This is very well written, so I was drawn into it by the quality of the writing. It was a little awkward that it starts off with an acceptance to art school, and then you basically go backwards in time to a lot of high school stuff. So you're getting the history of this relationship and that relationship, and even with a bit of tragedy and suchlike it's still high-school relationship trivia.
There end up being some surprising revelations in the last third of the book that provide some payoff. I'm not sure I can completely sympathize with either our hero or his parents because they all do some things that I would consider pretty weird and/or stupid.
I am not a fan of the cover art. It basically screams, "cover selected and designed by patronizing, clueless middle-aged New York editors and art directors who think this is 'hip' and 'edgy' and just what will appeal to the young folk." Ugh. I guess some middle-school or high-school students might be taken in by this, but it would be so much nicer if the editors and designers could actually select beautiful, really nice graffiti art. Like what Os Gemeos does, or lots of taggers. It's just so watered-down and namby-pamby and "this is good for you"-looking. Basically, a preachy 1970s afterschool TV special as cover art.
There end up being some surprising revelations in the last third of the book that provide some payoff. I'm not sure I can completely sympathize with either our hero or his parents because they all do some things that I would consider pretty weird and/or stupid.
I am not a fan of the cover art. It basically screams, "cover selected and designed by patronizing, clueless middle-aged New York editors and art directors who think this is 'hip' and 'edgy' and just what will appeal to the young folk." Ugh. I guess some middle-school or high-school students might be taken in by this, but it would be so much nicer if the editors and designers could actually select beautiful, really nice graffiti art. Like what Os Gemeos does, or lots of taggers. It's just so watered-down and namby-pamby and "this is good for you"-looking. Basically, a preachy 1970s afterschool TV special as cover art.