Thursday, June 16, 2011

Sentence Sneak Peek - Putting Makeup on Dead People


Putting Makeup on Dead People by Jen Violi

The first sentence from each chapter of Putting Makeup on Dead People, it's a mini summary of what you can expect to read.
* Read this ARC via NetGalley
* Spoilers are highlighted like so :)


Prologue: “I’m mixing a can of tomato soup with a can of two-percent milk for dinner that no one will eat.

Lila Cardoza is dead and wearing my earrings.”

I’m sitting in my senior Span-ish class, whispering to myself, “Cuerpos.

In the morning, I eat a bowl of cereal and tell Mom I’m driving to the library to do some research in quiet.”

Sunday night, B drives back to his house on the UD campus.”

What’s the matter with you?”

On Tuesday at lunch, Patty and Becky are working on a presidential history handout they forgot about that’s due this afternoon, Charlie’s still reading his herb garden book and making notes, and Jim has crafted a paper football he’s shooting through vari-ous invented goalposts, like Becky’s lip balm and lipstick tubes and the salt and pepper shakers.”

Late Holy Saturday morn-ing, the kitchen smells like vinegar and rain when I tell Mom I need to go out.”

I tell Liz about B and Gwen when she drops me off after school on Monday.”

The day before graduation, I'm home alone when I see the mailman pull up outside.”

"On Friday night, Becky calls me while I'm watching a made-for-TV movie with Linnie."

"When I get home on Sun-day, I'm exhausted, but the thought of Tim makes my heart start beating fast and I don't feel so sleepy anymore."

"Come Friday night, since Mom has decided to sit on the front porch to read, I can't avoid telling her I'm going on a date."

"Two weeks later, Liz is ready for our Celtic Adventure."

"That weekend, I get to Car-illon Park early and walk past the pioneer house and the Wright brothers building, which houses a replica of the world's first airplane, and up to a patch of grass right under the Carillon, which has fifty-some bells in it."

"The next morning, I tell Mr. Brighton I've decided to move into the yellow room, if it's still okay—to get settled before school starts."

"Even though I've been work-ing at a funeral home all summer, and even though I live there now, my first day at Chapman feels big."

"Examining the three-tiered Simple Elegance wedding cake at Bella's Bakery, I can't help but think how the champagne icing looks like the nude cosmetic JB will probably have me order in bulk from the Coffin Cosmetics catalogue."

"On the way to dinner, I stop at the Kroger, thinking I should bring something."

"A few weeks later, I've suc-cessfully avoided two family dinners, claiming I had plans with Tim, although I haven't actually heard from him since I called him from the parking lot."

"The next Sunday, I wake up like I have every Sunday since I moved into the yellow room—feeling like I should be somewhere."

"Mom calls the day before Thanksgiving and says, "We're doing dinner at four."

"On Friday, Charlie doesn't call."

"After the wedding, in the reception hall, I watch Aunt Selena and Uncle Lou do a shot together at the bar, the rainbow lights from the disco ball playing over their laughing faces, and feel like I must be in an alternate universe."

2 comments:

  1. hmmm.. lots of spoilers this time. Now I'm really curious about this book

    ReplyDelete
  2. @Sullivan Yeah, turned out to be lots of spoilers when I went through and did the sneak peek.

    It's more of a contemporary type book but does mostly take place in a funeral home which lets you read about a lot of interesting people.

    ReplyDelete

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