I just loved this book. Loooooved it. I've already re-read it several times and as I mentioned in another review, it's pretty much spray painted on my heart. (See what I did there???? BUT IT'S TRUE!) Obviously, this deserved a more in-depth review.I loved the protagonists. Lucy is naive but no pushover. I cracked up when it was revealed that her list of people she’d like to “do it” with was entirely comprised of fictional characters. Remember that age of having a crush on someone that you hardly knew, the basis of who you had made up almost entirely in your head? Never mind that you never actually talked to this guy. The very impossibility of anything happening with him was the most comforting part! It was more fun to imagine love in abstract rather than experience the messy, frightening reality of getting to actually know and care for a real, flawed person. And I mean, who wants to deal with the reality of a high school boy? They are just about custom-made as you can get to disillusion the crap out of any romantic ideals.And that brings us to Ed, a boy betrayed by words and saved by art. He doesn't seem to have a lot going on at first glance but given the chance, revealed delightfully unexpected depths. For all of Lucy’s romanticizing and idealizing, I thought Ed was pretty romantic at heart. I think there’s something inherently romantic about creating art and not just in the creation of something heartfelt, or the visual representation of emotions. It doesn’t matter the subject matter. Art can be as fanciful, impractical and unrealistic as you (the artist or viewer) want. It can mean whatever you want. It has endless possibility. But more than anything, art is expressing a true self. And what’s more romantic than that?I thought Graffiti Moon perfectly captured the moment where the breathless exhilaration of youth and possibility collides with "real world" gravity establishing its weight. I loved the undercurrent of yearning and the theme of self-expression. I loved how it was bittersweet, naive, hopeful and absolutely hysterical. The banter and dialogue were particularly enchanting."For a while, for as long as you're looking at it, that painting is the world and you get to be in it." To me, Graffiti Moon was that work of art, and what a pleasure it was to spend time in it's world.Some odds and ends:• After reading this, I started a Graffiti Moon-inspired painting, that's how much I loved it. I'm still messing with it here and there but in honor of the US release date, here it is. I called it I Want to Collide (but of course! :D):• Make sure to check out this awesome link of all the art mentions in Graffiti Moon at Persnickety Snark• An example of Cath Crowley's pure amazingness:"She sounds smart." I try to make that comment seem casual but weirdly, anything I say about Beth comes out of my mouth dressed in a full-length ball gown.This is a review of the Australian edition of this book.
