Skin by Donna Jo Napoli

Skin

by Donna Jo Napoli

My lips are white.

Sixteen-year-old Sep stares into the bathroom mirror. It’s not some weird lipstick (she never wears lipstick). Her lips are just — white.
In a panic, she digs up an old lipstick and smears it on her colorless lips. But soon, more and more white spots begin to bloom, spreading their chalky tendrils across her olive brown skin. Does she have a disease? Is she turning into some kind of freak?

Sep is usually the one who knows all the answers. With a quicksilver mind and a supple body, she’s happiest when she’s delving into the mysteries of animal biology or giving herself over to sweet, hot moves in Jazz Dance Club. Unlike her best friend, Devin, she’s never been in a rush to get a boyfriend. But as the white blotches spread, her dating days — like the endangered species she studies — seem numbered. So when Joshua, a boy she’s always liked, makes a flirty advance, she wonders: why not grab pleasure while she can?

Frank, funny, and full of passion, this is the empowering story of a strong gifted teen who, as her life spins out of control, desperately tries to prove to the world — and herself — that she is deeper than skin.

Reviewed by Joni Reads on

5 of 5 stars

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This novel was captivating from the very first page. We meet Sep at the moment when she awakes on the first day of school only to find that her lips have turned completely white. She shows her mother who calls to make a Dr appointment but as the Dr does not consider it to be an emergency Sep has no choice but to go to school that day. She digs around for some old lipstick and smears on a bright bubblegum pink she has left over from middle school.
She has no idea what to think of her lips turning white. She doesn't know if she is dying, if this is normal or what. What she does know is that suddenly one of the incredibly hot boys in school, Josh, is suddenly paying attention to her. She's taken aback and not sure how to react but when she finds out she has a disease and that more spots on her skin will soon turn white and she will no longer look normal she decides to take a chance and accept pleasure from wherever she can get it.
She dives head into her relationship with Josh, quickly giving her body to him but never divulging to him the the disease she has. But as more and more spots and appear and they become harder to hide Sep has to finally accept her new self and stop hiding.
I loved Josh. His character was well developed and I enjoyed reading about their relationship. It was obvious that he cared about Sep and I felt bad that she was basically using him for sex because she didn't think she would find someone that would want her after they found out about her condition. He never gave the impression as someone who would be that shallow so I was hurt for him that she felt she couldn't trust him and I spent a lot of time cursing at her and feeling bad for him.
This book takes a disease not heard of very often and asks some very hard questions. What would you do if one day you woke up and had a big white spot on your skin? Would you hide it or accept it? What if you knew that before long your skin would be covered with them? What if you were in high school where so much of how you are treated is based on how you look? Would that change things?
A thought provoking novel about a girl who has to ask herself those questions and then make the hard journey of finding out the answers.

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  • 9 July, 2013: Reviewed