It's a quick and easy read, Elaine... I just finished it! But you start it whenever you like :-)"

Wow. That was quick Kathryn. I'll start it tonight. Struggling to read anywhere but in bed at the moment.

Started this last night and although I'm enjoying it I do really feel that I probably should have read it as a teenager or at least in my 20's. I do really like Josephine though....find her quite spunky and I like that she's clever and funny. I shall keep reading and check in here later.

Kathryn wrote: "Complete and utter spoiler for anyone who hasn't finished chapter 28:

I've realised that if anyone replies to my comment, then the first couple of lines below are included in the reply and since ..."

I finished this last night. It was a good read and I wasn't surprised at the spoiler. But it wasn't that it was predictable just that there were certain hints I think.

A book my daughter brought home from school and like any good dad I had to check it out to see if it 'good' reading for a child ... poor kid had to wait days before I gave it back to her. I was so sucked in - highly recommended for anyone who hasn't read it.

Hamilton wrote: "A book my daughter brought home from school and like any good dad I had to check it out to see if it 'good' reading for a child ... poor kid had to wait days before I gave it back to her. I was so ..."

Glad you enjoyed it Hamilton and yes totally agree you need to know what your kids are reading. There are so many books out there with all sorts of inappropriate themes...thankfully this isn't one of them.

Elaine wrote: "Kathryn wrote: "Complete and utter spoiler for anyone who hasn't finished chapter 28:

I've realised that if anyone replies to my comment, then the first couple of lines below are included in the ..."

Sorry, Elaine - I kept meaning to post a reply, but have been forgetting when I was on the computer (which makes typing easier).

Spoiler for anyone not finished ch 28: I agree that there were certain hints (view spoiler)[ regarding John committing suicide, but I didn't actually think that he would do it! And then at the end, he seemed so happy - presumably because he'd decided on the way out, but I was naively thinking he'd found a way to tell his father that he didn't want to follow in his footsteps! (hide spoiler)]

Hamilton wrote: "A book my daughter brought home from school and like any good dad I had to check it out to see if it 'good' reading for a child ... poor kid had to wait days before I gave it back to her. I was so ..."

Yes, it was a good read. And do you screen all your daughter's reading material, Hamilton - or just the ones that appeal to you?? ;-)

On a serious note, I think checking out what a child is reading is definitely a good thing, but what do you do if they're into very different genres to what you like to read? Thankfully I don't have kids, so it's a moot point for me, but I'd find it really difficult to wade through serious sci-fi or fantasy books. I'm sure there are plenty that are appropriate for children/teenagers (and plenty that aren't), but I don't know that I'd have the strength of mind to read them to find out which are suitable!

My son has had to do that with the Harry Potter series Kathryn:) He wouldn't have read it (if it was up to him) but his son wanted to! Haha!!

Kathryn wrote: "Hamilton wrote: "A book my daughter brought home from school and like any good dad I had to check it out to see if it 'good' reading for a child ... poor kid had to wait days before I gave it back ..."

I agree Kathryn but it's often hard to read everything your kids may be reading. I know Mary read Alibrandi when she was 14 and I had no idea really what she was reading although I had actually bought her the book. I guess the only thing that would have concerned me was the "spoiler"you mention above. I struggle with this every day at work too as we often get parents asking about the "appropriateness" of certain YA books. Some we've read, others we haven't and just have to try and find out what we can about them. Of course there are still many that we have no idea about so we usually just say that they're recommended for 16 and over...although sometimes even 16 may be too young.

Brenda wrote: "My son has had to do that with the Harry Potter series Kathryn:) He wouldn't have read it (if it was up to him) but his son wanted to! Haha!!"

It's funny Brenda but Harry Potter is so popular with younger kids...some parents are buying them for their 8 year olds and yet they can be quite scary and do contain some more grown up themes but that is not putting them off. Having said that I think my kids started reading them when they were about 8-10 too.

Yes that's how old my grandson was when he started. Dad is letting him read them gradually though...I think he's read the first three, maybe four. I was horrified (though I haven't read them). That's why my son read them first:)

Kathryn wrote: "Hamilton wrote: "A book my daughter brought home from school and like any good dad I had to check it out to see if it 'good' reading for a child ... poor kid had to wait days before I gave it back ..."

I screened all of them, most by randomly picking pages here and there ... very few (like "Looking For Alibrandi") actually sucked me in. Somehow I never got into Harry Potter and although my daughter did, I've never figured out how Harry became all the rage - wish I did though, I'd put that essence in all my writing.