that was great

That was fantastic. I can really identify with Rob, and it's so realistic and every single detail was perfect. I loved it.

I've never written a review before, but I just had to let you know how much I loved Living Art. This is such a poignant story. Bumlets stories always make me sad anyway, so wouldn't of had to work hard at getting the emotion going for me. The characters were nicely developed, and I found the graffiti information so interesting.
The story really came alive for me. Thanks for writing it.

Wow. That was just amazing. I suck at writing reviews... I normally just stick to 'I really loved it' or mild fangirl squeeing, but i don't really think that either of those options are appropriate. Because this was simply stunning. The story was slow to start, but captivating and the emotions were perfectly portrayed. The ending was... God... I wish I could write good reviews, because you totally deserve one but I guess you will just have to believe me when I say that it was well done without being able to back it up with the reasons why..

Praise: Gosh that was such a great, sweet story. I like your style, and appreciate the grammatical accuracy.

Crit: You should try to avoid passive voice more, and work on reducing the number of proper nouns/names.

Ah-MAZING. I loved this piece, absolutely adored it! You've done just a marvelous job.

Miniola

Wow, that's an amazing fic. It would actually work perfectly well as an original story, seeing it's completely AU. Well done :)

my goodness! I've read a lot of your slash stuff, and this is by far my favorite. I'm a painter myslef, though I dont live in a city so no graffitti for me. It was really well written, and i liked your use of imagry. It was a great piece, it came full circle. The art descriptions are amazing. I don't write much fanfic. but i love newsie and im a friend of hotspotslingshot's. Tongles for some really great writing. that keeps me up till 2 am.

Jessy

dear sweet fxcking god.
there just aren't words.

thank you

This was really great. It was tasteful, and tragic, and funny, and beautiful in all the places that it needed to be. It reminds me a lot of Ghostwriter, with the bodega and stuff, it especially reminds me of the episode where the character Rob Baker becomes friends with Victor Torres because Victor is accussed of graffiti/vandalism in the school... I thought it was pretty awesome.

And this is why B is one of my favorite authors... ^_^ I don't know why it took me so long to read this piece (I think it was the daunting length...*shrug*) but i'm so glad i've read it. Great, great stuff. I loved the relationship beween Dutchy and Bumlets.

I kept skipping over this fic when I saw it, 'cause I'm not really a Bumlets fan, but Oh. My. God.

This fic had me crying.

It's amazingly beautiful and perfect.

Omfg. 0.0
Dude, I seriously had to restrain myself from licking my computer screen.
You want feedback?
Well, all I have to say is that I certainly have a new couple in my brain. And it's definatly my favorite so far.
Bumlets hardly gets any attention, (I'm still not sure whether this is good or bad; there are less girls after him...but he's not mentioned as often) so I'm glad he finally got a whole story for himself. (Well, not just himself, Dutchy pretty important too...but, well, yeah. You get the point.)
-squeals- If this ins't going to be one of my favorite fics, I don't know what is.
Keep writing, you're a fantasitc author.

-numbah 011 aka Mouse.

Perfect. I love the simple style. Saying very little, but implying everything.

As Arlene put it so perfectly, "It read as a completely self-contained piece of original fiction." It really did, and that's what makes it so enjoyable.

What to say... firstly, I confess here and now I've never been very interested at all in Bumlets. Great dancer, but he's always the last newsie I consider writing (or even reading) about. Here, however, you've made him a living and breathing character, and though we don't get very far into his thoughts about things (which is actually a very interesting aspect of the story - how focused it is in facts and events over feelings and thoughts), I really came to feel like this was a real PERSON. Not just fanfiction intended to shed a little light on a minor character in a what-if situation, but a STORY ABOUT SOMEONE. And that's pretty amazing to me. I don't think it's been attempted to this extent or done this well by anyone.

This also may be my favorite depiction of Dutchy ever, because it's one-hundred-percent how I picture a teenage boy version of Dutchy in the modern world. That is HIM. That's not like him, that's not some author's interpretation of him, that's HIM. Or that's how I feel, anyway. :P

You took your time and let things develop at such a natural pace. Their environment, the gang war, the murals - all very well fleshed-out and detailed, all with an air of authenticity (I find most graffiti fascinating and attractive to the eye, so this was a treat), and almost all without sentimentality or phoniness. Beautiful and real (and Dutchy's paintings toward the end really stirred something in me, much to my surprise - it's as if I were seeing them in person).

The one thing that I can't make up my mind about is the slashy bit at the end. I completely bought the "I'LL MISS YOU" part of the mural, but the "I LOVE YOU" I'm not entirely sure about. It's a tricky thing, really. I saw it coming - and in a good way, because I thought the two would be really great together as a couple, especially with Dutchy sketching and Bumlets doing his homework, side by side - and yet when it finally came (er...), there was something not quite right about it.

Ah, well. It doesn't detract at all from a wonderful, beautiful piece of work. Fantastic job, B!