Review: Graffiti Moon

Graffiti Moon
by Cath Crowley

My Rating: 5 peaches


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. (goodreads description)




Wow, I think this is only my second 5 star book for this year (my first was another Australian author's, Melina Marchetta, Jellicoe Road) and I don't know if I will be able to control the gushing that is about to occur.  "Mum says when wanting collides with getting, that's the moment of truth. I want to collide." Basically, I ran headfirst into this book and it knocked me off my feet!


The Juicy
"Her words are paintings, and I'm painting them on the wall in my head as she talks"
Oh, the words in this book, the dialogue, the poetry, the sarcasm, the banter, the flow. If only I had the words to describe how this book made me feel but I don't so I'll let Crowley do it for me ~ "And every time he stared I felt like I'd touched my tongue to the tip of a battery. I was nothing but tingle. After a while the tingle turned to electricity, and when he asked me out my whole body amped to a level where technically I should have been dead. I was pretty sure we had nothing in common, but a girl doesn't think straight when she's that close to electrocution." The words in this book are electricity and they light you up as you read. 


While the plot of this book is basically based on the telling of a  lie and the withholding of the truth between the two main characters, it is the brutal honesty about life and the relationships that define it, which captured my heart. So many different relationships dominate this book, friendship, brothers, parents, marriage, grandparents, role models and mentors and of course love. They are real, they are ugly, they are beautiful, they are binding and devastating, they are hopeful and freeing. I just can't say enough or say it right what this book speaks to me, so again, I will let Crowley say it better: "I like that about art, that what you see is sometimes more about who you are than what's on the wall. I look at this painting and think about how everyone has some secret inside, something sleeping like that yellow bird." This book is art and while you bring a piece of yourself into every reading, I think you will leave with something more. 


The Pits
Honestly, I can think of nothing. Maybe I am just on the high from finishing, or in the honeymoon phase and something will jump out at me during a later reread (of which I am sure there will many)...


Awkward Fuzz
~ language (some f-bombs)
~ broken families
~ gangs/violence (small bit)