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goodem9199's review against another edition
3.0
Not horrendous but quite a disappointment after My Sister....
emasvingerova's review
3.0
3,5 * kvůli Aaronovi <3
A ani nevíte jak jsem byla ráda, který z těch dvou to teda nakonec byl!
A ani nevíte jak jsem byla ráda, který z těch dvou to teda nakonec byl!
rainbowdragonz's review against another edition
1.0
This book was a disappointment. I hate rating books poorly but I just feel there was so much potential here and it was never reached. The ending was a complete anti-climax and there was very little development of either character or plot. If this was a video game I'd say watch someone else play it on YouTube. Also I want to tw this book for sexual assault covered very poorly.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
kaylarage's review against another edition
2.0
Love triangles and "murder" and teens being overly dramatic. This book is only slightly over okay. The Britishness seemed a little forced. I'm surprised this book won an Edgar, but the fact that there aren't a lot of crime-drama Y.A's is likely a factor.
shhchar's review against another edition
4.0
Ketchup Clouds was really interesting. I wasn't expecting much from the synopsis because it came across as a bit immature to me, but I really loved it. While most of it is cute and the protagonist is relatable, there are darker aspects of it.
Zoe came across as pretty self-centered at first, but I didn't dislike her for it. She can't be expected to be perfect, she's human and a teenager. Her two romances contrasted one another so much. It was mystifying to remember that this was the same girl in each relationship (but in a good kind of way.)
The end of the novel didn't leave me with very much closure. There were a few big things that I would change, but they didn't hurt the book overall.
I loved all the relationship dynamics, especially within Zoe's family. Her sisters were very interesting and I'm glad they got a lot of focus. Her parents were a force to be reckoned withThe fact that Zoe's mother was SO unlikable but then turned out to have real reasons for her over protectiveness in the end was a good plot twist that I wasn't expecting.
I liked how the book was written in form, with letters to Stuart and also in present and past. The entire book I went back and forth, wondering who would be the one in the coffin. The end was very unexpected.
P.S. The fact that someone dies isn't a spoiler, it's included in the synopsis and is spoken of in the first letter!
Zoe came across as pretty self-centered at first, but I didn't dislike her for it. She can't be expected to be perfect, she's human and a teenager. Her two romances contrasted one another so much. It was mystifying to remember that this was the same girl in each relationship (but in a good kind of way.)
Spoiler
I really think that Zoe and Aaron could have still been together in the end. I often don't say that I would change big things about the book, but in this case I would. The face that Aaron ran off to South America wasn't unexpected, but him coming back but not to her was a big let down.I loved all the relationship dynamics, especially within Zoe's family. Her sisters were very interesting and I'm glad they got a lot of focus. Her parents were a force to be reckoned with
Spoiler
and along with the lack of closure, who knows if they ended up staying together?I liked how the book was written in form, with letters to Stuart and also in present and past. The entire book I went back and forth, wondering who would be the one in the coffin. The end was very unexpected.
P.S. The fact that someone dies isn't a spoiler, it's included in the synopsis and is spoken of in the first letter!
elin247's review against another edition
4.0
Heartbreaking, funny, tear jerking and all around beautiful.
I loved the writing style easy to understand and get into. I could feel the grief and pain and now all I want is to hug Alice.
I loved the writing style easy to understand and get into. I could feel the grief and pain and now all I want is to hug Alice.
pchittenden's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
janewhitehurst's review against another edition
4.0
I listened to this on audio and couldn't tear myself away. I found myself circling the block to hear one more chapter and ended up just bringing it home and listening inside. I loved the story of Zoe and her love triangle-turned tragic. The novel is told through a series of letters Zoe writes to a death row inmate. She feels he can identify with the guilt she is facing and unloads her story on him. I really liked the characters and thought the plot moved quickly, keeping the reader in suspense. Pitcher is quickly becoming one of my favorite YA authors.
sampayn3's review against another edition
5.0
Guilt is a pungent emotion, penetrating its owner with the fear of hiding an internal criminal. In Ketchup Clouds, the sophomore effort from English author Annabel Pitcher, the emphasis is decidedly upon this harrowing expression and the agonising ramifications it may generate. It is a moving, passionate tale that will, of course, have its greatest effect upon a teenage audience. Yet, adults too will be pierced by the realism of this vision and the self-accusation that riddles every soul. The orchestrated bleakness of this material is mapped by Pitcher's continuing skill for narration; emotional rawness is again of the excessive importance, modified through irony, dry humour and a bluntness that makes this piece convincing and impressive. Above all, Ketchup Clouds is a perturbing controversy, an unanswerable philosophy that will strike anxiety in all readers: are the small, indirect crimes we make any less nefarious than those of murderers, rapists and serial killers?
Pitcher's epistolary fiction opens with a strong expression of the whimsical protagonist, evoking an appealingly uncomplicated and intuitive writing style. This composition, a briefly fickle and lightly comical affair, transitions towards relentless eloquence that is appreciated for its peculiarity. It is the disconcerting monologue from this young teenager to a lethal killer that shapes a beautifully quirky, colloquial and unhindered realism of her own life and the resulting symbology. The novel is consistently quotable, from the adventures of Zoe's love affair, to the misfortune of her little sister, and the occasional account of a spider that has inhabited her garden shed. It is tangible, intricate and uncensored details such as that ordered Ketchup Clouds to become indelibly engrossing to endure.
The caricatures and personas of the story follow dark tropes of young contemporary literature, coupling young love, the vast differences between childhood and teenage experimentation, drugs and sex, along with betrayal and in this case, a life changing crime. The female protagonist, Zoe, is evidently discovering an understanding of attraction and the consequential madness that obsession and necessity can create. The often melodramatic tone of her consciousness allows all to reminisce in the labours of navigating the world through naivety and innocence, one that quickly becomes marked with angst and tempestuous life lessons. In terms of her character, Zoe is obviously bright, but does not remove herself from the brash, inconsiderate and stereotypically capriciousness of teenage girls. For some this repetitive obnoxious aura, one that pushes secondary characters to languish in the background, may become too hard to bear.
Having said that, the protagonist is certainly vindicated in her distress. It is a sentimental literary premise, encapsulating the affliction of guilt as it coincides with a love triangle - an unhealthy involvement with two brothers - that has gone terribly wrong. As the plot deepens, the novel hangs on its readership's sympathy and compassion for teenage circumstance, and thus a exceedingly tough decision is presented to the audience. Should we forgive Zoe for her unfortunate participation in a crime, ultimately a weak and irresponsible child, or should we vilify her? It is a debate that highlights a further argument on the boundaries of responsibility and is hard to conclude upon even now.
The author bravely pulls themes from adult contemporary fiction, where the psychological ideal of multiple selfs has been exposed in the recent crime hit, Gone Girl. When directing her writing towards Stuart Harris - the death row criminal and ex-murderer to whom Zoe confesses her story - the atmosphere switches between dark gaiety and gaucheness that is disturbing in itself. In light of this, the protagonist is sadistically comical and out of tune, making her character absolutely endearing: as she portrays our multiple, varied and dysfunctional personalities. Indeed, the readership similarly engages with the notion that we only present the character we desire others to see and, in fact, we are capable of many selves. Evidently, the novel's heroine learns that her internal criminal and guilt can be destroyed, praising the mentality that the good must shine through the darkness.
Pitcher's descriptions of the grim and miserable climax hit a core that few readers will have knowledge of even possessing. However, the author occupies her story with more guilt than through this key plot twist alone. Dot, the playful and eccentric little sister of the main character, was born deaf. It is the consequence of this disability, the guilt we cannot control or escape which teach us the most. In terms of the fundamental "ketchup clouds" themselves, could Annabel Pitcher be referring to an old wives tale, the warning of red sky in the morning and delight of red skies at night? This symbology would leave readers with an enlightening lesson: stating that each new situation, each day and each life must start with warning of chance and possibility, either good or bad. Whereas the aftermath, the end of the day, a red sky represents the peace that needs to follow an event of pain.
Whilst the traumatic guilt of the main character engulfs Ketchup Clouds as a novel, it is chiefly an account of assumption and expectation. The indication of confiding in someone who is unforgivable, unknown and evil, the stress of exams and future careers, bypassing parents with lies, and the incessant baiting of romantic interests all prove the fallacy of speculation. Despite that, to be incorrect and inaccurate, to be flawed and immoral, to make mistakes, stray from the norm, be precarious and therefore guilty, is to be human. Of course, the pressure of guilt can gradually rot the soul, yet the weight should be relaxed by the numbing of a memory and the retention of its life lesson. As the idiom suggests, the metaphorical red skies that break the dawn of each day offer a fresh opportunity of hope, forgiveness and chance that shall never be prevented or averted from.
Pitcher's epistolary fiction opens with a strong expression of the whimsical protagonist, evoking an appealingly uncomplicated and intuitive writing style. This composition, a briefly fickle and lightly comical affair, transitions towards relentless eloquence that is appreciated for its peculiarity. It is the disconcerting monologue from this young teenager to a lethal killer that shapes a beautifully quirky, colloquial and unhindered realism of her own life and the resulting symbology. The novel is consistently quotable, from the adventures of Zoe's love affair, to the misfortune of her little sister, and the occasional account of a spider that has inhabited her garden shed. It is tangible, intricate and uncensored details such as that ordered Ketchup Clouds to become indelibly engrossing to endure.
The caricatures and personas of the story follow dark tropes of young contemporary literature, coupling young love, the vast differences between childhood and teenage experimentation, drugs and sex, along with betrayal and in this case, a life changing crime. The female protagonist, Zoe, is evidently discovering an understanding of attraction and the consequential madness that obsession and necessity can create. The often melodramatic tone of her consciousness allows all to reminisce in the labours of navigating the world through naivety and innocence, one that quickly becomes marked with angst and tempestuous life lessons. In terms of her character, Zoe is obviously bright, but does not remove herself from the brash, inconsiderate and stereotypically capriciousness of teenage girls. For some this repetitive obnoxious aura, one that pushes secondary characters to languish in the background, may become too hard to bear.
Having said that, the protagonist is certainly vindicated in her distress. It is a sentimental literary premise, encapsulating the affliction of guilt as it coincides with a love triangle - an unhealthy involvement with two brothers - that has gone terribly wrong. As the plot deepens, the novel hangs on its readership's sympathy and compassion for teenage circumstance, and thus a exceedingly tough decision is presented to the audience. Should we forgive Zoe for her unfortunate participation in a crime, ultimately a weak and irresponsible child, or should we vilify her? It is a debate that highlights a further argument on the boundaries of responsibility and is hard to conclude upon even now.
The author bravely pulls themes from adult contemporary fiction, where the psychological ideal of multiple selfs has been exposed in the recent crime hit, Gone Girl. When directing her writing towards Stuart Harris - the death row criminal and ex-murderer to whom Zoe confesses her story - the atmosphere switches between dark gaiety and gaucheness that is disturbing in itself. In light of this, the protagonist is sadistically comical and out of tune, making her character absolutely endearing: as she portrays our multiple, varied and dysfunctional personalities. Indeed, the readership similarly engages with the notion that we only present the character we desire others to see and, in fact, we are capable of many selves. Evidently, the novel's heroine learns that her internal criminal and guilt can be destroyed, praising the mentality that the good must shine through the darkness.
Pitcher's descriptions of the grim and miserable climax hit a core that few readers will have knowledge of even possessing. However, the author occupies her story with more guilt than through this key plot twist alone. Dot, the playful and eccentric little sister of the main character, was born deaf. It is the consequence of this disability, the guilt we cannot control or escape which teach us the most. In terms of the fundamental "ketchup clouds" themselves, could Annabel Pitcher be referring to an old wives tale, the warning of red sky in the morning and delight of red skies at night? This symbology would leave readers with an enlightening lesson: stating that each new situation, each day and each life must start with warning of chance and possibility, either good or bad. Whereas the aftermath, the end of the day, a red sky represents the peace that needs to follow an event of pain.
Whilst the traumatic guilt of the main character engulfs Ketchup Clouds as a novel, it is chiefly an account of assumption and expectation. The indication of confiding in someone who is unforgivable, unknown and evil, the stress of exams and future careers, bypassing parents with lies, and the incessant baiting of romantic interests all prove the fallacy of speculation. Despite that, to be incorrect and inaccurate, to be flawed and immoral, to make mistakes, stray from the norm, be precarious and therefore guilty, is to be human. Of course, the pressure of guilt can gradually rot the soul, yet the weight should be relaxed by the numbing of a memory and the retention of its life lesson. As the idiom suggests, the metaphorical red skies that break the dawn of each day offer a fresh opportunity of hope, forgiveness and chance that shall never be prevented or averted from.