Book Review: Laurinda by Alice Pung

Goodreads Description:

'Nothing has a stronger hold over a girl than the fear of the thoughts of her peers – thoughts that change five times in a day. No wonder things are so complicated with teenagers.'—Alice Pung, Laurinda

Laurinda is an exclusive school for girls. At its hidden centre of power is The Cabinet, a triangle of girls who wield power over their classmates – and some of their teachers.

Entering this world of wealth and secrets is Lucy Lam, a scholarship girl with sharp eyes and a shaky sense of self. As she watches The Cabinet in action, and is courted by them – as she learns about power and repression – Lucy finds herself in a battle for her identity and integrity.

Few genres are more enthralling than the school story. In Laurinda, the acclaimed Alice Pung tells an involving, original story that captures the drama and pain of school life today, as well as revealing much about the choices of young women.

Title: Laurinda
Author: Alice Pung
Genre: YA, Coming Of Age, Contemporary
Format: Paperback

Pages: 336
Publisher:  Black Books Inc
Source: Received for free from Goodreads Giveaway

In a nutshell, this is Mean Girls set in Melbourne.

Set in the 90's, told in letters written to Lucy's friend Linh as she shares her experience after winning a scholarship to an elite privet girl's school in Melbourne. Lucy's family immigrated to Australia from Vietnam where her dad works the night shift at a carpet factory and her mum works in the family garage sewing cloths and looking after her little brother Lamb. 

We follow Lucy as she transitions from the familiarity of Christ Our Saviour, the Catholic school she attended where she was accepted as herself to the 'foreign lands' of Laurinda Ladies College where she tries to fit in and changes herself to suit the school. 

There she encounters 'The Cabinet', a trio of racist, self centered and privileges mean girls who have the power to influence and sabotage those in their way including the teachers. Lucy finds herself in an internal battle of identity and morals while catching up with the demands of Laurinda but also balancing the expectations from her family.

I love the story and connected with if from page one! Its rare and refreshing, reading a High School YA that was familiar with my high school experience.

It touches on high school topics like 'mean girls', boys, friends, adjusting to a new school, bullying and stereotypes but also topics that I rarely see in YA like culturally challenged, being the odd kid in the class/school, abuse of power and social prejudice. 

The narration was a bit confusing at the start with the letters addressed to Lucy's friend Linh who we assume is a friend from her old school.

Which we later learn that Lucy was writing a letter to herself and that Linh is actually her middle name. This I kinda foreshadowed from the start as Lucy's mum called her 'Linh' at the first part of the book.

I liked the pacing of the book and how its split into schooling semesters which reminds me of how Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl was paced out. The writing was sarcastic, honest, poetic and moving. There were also some great quotes in here, my favorite is "All teenagers are drama queens inside their minds, even the mousiest of us".

At the end of the book I was overwhelmed with emotions and happiness at the same time happy crying which is a first as I am rarely a book crier and can count the number of books that brought me to emotional tears on one hand. 

This story is not picture perfect but it feels real from the way Lucy parents talk to how we watch Lucy struggles and copes with her school life.

Lucy was an emotional roller coaster of a character to follow! At the start she was out spoken, confident, feisty yet down to earth and compassionate girl who looses herself as she struggle to fit in with the school while balancing her believes and culture. She gives into 'peer pressure' of The Cabinets and ends up being the 'quiet Asian girl', insecure and not standing up to what's right. She eventually learn from her mistake and stand up to The Cabinets in probably one of the best and most sophistic ways to make them 'BURN' as well as identify with herself and who she is.

I like Lucy from page one and though I wish she handled her problems differently or even opened up to her parents, she's a tough and smart girl and know how to climb back up with grace.

I love the family dynamic and though it was hard for her parents to understand the stuff she has to do in/for school like buying new tailored uniform or having 'friends' with drivers and mobile phones, they were still very supportive and helpful to Lucy trough the book. Lucy's dad was hilarious to read about and reminds me a bit of my own dad. Her mum was a great indirect voice of reason to Lucy's problems and like Lucy faces some issues of fitting in.

The Cabinets (Chelsea, Brodie and Amber) were a real piece of work! Catty, self cantered and power hungry, they used Lucy as their little 'pet' to gain more power! The more I read about the spoiled brats the more I wanted to slap them and cringed as it brings back memories to me biting my tongue when I hear the snobby kids in school talk. 

But wait if that's The Cabinets, wait till you read about their mothers! No joke I don't know which is worse, generation 'Offspring' Cabinets or generation 'Mummy' Cabinets! Gen Offspring's play with their peer's and teachers weakness with pranks, manipulations and bullying anyone in their way! As for their Mum's, a lovely donations is all that it takes to shut the school up!

Yah long story short, hated them the more I read about them!

I like some of the side characters especially Richard which I wish we got to read more about him.

Overall Laurinda is one of the best books I've read! Its realistic, smart, sarcastic, sophisticated and familiar. The ending leaves me smiling from ear to ear at the position Lucy is in and I kind of feel like there could be room for a sequel (*hint *nudge *wink to the author).

Its an honest and nostalgic picture of high school and yes its scary but its only for a few years.

Check out Laurinda is you want an Aussie YA take on Mean Girl.

Also if you like Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, you might like this as like Fangirl its a coming of age story of trying to adjust to the new schooling environment and being true to yourself. 

This is one of the most relatable and familiar books I've read in ages! While I did connected with Lucy at many levels there were some stuff that I didn't relate to.

Relate:

1) I went to an all girl school similar to Christ Our Saviour (aka a Convent) for most of my schooling years and though it was not a privet school it was still very 'elite'. 

Its one of those schools where if you mention its nickname everyone will go 'WALAO! YOU GO TO THAT SCHOOL AH? VERY FAMOUS YOU KNOW!'  yah that's how manglish sounds like.

Just for laughs check out the 20 mangilsh slangs Malaysians love to use and yes, I use them quiet often (my fav is abudin) (Click Here)

2) Like Lucy I've witness and received my fair share of being bullied for my race and discrimination. It also happen in Asia.

3) I'm Chinese like Lucy though she's Chinese born Vietnams and I'm Chinese born Malaysian.

Didn't relate:

1) I didn't need a scholarship as I went to a government/public school.

2) My family don't have to work as hard as Lucy's family and I am bless that my parents can afford to send me overseas for Uni.

3) My family didn't migrate to Australia and I will probably stay in Oz till I'm done with Uni.

4) I am thanking my guardian angles that I didn't have to encounter girls like 'The Cabinets' in school. Even if there were girls as such, I probably was not aware of it.  

5) She gets nicer, more 'posh' uniforms! I dare you to Google 'Malaysian Secondary School' uniform and see the lovely 'apron' (I wore the pinafore, never the Baju Kurung) I have to wear in high school... yah it was the reason why I loved my PE uniform and Koperasi Polo shirt more. (sorry to the teachers who might be reading this... not a fan of my uniform but I still wore them!)