"But I love Michael Andretti more and more everyday. I love him double to what I did maybe a month ago-.
There are various people who could relate to Josie's sole-parent family situation. In Looking for Alibrandi, Josie's family consists of her and her mother who have quite a strong mother-daughter bond. "My mother and I have a pretty good relationship, if a bit erratic" they do fight occasionally about what Josie calls "ridiculous things" but Josie feels obligated to protect her mother, because her father never could. She even feels like she has to protect her mother from him. "If she cries in the next couple of weeks and I find out it's because you've hurt her you"re in big trouble" being in a single-parent family, makes her feel excluded from the rest of society. "It makes me feel like I will never be apart of their society and I hate that because I am just as smart as they are" Her illegitimacy really does get to her and Marchetta expresses Josie's anger when people comment about it very clearly. Josie, at one stage, hits a girl in the face with a textbook because she criticized Josie about her illegitimacy. Her family life develops in that she learns to appreciate it more because she realises how lucky she is to have what she has.
Josie's romantic relationships are similar to the relationships that many teenagers deal with and go through today. Jacob, who is Josie's boyfriend, has difficulty understanding Josie's culture. Because of this, their relationship is very unstable. But during this time Josie really envied Jacob's simple approach to life. "You don't have any hang-ups or anything." Jacob has difficulty understanding Josie's experiences, background and what she feels is her place in society. "Be thankful that you've found your place, but be patient with me for still looking for mine." Eventually, their relationship comes to an end because they finally come to realise that they are just two different people with totally different backgrounds and futures.
