Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy (review)

Even though he’s only sixteen, Carlos Duarte knows he has what it takes to be a makeup artist for the stars. He’s working at Macy’s FeatureFace counter, but his talent is too much for Valentino, his competitive boss, and he runs into trouble when a shopping celebrity asks for his help instead of Valentino’s. Meanwhile, his home life is falling apart as his mother loses her job, and his sister’s boyfriend, who has always bullied the flamboyant Carlos, has started to abuse her as well. His mom expects him to be the man of the house and intervene, and Carlos ends up with a lot to juggle, including a crush on a rocker boy classmate, Gleason, who is giving him mixed signals. Carlos is well up to any task, however, and even though everything doesn’t work out exactly the way he wants it to, he’s got both the hope and the chutzpah to move forward. Although Carlos’ series of successes represents a work-oriented wish-fulfillment fantasy only loosely keyed to possible reality, his effervescent enthusiasm makes readers believe that he can pull off the make-up miracles he describes and enter the industry at sixteen; moreover, the realism of his sister’s situation and his failed crush anchor the story in ways that keep it from being too over-the-top unbelievable. The title is somewhat misleading, as Carlos is only formerly fat; now he’s cruising into his career with a keen sense of style and a strong sense of self that can’t help but buoy those readers who themselves live and dream outside the mainstream.