"Let me make it in time. Let me meet Shadow. The guy who paints in the dark. Paints birds trapped on brick walls and people lost in ghost forests. Paints guys with grass growing from their hearts and girls with buzzing lawn mowers." It’s the end of Year 12. Lucy’s looking for Shadow, the graffiti artist everyone talks about.
His work is all over the city, but he is nowhere.
Ed, the last guy she wants to see at the moment, says he knows where to find him. He takes Lucy on an all-night search to places where Shadow’s thoughts about heartbreak and escape echo around the city walls.
But the one thing Lucy can’t see is the one thing that’s right before her eyes.
Goodreads: 4/5 stars
**ARC courtesy of publisher via NetGalley
My review:
I really enjoyed the concept of this novel; two graffiti artists who hide their identities, one girl who is determined to find Shadow. Plus, they’re Australian teenagers! I’ve never read a book which features Aussie teens, but I really enjoyed it.
The story alternates between Ed’s perspective, Leo’s perspective and Lucy’s perspective. Lucy, having just graduated from high school, is determined that her graduation night will be spent searching the familiar hotspots for Shadow and Poet. Shadow is the painter; Poet is the, well, poet who adds a little word flair to the graffiti paintings. :) When Lucy and her girlfriends hang out at a local restaurant/diner to decide what their next plan is, in walk Ed and Leo. Jazz, Lucy’s friend, thinks this is an opportune time to hang out with the boys. Lucy disagrees. She went on one date with Ed a couple of years prior, and she ended up breaking his nose after he grabbed her arse. (Love that term, by the way.)
And so begins their wild adventure of a night.
While Jazz, Leo and the others dance and drink at a local party, Lucy informs Ed of her true intent for the evening—to find Shadow, even if it’s just a glimpse. So, Ed decides to help by taking her to Shadow’s hangouts. Over the course of the evening, the reader is transported throughout the city with Lucy and Ed, visualizing the beautiful graffiti images Shadow has painted on buildings and bridges and everywhere else. The tension between these two characters is obvious, and I was in the bleachers cheering for them the entire time.
The secondary arc takes a backseat for a bit, but it’s always there, making an appearance when necessary: Leo owes $500 to a crazy guy, so they plan on breaking and entering the high school to steal and sell equipment. Their time with the girls is limited. They can’t know what the boys are up to, and they sure as hell can’t be involved. The longer the girls stay with them, however, the harder it is for the boys to disappear and get the job done. Can they pull it off, or will their plans be sidetracked?
Overall, if you’re into art and romance, this is the book for you. Crowley’s prose is graceful, engrossing and emphatically ASTOUNDING. She has a way of pulling the reader into the pages, hugging them with her poetic words, and then releasing them back into reality so their mind can’t form complete thoughts. When your brain is finally able to function again, you might ask yourself, “What the hell did I just experience?” Brilliant writing, my friends, that’s what.
The story alternates between Ed’s perspective, Leo’s perspective and Lucy’s perspective. Lucy, having just graduated from high school, is determined that her graduation night will be spent searching the familiar hotspots for Shadow and Poet. Shadow is the painter; Poet is the, well, poet who adds a little word flair to the graffiti paintings. :) When Lucy and her girlfriends hang out at a local restaurant/diner to decide what their next plan is, in walk Ed and Leo. Jazz, Lucy’s friend, thinks this is an opportune time to hang out with the boys. Lucy disagrees. She went on one date with Ed a couple of years prior, and she ended up breaking his nose after he grabbed her arse. (Love that term, by the way.)
And so begins their wild adventure of a night.
While Jazz, Leo and the others dance and drink at a local party, Lucy informs Ed of her true intent for the evening—to find Shadow, even if it’s just a glimpse. So, Ed decides to help by taking her to Shadow’s hangouts. Over the course of the evening, the reader is transported throughout the city with Lucy and Ed, visualizing the beautiful graffiti images Shadow has painted on buildings and bridges and everywhere else. The tension between these two characters is obvious, and I was in the bleachers cheering for them the entire time.
The secondary arc takes a backseat for a bit, but it’s always there, making an appearance when necessary: Leo owes $500 to a crazy guy, so they plan on breaking and entering the high school to steal and sell equipment. Their time with the girls is limited. They can’t know what the boys are up to, and they sure as hell can’t be involved. The longer the girls stay with them, however, the harder it is for the boys to disappear and get the job done. Can they pull it off, or will their plans be sidetracked?
Overall, if you’re into art and romance, this is the book for you. Crowley’s prose is graceful, engrossing and emphatically ASTOUNDING. She has a way of pulling the reader into the pages, hugging them with her poetic words, and then releasing them back into reality so their mind can’t form complete thoughts. When your brain is finally able to function again, you might ask yourself, “What the hell did I just experience?” Brilliant writing, my friends, that’s what.
I'm so intrigued by this book. I'd never heard of it before. Thanks so much for the review.
ReplyDeleteIt was really different, and really good! :)
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