It’s the end of Year 12. Lucy’s looking for Shadow, the graffiti artist everyone talks about.
His work is all over the city, but he is nowhere.
Ed, the last guy she wants to see at the moment, says he knows where to find him. He takes Lucy on an all-night search to places where Shadow’s thoughts about heartbreak and escape echo around the city walls.
But the one thing Lucy can’t see is the one thing that’s right before her eyes.
Okay, so this book was super predictable (I knew Lucy was going to end up with Ed :/ The summary totally screams it.) Nevertheless, I still loved this book. I loved the beautiful and free atmosphere, I loved the electric characters, I loved Shadow's art form of graffiti. So many things to love in this book...
Graffiti Moon was more insightful than I imagined it would be. It showed teenagers in a very realistic way. Flawed, but hopeful. Melodramatic, but idealistic. Animated, but at the same time philosophical. I know the story was set for one night, but it really seemed like a week. I got to know the characters so well. I could understand the reason for their actions and relationships between them. I crossed my fingers for them, and I sympathized with them. That is how well Crowley writes.
Other than writing exceptionally realistic and relatable characters, Crowley also uses very descriptive, vivid words. I could visualize Shadow's graffiti pieces and found myself wishing that they really existed. Crowley dealt with love, growing up, illusions, conflict and forgiveness in very artistic ways. She has the ability to evoke emotions through words as an artist does with paint.
“I escaped onto the wall, a painted ghost trapped in a jar. I stood back to look at it and I knew the sad thing wasn't that the ghost was running out of air. the sad thing was that he had enough air in that small space to last him a lifetime. What were you thinking, little ghost? Letting yourself get trapped like that?”
Most of all, I loved all the art forms mentioned in this novel. Shadow with his graffiti art, Lucy with her glass sculptures and Poet with his...well, poems :D The talent these characters have, the way they talked about it their passion is quite inspiring. It was in no way pretentious, it was just who they were. The idea that two lost boys would put their feelings, their insecurities into public art without ever showing their real identities was awesome and innovative.
9/10 A mesmerizing, well-writen contemporary tale. Definitely worth reading!
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