On the last night of year 12, Lucy decides to do something a little crazy. Flush with the freedom of being finished with high school, she decides to search for the elusive Shadow, a graffiti artist whose work speaks to her. She’s pretty sure she could fall for shadow. Accompanying Lucy on her search is Ed, a boy without a job who dropped out in year 10 who had his nose broken on a horrible date by Lucy two years ago. He’s got a few secrets of his own. Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley nails that feeling of freedom and adventure and love you have right when you are on the cusp of adulthood before bills on a night when ANYTHING is possible.
Graffiti Moon
Intertwined with Lucy and Ed’s viewpoints in Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley (they have alternating chapters) are poems by Leo, Ed’s best friend, describing the night. AND the poems are quite lovely and well done, there is none of that rhyming crap and it’s an element I loved so much that I just had to include it in my review.
Cath Crowley’s writing style is gorgeous and seems to follow this trend I kinda noticed where all the Aussie authors I read are unbelievably good. When you read Graffiti Moon, you should let the words and the prose wrap around you and immerse yourself in the experience because Crowley’s writing is delectable.
ALSO, there are SWOONS aplenty in Graffiti Moon. Look, sometimes in life we meet people at the wrong time, then they come back and it is knee buckling sigh swoon age. If you like to sigh when you read because of chemistry and romance, read Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley.
I cannot think of a better book to have ended 2011 with — Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley is filled with all the possibilities of a night open to adventure and reminded me what it was like to be young and impulsive and also able to say awake past midnight.
Disclosure: Received for review via Netgalley.
Other Reviews of Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley:
Pure Imagination
Anna Reads
Bibliophile Brouhaha
Lisa Is Busy Nerding
Makeshift Bookmark
The Allure Of Books
The Crooked Shelf
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Sounds like a must read! I’m a sucker for beautiful writing, so I’m pulling up Goodreads now to add it to my to-read list. Hmm..and NetGalley has it? **Self control. Self control. Self control.** Lol.
Self-control is hard in the face of a beautiful book like Graffiti Moon.
Yes, chemistry and romance. Abso-frickin-lutely. And the dialogue! Man it’s like Cath has nailed down dialogue to a science, no? And I laughed so much more than I thought I would! So glad you enjoyed it, and yes what a wonderful book to end 2011 with.
Right, I laughed a lot at the bits with Jazz.
I think Cath is a dialogue expert.
It kind of makes me want to cry… MORE than a little that I have not yet read this book. I have seen nothing but amazing things about it, I LOVED Crowley’s debut novel and umm… we all know how I feel about Australia (Melina Marchetta for LIFE)
SO glad to hear you loved this one!! I’m going to force this reading blah away and read this one ASAP!! :D:D:D
I’m shocked you haven’t read Graffiti Moon, given your proclivity towards contemporary and Australia.
Dude, read GM asap!
Oh, I completely agree! Graffiti Moon really does capture that feeling of adventure and abandon. The dialogue is so sharp, and yes, the swoons! Wish there were more books like this.
I do too. I thought Statistical Probability of Love was similar with the excellent dialogue and the 24 hour thing.
But there is something very special about Graffiti Moon.
Yay, so glad you enjoyed this one! It’s one of my favorite reads in 2011 and I had a lot of fun reading it. This book made me more interested in graffiti artists and made me wish I was more artistic.
Right, after reading I wanted to learn how to sketch and glass blow and paint.
I wanted to be a graffiti artist! I’m pretty sure I won’t get caught here in the Philippines. 😛 Sigh, I’m hopeless when it comes to artistic stuff.
Good lord I loved this book. Every thing from the alternating points of view, to the poetic elements, and it all going down in one night. So incredibly amazing!!!
Absolutely agree about everything! I thought she did a great job differentiating between the alternate points of view and giving each character a unique voice.
I sighed so many times during this book. Grafitti Moon is just another awesome example of fabulous Australian YA lit!
For sure. Reading Graffiti Moon was just another push that I needed to get my hands on more Aussie YA.
I was so excited to get this one from Netgalley and have yet to read it. I need to change that real soon. From your review I think I’m really going to enjoy the storyline, plus I love anything to do with art.
Yay! I think you will enjoy Graffiti Moon, Kate.
Hurry up and read it!
I’ve been dying to read this one ever since I saw the cover. There is something about it that I just love. And I must be losing my cynical shell as I get older, because I totally enjoy chemistry and swoonage now whereas I used to just roll my eyes.
I actually LOL’ed at your comment about being able to stay awake past midnight. I was up until 3AM last weekend and I was all proud of myself *until* I had to sleep in until almost noon the next day to make up for it and then I STILL dragged ass all day long. Oldsters ftw.
I feel like I’m less cynical as I get older too. Maybe it’s something to do with not having teenage hormones anymore?
Oldsters *throws gangsta signs up*
Great review! I’ve only heard positive things about this book so I’m excited to finally read it. I wish more Aussie authors were being pubbed in the US, some without such a long delay.
Thank you Sarah!
Me too, like Kirsty Eager (I think that’s her name) the author of Raw Blue seems to have a following here but still isn’t published in the US.
Raw Blue being pub’d in the US? My dearest, bookish wish!
Wouldn’t it be great. Instead of another crappy paranormal or a dystopian rip-off, some Aussie.
One can only wish 🙂
Ahhh, youth! LOVED this book, all the tension and the “does he know?”/”does she know?” stuff.
Sigh, youth. So so long ago.
AND YES TENSION. That is always my favorite!
I have the galley for this as well, I saw it and had to have it after reading so many good things, but now I’ve been putting the reading off because I’m so so nervous that it won’t live up to the hype I’ve given it in my own head. It’s gotta come to a head sooner or later, I’ll probably be reading it in the next couple of weeks.
Heidi, I promise Graffiti Moon is excellent. I too am often burned by hype, but this one is actually good!
AWESOME review – I loved this one. Poet’s poems? ***melts***. I read the Aussie version, and I heard they changed somethings, so I am really interested in reading the US version and see what they did.
This is a MUST READ!
PS – thanks for linking to my review – you rock!
His poem’s were AMAZEBALLS.
And absolutely I would link your review, you are such an advocate for Aussie YA!
I really, really need to read this book–everyone swoons! Great review. 🙂
Hello from a new follower, btw, thanks so much for stopping by my blog.
Thanks Wendy! (You don’t need to follow or anything, I just really like the reviews on your site because they are so analytical and in-depth — like the Book Smugglers but for YA).
And yes, the swoonage is turned up to 11 in Graffiti Moon. 😀
I’m doing my best in avoiding this book until closer to the release date. But it’s. SO. HARD. Especially with reviews like yours, April, coming to my attention. The contemporaries I’ve heard of for this year and the ones I’ve already read have impressed me so much that I’m willing to believe all of them this year are bound to be amazing. I can’t WAIT to read this. Hopefully, I’ll be able to hold off a LITTLE longer.
– Asher (from Paranormal Indulgence)
I imagine it is VERY hard to avoid it.
I hope 2012 is the year of the contemporary. 😀
Yes, forever, at the prose.
This is basically at the top of my wishlist right now. LOVED Crowley’s writing in A Little Wanting Song. I meant to request this but kept forgetting, so I’m just going to wait for it now. But looking forward to it for sure.