Week 29 Review: Putting Makeup on Dead People

From Goodreads:
In the spring of her senior year, Donna Parisi finds new life in an unexpected place: a coffin. 

Since her father's death four years ago, Donna has gone through the motions of living: her friendships are empty, she's clueless about what to do after high school graduation, and her grief keeps her isolated, cut off even from the one parent she has left. That is until she's standing in front of the dead body of a classmate at Brighton Brothers' Funeral Home. At that moment, Donna realizes what might just give her life purpose is comforting others in death. That maybe who she really wants to be is a mortician. 


This discovery sets in motion a life Donna never imagined was possible. She befriends a charismatic new student, Liz, notices a boy, Charlie, and realizes that maybe he's been noticing her, too, and finds herself trying things she hadn't dreamed of trying before. By taking risks, Donna comes into her own, diving into her mortuary studies with a passion and skill she didn't know she had in her. And she finally understands that moving forward doesn't mean forgetting someone you love.

Violi's heartfelt and funny debut novel is a story of transformation--how one girl learns to grieve and say goodbye, turn loss into a gift, and let herself be exceptional . . . at loving, applying lipstick to corpses, and finding life in the wake of death.

My Review:
This was a very sweet novel, of finding out who you are, and where your place is. It was a little over the map, and things were slightly underdeveloped, like the relationship, and some of the secondary characters, but the writing was engaging, and I really enjoyed reading this book. Plus, it came out on my birthday!

So I want to comment on the cover. Creepy, since we have to know that's a dead person face, but I like the positioning, that it's upside down for us, and then the flowers and the lipstick. The kind of things that funeral parlour does to for female corpses!

Donna was a very strange person. I like strange! Though not everybody does, but most people don't use "weird" the most often like I do! Loved her quirks, and her journey, it just made this book unique, and I just love unique!

This was a really great début, and like I said, it did go off in a few different directions, which made a few things confusing, but I liked her career path, and how it fit her, and her new friend Liz, and Charlie! Really great!

I just really enjoyed this book, it was nice and wonderful!

Author: Kim Violi
Read: July 19th, 2012
Source: NetGalley/Library
Reason Why: Sounded like a great book, it's a LLFL book, and it came out on my birthday!
Publisher: Hyperion
Published: May 24th 2011

5/5 Hearts

4/5 Books

4/5 Stars