Graffiti Moon

The story follows a group of young friends over a 24 hour period in the fantastic art and culture infused city that is Melbourne.

Lucy has just finished Year 12 (final year of high school in Australia) and is about to take her HSE exams. Lucy’s parents are creative artistic types – her mother is writing a novel and her father, who is living in the shed, is a comedian/magician. Lucy also a creative soul spends her night in search of the mysterious anonymous graffiti artist known as Shadow. The last person she wants to be with is Ed. But Ed knows Shadow so she needs his help. The pair have an awkward history; back in Year 10 Ed and Lucy went one date, which ended with Lucy punching him in the nose.

Ed lives with his solo mum. The only paternal figure in Ed’s life was Bert, who employed Ed at his paint shop after Ed dropped out of school. Bert recently passed away following a heart attack and Ed lost his job. Like a lot of young men Ed is currently at the crossroads in his life, not knowing where to go next.

Ed and his best friend Leo are planning to rob the school in order to pay back a debt to the very scary Malcolm Dove. If they fail to do so poor Ed will have his nipple pierced with a compass. Malcolm demonstrates his compass piercing skills on Ed’s ear so he knows Malcolm is serious.

The novel is written in first person narrative alternating chapters between Lucy and Ed. There is also verse poetry interspersed throughout the novel, written by Leo, which provides a third distinct voice for the story.

Crowley often begins the chapter with repeating the last point of action from the previous chapter from the other character’s point of view. She has a great use of imagery and the dialogue, particularly Lucy’s narration is very witty.

The novel obviously deals with issues of youth crime such as vandalism and burglary. Crowley does not glorify or preach about these issues, instead she presents them as they are in a realistic manner. There are mentions of underage drinking and brief sexual references and strong coarse language.

Graffiti Moon would be suitable for junior secondary school (high school) students.

Within a few lines of Graffiti Moon, I knew I was going to love this book. I love, no—absolutely adore lyric prose. If a novel is written in a style that’s almost like a prose poem, I’m a goner. Cath Crowley has it. That beautiful turn of phrase that seems so unnassuming but says so much underneath its obvious meaning.

From the first chapter: “I’m so close to meeting him and I want it so bad. Mum says when wanting collides with getting, that’s the moment of truth. I want to collide.”

So once I’d been fully hooked into Graffiti Moon, I was surprised to find out that I didn’t mind the slightly unoriginal storyline.

Lucy is in love with Shadow, a graffiti artist she’s never met. After finishing Year 12, she and two friends go out to celebrate all night. They run into Lucy’s friend’s boyfriend and two of his mates. One, named Ed, had a disastrous date with Lucy when they were 15 and he’s been pining for her ever since. Naturally, Lucy doesn’t know that and hates his guts, too caught up in her ideal romance with Shadow.

That sets the stage for an all-night crazy fest, and though the plot is completely predictible, Crowley presents a unique twist on things. Lucy is a glass blower and Ed is a drop-out who can barely read. Two characters that have “unique” written up and down their foreheads.

Writing a book that takes place all during one night is a set-up that isn’t done often enough, in my opinion. I can think of a few good ones, but there really need to be more. Because of the short timespan it covers, Graffiti Moon is full of teenage adrenaline and endearing mixed messages. Did I believe, at the end of this, that Lucy and her love interest were madly in love with each other? No. But that’s okay, because Cath Crowley didn’t try to pretend they were.

My only disappointment was how, as the novel progressed, I felt that the book became less beautiful. Crowley’s prose lost its poetic quality and, honestly, the way the characters turned out didn’t wholly satisfy me.

Altogether though, I thought Graffiti Moon was fabulous.