The “Inner Senshi Book Club” is an online book club where five book lovers of different backgrounds and tastes across the world take turns at selecting and hosting a book each month. Individually, we are (in alphabetical order): Aimee, Angel, Meghan, Samantha L, and Samantha R. Together, we present you a whole range of books, complete with our responses to a rotating list of set questions. For more information about us, check out this introductory post.
A new book is selected on the 15th of each month, and our thoughts are posted roughly four to five weeks later. We hope you can join us in our reading shenanigans! (The book club derives its name from the five soldiers of love and justice from the Japanese manga and anime series, Sailormoon. We are just as kickass, and if all goes to plan, twice as well-read.)
This month, our book choice is: Melina Marchetta – Looking for Alibrandi
Samantha L wants you to consider:
How do the structural features (such as narrative mode and genre) shape the meaning of the text? If ineffective, how do you think this could be improved?
Samantha R is interested in knowing:
Did the book meet your expectations, or were you disappointed? Why or why not?
Meghan is wondering:
Do you feel the cover reflected the story well? Why or why not?
Angel would like you to think about:
Was there a theme that jumped out strongly in the story? Did it fit the development of the characters?
Aimee’s question for you is:
How well does the setting contribute to the story? (Would a different setting have affected the book significantly?)
This month’s host, Samantha R, has a bonus question:
Family, culture and identity all play a large role in Looking for Alibrandi. How do you feel Marchetta dealt with these issues?
For those who might have missed our introduction post last month, our book club will begin reading Looking for Alibrandi until 15 July. Our answers to last month’s questions, as well as our review of Mathilda by Mary Shelley will be up this week, so stay tuned to our blogs for the discussion posts (my response can be found here)!
Aimee @ Penmanship Smitten | Angel @ Mermaid Vision Books | Meghan @ Coffee and Wizards | Samantha R @ As Read By An Aspiring Receptionist
o my Inner Senshi persona of Sailormoon (known to be notoriously late and unreliable), I am more than fortnight late in posting my response to last month’s Inner Senshi Book Club title, Marchetta’s Looking for Alibrandi. (This tardiness is primarily due to my frantic churning of a Masters dissertation as well as moving from England to Ireland, but I still like the Usagi/Sailormoon reason better.)