Wednesday 15 August 2012

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

Pages - 264
Published by Hodder Children's Books in July 2012

I pedal fast. Down Rose Drive, where houses swim in pools of orange streetlight. Where people sit on verandas, hoping to catch a breeze. Let me make it in time. Please let me make it in time.
Goodreads Summary

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.
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Every so often you read a book that you never want to leave behind. Well this was one of those books. I fell in love completely with the characters, the gentle but realistic storyline,  and the poetic writing. The words were so beautifully written, I felt like I was watching a rainbow intensify in colour in front of eyes.  The use of imagery was purely magical.  

From the first chapter, the author instantly captures the essence of each character, so that you knew just how you felt for them straight away. As soon as Ed and Lucy met, you were desperate for them to be a couple and cursing as you realised they were keeping secrets from each other, each too frightened to admit the truth. They both came across as fledgling birds, who had fallen badly on their first flight, and you watch anxiously as they take those tentative steps to allow them to fly successfully for the first time. 
This book felt like it had an underlying moral. Don't be afraid of who you are - embrace your inadequacies and problems, in order to move past them and succeed. 

There is a strong feeling  and gushing love for art in this book, as each character expresses their feelings in different artistic forms. Lucy explores how she feels through glass; her portfolio, The Fleet of Memory is something I really want to see as it sounded so beautiful as she expressed her past memories within hand blown glass boats. Ed explored his artistic nature through paintings on the wall, which sounded so much more than graffiti. Leo's artistic flow came via poetry and the poems represented in the book had me reaching for my pen and pad. This book shows that art can be represented in every aspect of life to make it beautiful. 
Cath Crowley has successfully  managed to capture that feeling of being a teenager on the brink of a bright and unknown future. The picture is blank, you future is not set and a world of opportunities lay at your feet. Where you feel that nothing is impossible; you almost believe you can fly. I wish you could bottle that feeling and sell it to the older generations who have  forgotten that life is supposed to be that magical. 
I could see this book as a film, it reminded me of a mixture of the Nora Ephron classics such as  'You've Got Mail' and 'Sleepless in Seattle' and the John Hughes Bratpack films. The growth of the main character's friendship through to romance is jam packed with heartfelt emotion. I can honestly see why this book has captured the world in its hands. Everyone is raving about this book and you should definitely read it to see how wonderful it truly is. 
This book is set in Australia and shows the world that the teen angst issues and problems are universal. It was so refreshing to read an Australian author like Cath Crowley and really hope to read more of her books. 
A truly beautiful modern tale, that makes you wish you could be a teenager all over again. 

7 comments:

  1. Fab review! This is one of my very favourites of the year so far.

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  2. I love it when an author gets the feeling of being young. This sounds great!

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  3. High praise indeed, I'll keep an eye out for this one.

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  4. Cool, I read book set down under way to seldom

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  5. I really want to read this, especially since the characters seem to appreciate art so much.

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  6. Great revie,w I loved this one too and omg John Hughes would make this book amazing as a movie! It should happen… you know… if ghosts could make movies… :/

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