'Ketchup Clouds' is melodramatic and messy, and the narrator, Zoe, makes no sense, even for a teenager. She was not directly responsible - as it turns out, she might not have been responsible at all - for a death, and yet her guilt is what the whole novel hinges on. She is not a murderer. She's terrible, but not a killer. It is anticlimactic.
Why is Zoe sympathising with a real murderer, in Texas and on death row, whom she is writing to? She blames his murder victim, his wife, for her own death, because allegedly she had an affair. No. Fuck no. Fuck that. That is victim blaming - blaming a woman who has been murdered. What Zoe is saying here is that this woman deserved to die because she was a slut. Zoe doesn't change her perspective an ounce throughout the book. That is uncovering layers upon layers of internalised misogyny.
Nonsensical and unlikeable, and not in a compelling, well-written way: that is Zoe for you, and not just because she strings two boys along for reasons I can't remember. Have I mentioned how much I hate love triangles already?
Reality is not Zoe's friend. Does she even have any female friends? Her mother is a cartoonish, insufferable control freak - I hated her, too. Though I can see why Zoe might be the way she is because of her dysfunctional upbringing. I can't recall what her father is like. Probably decent, as is typical. Internalised misogyny, remember. Zoe's sisters I remember being likeable, so there's that.
Got to love that unusual title, however. But 'Ketchup Clouds' is a downgrade compared to the author's debut, 'My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece', which remains one of my all-time favourite books. Maybe fame and overconfidence got to Annabel Pitcher? 'Ketchup Clouds' did read as being rushed, and not edited properly.
Overall, my opinion of this book has changed drastically from my previous review of it. I can't in good taste and conscience recommend 'Ketchup Clouds'.
I feel dirty now. How naïve I was to have let its flaws pass.
Final Score: 2/5
I read this because I love Annabel Pitcher's debut, 'My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece'. And I'm glad I did.
'Ketchup Clouds' is about forgiveness and moving on. It is about humanity and life in the eyes of an emotionally-and-mentally-scarred teen in Britain. Zoe wants to seek solace in a kindred spirit, someone she wants to believe will understand her, someone she can tell her guilt to. She has suffered her pain for a year now and it is only getting worse, so she writes her letters in her garden shed at night, away from prying eyes, except those of a spider. She fears her family and other people will disown her if they know her secret.
It's worth noting that Zoe wants to be a writer.
Not many YA fiction these days deal with hard and deep issues such as these, and again this book turns out not to be your typical romance fare either.
The characters are realistic (except the mother, who I thought was ridiculously over-the-top as the control freak parent who expects nothing but perfection from all her children), and so are the situations. The way the narrator Zoe tells of school, the fear of divorce and broken families, and of party life for British teens is interesting rather than boring. Even the love triangle didn't annoy me, because 'Ketchup Clouds' takes it to dark places, towards a tragic end.
That being said, the writing in this book is rather sweet for such a heavy premise, yet it is not too simple. It contains cute-yet-morose observations from Zoe. She also exhibits a dark sense of humour as she writes her story to the convicted murderer in Texas, whom she treats like a friend she knows or wants to know because she thinks both of them will understand each other's guilty plight. There's a tragic creepiness to it.
Though Zoe's flippant comment that the murderer's victim, his wife who may or may not have been having an affair, had asked for it (or along the lines of that), it leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. A teenager writing it is no excuse.
The mystery, underplayed as it is, kept me guessing until the end, as I was not sure exactly who's going to die. Plus, Aaron is lovely. Flawed, but lovely; he is complex like every person in real life.
'Ketchup Clouds' misses a star mainly because I had to get used to the structure and the way it is written, which in some areas appear like genuine mistakes. A few events are not told in linear order and it can look jumbled. Minor characters also appear from nowhere in a few instances and do not serve much purpose (but that's reality, so maybe it is intentional?)
However in the end I can overlook this, because 'Ketchup Clouds' is a beautifully told story. The forgiveness theme is never forgotten about and the characters become more fully fleshed out. I even ended up liking Zoe's mother.
I never thought I would describe a book about a teen writing her own secret guilt to an adult killer on death row as adorable, but there you go. It is nevertheless dark, but also bittersweet and uplifting both in context and atmosphere. And the romance ends in such a way that is rare in YA.
A happy ending? Readers will decide that for themselves. I'm a bit mixed on it personally, with plenty to think about and consider, but overall I like it.
'Ketchup Clouds' is not as strong as 'My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece', but it's still good. There is much that it gives us, and it's not just the strange title.
How about this strange review?
Final Score: 4/5
P.S. Little Dot is a delightful character who further reflects the sad themes of 'Ketchup Clouds'.
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