![]() ![]() Well-off, educated, entitled – the students of Laurinda are born to rule. True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country – that’s also one of Vonnegut’s and it is actually this quote with which Pung concerns herself. Such a brilliant back-drop for a work of fiction. If you think I’m wrong, go to a school reunion and feel yourself slipping back into that old role of class clown/library nerd/school captain. It’s like the Hotel California – you check out, but you never really leave. It is with this quote that author, Alice Pung, begins the story of 15 year old, Lucy Lam, resident of the ‘povvo’ suburb of Stanley, daughter of Vietnamese boat people and the inaugural recipient of the equal access scholarship to the exclusive girls’ private school, Laurinda Ladies College. ![]() ‘Life is nothing but high school’ – Kurt Vonnegut. Part satire, part coming of age novel, Laurinda explores culture, class and conflict through an involving, original story that captures the minute dramas and searing pangs of school life today. ![]() In other words, anyone over the age of 12. The marketers probably call this young adult, but trust me, this book is for anyone who’s ever been to high school, anyone who’s in high school, and anyone about to start high school. ![]() Heart, complexity, wit and intelligence make this so much more than an Australian ‘Mean Girls’. ![]()
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