Graffiti Moon, by Cath Crowley
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Romance, Mystery
Rating: 1/5 stars
Publication: Feburary 14, 2012, by Knopf Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover Edition
Goodreads Summary: 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.
Review:
DNF @ 108 pages
I usually hate DNF-ing books. It just makes me feel so bad for not writing a full-length review that features all of the details of the book and I feel really bad for being so mean and cruel to the author. But in some cases, like this one, I just had to. It was impossible not to. And I'm really surprised... Because there's been so much rave and craze for this Australian-based book. But I guess I was just one of the odd ones out.
This book takes place in a matter of 24 hours, and I guess you could say it's all Lucy's story. Lucy just finished her senior year and is out of high school. She is out on the hunt to find Shadow, the mysterious graffiti artist whose art is "found all over the city." And it's beautiful art. Lucy thinks that Shadow's someone she can fall for, just by looking at his art. (Whaat.) But instead of going out to find him on the night that she's free (at least for now) she's stuck at a party with her acquaintance Ed, who she has had some trouble with in the past. But, Ed knows where to find Shadow, and Lucy is not about to lose her opportunity to meet the guy of her dreams, right? So she goes for it.
"At the start there were moments, blinking moments, when we were lying together and it was warm and I could smell flowers on her skin and turps on my hands and I heard her voice with my nerve endings. Like how one day she'd finish year twelve and leave me behind. Like how stupid I was compared to her. I forgot because she was hanging over me, and the world was liquid and spinning and for once I was liquid and spinning with it."
For my first thought, this book was utterly strange. The concept was weird, the plot was alien, I just didn't see the coolness and "swag" of it. It was very strange to read about the characters being obsessed with love. Like too obsessed. I understand that this is a contemporary-romance novel and all, but it's too crazy, and not mainstream at all, but in a bad way. Lucy was too obsessed with finding Shadow; a guy she never even met. It's too good to be true and weird. Just, naw.
From the beginning, even after reading a chapter, I didn't like this. When reading a book, I always imagine that the book is starting at a 5/5 rating for me, and then it decreases and increases whatsoever depending on the book. This was a 1 already after the first chapter, which rarely happens because I find that I am always too nice when reading books. But this just disappointed me from the start.
I just don't like the concept. It's senseless and nothing special was happening. It was all about luck, and I don't believe that love is luck. It's true, and Lucy thinks that she can get any guy who might just not like her (or who might even have a girlfriend) with the snap of her fingers. It's just not realistic at all, and I don't believe that you can even call this 'realistic fiction' in terms of genres. Not at all.
Being bored with books is my #1 pet peeve when reading a book. It makes me so frustrated and I feel like I just can't deal with it. And that's another thing that just happened with this book. It's so SAD.
And then the characters also sucked and were totally un-relatable and I hated them and GRR don't listen to me if you liked this book because you will then get upset at me and we will cause a war here.
Lucy was just stupid, I didn't care for Ed at all and who else was there? Because I really can't seem to remember because I just don't care. Meh. What else can I say.
The only good thing (teensy good thing but it didn't keep me reading) was the writing. The book was very well-written and the writing was nicely flowed and it suited the book. But that's just about it. I would've given this a 0.5 rating if the writing also sucked. But remember, it didn't keep me reading. I stopped at 100 pages, that means it really must've sucked, right?
I'm truly sorry to all of the people who believe that this book is amazing and perfect. I'm so sorry. But I really didn't like this and I didn't see anything special about it. There, my anger is let out.
We all have that one book or movie or whatever that everyone raves about but we still don't like. It's your blog; vent about bad books as much as you want. :)
ReplyDeleteAhaha, thanks! :D
DeleteHaha yeah this one is not for everyone. it's basically just a love story and nothing else. I liked it, but I can see why you didn't. I also read it so long ago that I only remember the basics from it. Hopefully your next read will be better for you! :)
ReplyDeleteYeah... V.C. Andrews is doing a great job of enticing me in the third "Flowers in the Attic" book, so it's making me smile after this horror. x) Thank you!
DeleteIt sucks when the first few chapters of the book make you want to stop reading. If it doesn't work, it just doesn't work. Too much obsession on love makes me cringe. It becomes unrealistic for my taste. But it really depends on who's reading the book. :)
ReplyDeleteDefinitely. I just hate cheesy romance that just makes you want to scream. But yeah, this was like the obsessive kind. The girl didn't even know who the guy was, and she was in love with him! Like, WTF? Ugh. Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteWell... I just removed it from my TBR list. Just reading the quote your shared kind of turned me off from the book. I don't like it when you get bored while reading. What's your motivation to keep reading if you're not interested? Good call on this one. :)
ReplyDeleteHaha, good. I mean you could try it if you want, because there are many people who loved this book and gave it a 5/5 rating, but it absolutely wasn't for me.
DeleteI just thought that it would get better and the weirdness and cheesiness would fade away, but all I got was repetitiveness and I just stopped and slammed it down. I tried really hard to like it, but I just couldn't. :)
I'd never heard of this one. I know what you mean on the DNF though. I usually try to forge through but last month I just had to stop on a book. I should have know the vampire/fallen angel book wasn't for me but gave it a try and just had to quit. And two I've started this month are really hard to get through, but I'm almost at the end of one.
ReplyDeleteHow goes the Andrews books? Work has been crazy so I got behind in your book updates.
Ugh, that sucks. I totally get what you mean. It's so difficult to pick up a book again and read it and hope for the best after you've just read a horrible book.
DeleteThank goodness the Andrews books were great or else I'd go mad! They took me a while to read (longer than usual because of craziness in life) but I really enjoyed them despite the confusion Andrews created. Don't worry about it! :D I'm glad to hear from you!
Pff. I'm the black sheep all the time, Michelle. :P We all have our own opinions, so you shouldn't apologize to the people who liked this one. ;) Personally, I did. I thought the story was really different--and I like wacky, weird books, haha! Too bad you didn't like this one, girl. ;(
ReplyDeleteLOL! I'm it sometimes. x) Thanks for your insight, I don't feel so bad anymore, lol. I usually look for unique books and I really expected something awesome from this one but I guess it really just wasn't for me. :)
DeleteDon't feel bad about not liking this one usually i'm the blakc sheep amongst bloggers because i ALWAYS have a different opinion of a book LOL. I haven't read this one but since it does sound like a pretty different book i can see how it just might now work for everybody. Heres to hoing your next read is much better!
ReplyDeleteLily
Thanks so much! :D I'll have to lead a discussion post on whether on not people trust reviews when reading. :)
DeleteGreat review. I'm one who enjoyed it, but more so for the adventure of exploring the night and the locations. It was really mostly about the locations. I'm not sure where in Australia it was set, but it had a very 90's feel to it.I usually wouldn't like books with no real story, so I was surprised when I enjoyed this one.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yeah, the Australia setting was awesome-- we never really get those books with that type of indie feel to it. I'm glad that you enjoyed it!
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