Review by Mel.
Senior year is over, and Lucy has the perfect way to celebrate: tonight, she's going to find Shadow, the mysterious graffiti artist whose work appears all over the city. He's out there somewhere—spraying color, spraying birds and blue sky on the night—and Lucy knows a guy who paints like Shadow is someone she could fall for. Really fall for. Instead, Lucy's stuck at a party with Ed, the guy she's managed to avoid since the most awkward date of her life. But when Ed tells her he knows where to find Shadow, they're suddenly on an all-night search around the city. And what Lucy can't see is the one thing that's right before her eyes.
So far, I've been impressed by every Australian YA that I've read and Graffiti Moon is no exception. It's a contemporary novel written from the perspective of three teens - Lucy, Ed and Poet, as their paths cross over the course of a summer's night. All artists, they're searching for love and direction although not necessarily in the right places. As the hours tick by, the revelations start to unfold and each of the characters are forced to re-evaluate how they see the world.
This is such a unique story that it took me a while to connect with the voices in the book at first. Lucy, in particular, views life in a original way. Her thought-processes are highly imaginative, almost verging on the whimsical. Luckily, to offset any cheesiness, her attitude is refreshingly down-to-earth. The author has a great ear for dialogue and Lucy's one-liners are excellent. Ed's convincing too. Fragile and consumed by doubt, he's besotted with Lucy, but is too scared to tell her the truth. This 'will he/won't he' angle kept me reading right through to the end. Poet's much more of a minor character, breaking up scenes with flashes of poetry and offering the odd commentary.
I'm so glad that I chose to review this book because it's one of those rare reads that makes you see life in a different way. Graffiti Moon gets a permanent place on my bookshelf.
Review by Mel.
Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley
Published
05/07/2012
Publisher
Hodder Children's Books
ISBN
9781444907872
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