Author: Cath Crowley
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (February 14, 2012)
Source: ATW ARC Tours
From GoodReads:
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.
Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley is a good book for people who like art. I love art, though I'm pretty terrible at analyzing it or doing it. But I love it nonetheless. Books like Graffiti Moon make me happy because I can appreciate art and not feel like an idiot while doing it. :)
So, you might be thinking, "How can she be appreciating art while she's not looking at any?" That's a fair point. With this book, I wasn't actually looking at any of the art described, but I was still seeing it. I could clearly picture the different graphics as they were described and still got the same feelings I get when looking at art. In fact, I probably got those feelings stronger while reading the book because I was reading the characters thoughts about the pieces, which helped me understand them better myself and made my emotions stronger.
While reading any book, my mind is making a mental movie of the actions as they happen. With some books, like Graffiti Moon, my mind is doing more than that. The actions aren't just actions. They're pictures. The writing is so artistically descriptive, I think of pictures instead of movements. I love poetic writing like this because it stands out and adds a layer of creativity to the story. The words flow and move, twisting and turning their way through the story. In many ways, the words shape the story instead of the story shaping the words.
Besides the art and the writing, I really enjoyed all the characters. Shadow and Poet have this mysterious existence behind their graffiti. The more we learn about Ed and Leo, the "real people" behind these tags, the more depth and reality I found in the characters. Lucy finds this as well as she goes searching for Shadow. She has this idea in her mind of what kind of person Shadow is, but she only has part of the story. Not only does she only know him through his art, but she has also only seen a fracture of the art he's created and none of the art still inside his head. I enjoyed learning more about Shadow/Ed through the various points of view, as well as learning about him through his art. I think the most insightful moments we're given as readers are things we have to interpret ourselves through the art.
Overall, Graffiti Moon is an enjoyable read. It's an introspective look at people in general, as well as the particular characters involved.
Final thoughts: Borrow or buy.
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