Review: DRIVE by Stephanie Fournet
I have loved everything I’ve read from Stephanie Fournet, and DRIVE did not disa[...]
Publisher: Knopf Books
Release Date: February 14, 2012
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher/NetGalley
Age Level: Young Adult
Buy: Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble
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. (Goodreads)
Beautiful. Real. Heart-wrenching.
I absolutely loved, loved, LOVED this book! Graffiti Moon spans just one night and is a beautiful story about friendship, trust, and love… and a second chance.
Graffiti Moon follows six teenagers through the night after their graduation from high school (or year 12 as it’s called in Australia). Lucy and her best friends decide to go out for a night of fun to celebrate. However, Lucy is on a mission to find Shadow, the famous graffiti artist that she feels connected to through his art. Even though she has no idea who he is, she feels like he is the only one who can understand her, and she is determined to find him. Instead, thanks to her friends Jazz and Daisy, they end up hanging out with Ed, Dylan, and Leo. Which is awkward since years before she had a disastrous date with Ed that ended with her breaking his nose.
Lucy is disappointed, and trying to figure out how she’s going to get away to search for Shadow… until Ed says he knows him and can help her find him. The night becomes a course of misadventures, as they all search for the graffiti artist team Shadow and Poet.
Graffiti Moon is beautifully written – lyrical with witty dialogue, an excellent plot, and fantastic characters! The story is told by alternating perspectives between Lucy, Ed, and Poet, which I felt was done perfectly. Here’s one of my favorite quotes:
“I liked that he had hair that was growing without a plan. A grin that came out of nowhere and left the same way.” — Cath Crowley
Reading Graffiti Moon, for me, was like reading a piece of art. Lucy’s passion is glass blowing, while Shadow paints, and Poet writes poetry, so art has a huge role in this novel. Yet, the story remains grounded by their very real life problems that all teenagers can relate to in some way.
Graffiti Moon is easily one of my favorite reads of 2011, and I’m so grateful that it was released in the US! I want to read more from Cath Crowley so I hope Knopf Books continues to publish her work here!
[…] YA contemporaries are written by Australian authors, like Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta and Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley. I can’t wait to read this […]