Graffiti Moon Restored My Faith In Contemporary

Rating:

     This book came so close to being an all time favourite, which is weird because a) I hate contemporaries with a passion and b) only  a handful of books sit on my ATF shelf (actually, they're two). But I would have gladly handed a five star, gushing review, had it not been for the ending. 

You see, this books is me. It has me written all over it, and it's the kind of book that a certain type of people will obsessivly relate to. Even though Lucy, the MC and I are so different, I could see part of myself in her that rarely any book can portray well. 

Lucy is a dreamer. She falls in love with ideas, not people, and she'd escape any touch of reality in a heart beat. Only difference is that this book shows you that both dreams and reality can be sort of mixed together. The book starts out with Lucy looking after the artist by the name of Shadow, one who paints creative graffiti on walls. As any person with a mind like that of Lucy's, she made up an entire character and personality to go with this artist she'd never met. And just like in real life, that idea she has couldn't be more wrong. 

Except this time, the author does it beautifully. 

Enter: Edd. Gosh, I don't want to fangirl. I really won't, but let me just quote Lucy here (this is NOT a spoiler by the way. It's revealed in the second chapter): 

An artist who paints things like that is someone I could fall. Really fall for

Back to the I-Hate-Contemporaries shenanigin. Let's see.. we've already established that I hate them. Then why did I pick up this book? Basically, I wanted to read this book as a sort of art practice. I'd promised myself I'd draw every graffiti piece mentioned, and naturally.. I ended up doing only one.. 

There's one of  Shadow's pieces, a painting on a crumbling wall of a heart cracked by an earthquake with the words: Beyond The Richter Scale written underneath. It's not a heart like you see on a Valentine's Day card. It's the heart how it really is: fine veins and atriums and arteries. A fist-size forest in our chest. 

With all it's beauty and fun and humor (emphasis on humor), I deducted a star because of the ending. It fell flat and anti climactic for me. In my opinion, it could have been done better. Still though, if you are a non-believer in contemporaries like myself, read this book. Worse case scenario: you'll find it a fun, joyous ride. Best case scenario: You'll fall in love with the words and the descriptions of art. 

Final Words: Aussie authors are wizards in disguise. They're too good to be true.