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45th out of 59 books
—
8 voters
Losing Clementine
by
Ashley Ream (Goodreads Author)
In thirty days Clementine Pritchard will be finished with her last painting and her life.
World-renowned artist and sharp-tongued wit Clementine Pritchard has decided that she's done. After flushing away a medicine cabinet full of prescriptions, she gives herself thirty days to tie up loose ends--finish one last painting, make nice with her ex-husband, and find a home for h...more
World-renowned artist and sharp-tongued wit Clementine Pritchard has decided that she's done. After flushing away a medicine cabinet full of prescriptions, she gives herself thirty days to tie up loose ends--finish one last painting, make nice with her ex-husband, and find a home for h...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
March 6th 2012
by William Morrow Paperbacks
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Addictive story
Clementine Prichard, renowned artist, just wants to put herself out of her misery. Giving herself a month to get her affairs in order, she counts down the days, chapter by chapter to her impending suicide. With a plot line of this nature you would expect a heavy, depressing story. What you will find instead is an interesting, realistic depiction of mental illness handled with humor and heart. Clementine is irresistible as the main character. She is wildly funny in a deeply flawed...more
Clementine Prichard, renowned artist, just wants to put herself out of her misery. Giving herself a month to get her affairs in order, she counts down the days, chapter by chapter to her impending suicide. With a plot line of this nature you would expect a heavy, depressing story. What you will find instead is an interesting, realistic depiction of mental illness handled with humor and heart. Clementine is irresistible as the main character. She is wildly funny in a deeply flawed...more
Ashley Ream treats her readers to the end days of famous artist Clementine Pritchard. From the early murder-suicide of her mother and younger sister to a failed marriage with wanna-be white knight Richard, Clementine has struggled with depression. While this mania has helped her become a renowned artist, it has also left her desperate for an end to the cycle of highs and lows. Opting to check out of the world itself, Clementine sets a month deadline to complete a final piece (or two), and set he...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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1 like · like · see review
I absolutely loved this book. I have a thing about suicide novels because I guess it's such a polarizing topic and I suppose it depends on which side of it you're on whether you'll like it or not. Though it's fiction, I would believe that a good portion of suicidal people are as methodical in planning their death as Clementine was.
I loved Clementine's character and though she's flawed, I think that I would probably think just like her. Perhaps that's why I was so drawn in by this book. I think t...more
I loved Clementine's character and though she's flawed, I think that I would probably think just like her. Perhaps that's why I was so drawn in by this book. I think t...more
Fiction is full of characters but they are seldom as individual or as memorably rendered and irresistible as Clementine Pritchard is in Ashley Ream’s boldly written debut novel, Losing Clementine: A Novel. From the start it’s clear that Clementine is planning to kill herself. She’s given herself thirty days to pull off a clinical, no-muss-no-fuss suicide. The reveal of her motive comes about page-by-page through Clementine’s often abrasive, yet compellingly honest voice that comes spiked with gr...more
1 like · like · see review
" I threw the teapot out the window.
It plummeted three floors and shattered into a hundred white porcelain pieces right behind Mrs. Epstein, who I had never much liked anyway.
"Hey!" she yelled up at me.
"Sorry," I said, hanging half my upper body over the sill. Then I turned back inside, grabbed half a dozen teacups, and dumped those out too.
I wasn't that sorry.
Crash. Crash-crash. Crash-crash-crash.
It was very satisfying.
"Have you lost your mind?" Mrs. Epstein screamed, dancing around in her sens...more
It plummeted three floors and shattered into a hundred white porcelain pieces right behind Mrs. Epstein, who I had never much liked anyway.
"Hey!" she yelled up at me.
"Sorry," I said, hanging half my upper body over the sill. Then I turned back inside, grabbed half a dozen teacups, and dumped those out too.
I wasn't that sorry.
Crash. Crash-crash. Crash-crash-crash.
It was very satisfying.
"Have you lost your mind?" Mrs. Epstein screamed, dancing around in her sens...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This is a mixed review because I feel very mixed about it. First of all, the writing is rock solid. Ream gets right into the emotional detail without beating it over our heads. She is clear and concise. Much like Clementine is. Clementine only has 30 days to live. Which leads to my next point.
I loved the way the book is set up. The chapters are days. It begins with Clementine, an artistic and bipolar artist, choosing to commit suicide in 30 days time. That's enough time to get her life in order...more
I loved the way the book is set up. The chapters are days. It begins with Clementine, an artistic and bipolar artist, choosing to commit suicide in 30 days time. That's enough time to get her life in order...more
Is it worth dying? Did Clementine really want to kill herself? Should she end her life?
Clementine thought she should, but she had a few things to complete first...things like find a home for her cat and find her long-lost father who left the family when she was a child. Her first step was traveling to Mexico to acquire drugs that would do the job. Upon her return from Mexico, she continues with the remainder of her plan that definitely includes some bizarre occurrences.
Clementine was determined...more
Clementine thought she should, but she had a few things to complete first...things like find a home for her cat and find her long-lost father who left the family when she was a child. Her first step was traveling to Mexico to acquire drugs that would do the job. Upon her return from Mexico, she continues with the remainder of her plan that definitely includes some bizarre occurrences.
Clementine was determined...more
Losing Clementine was an interesting book. Going into it, I knew it was about Clementine, who was going to commit suicide in 20 days. With a plot like that, I expected a sad, depressing story and I wasn't sure I was ready for that after having just finished The Fault in Our Stars. I was pleased to find out that while the story is about her decision to end her life, it wasn't done in a depressing way.
Instead, and this part kind of messed with my head, Clementine is tired of a life full of mental...more
Instead, and this part kind of messed with my head, Clementine is tired of a life full of mental...more
I absolutely loved “Losing Clementine” by journalist and first time novelist, Ashley Ream. I read a synopsis on a lit website and am so glad I did because the cover art would not have snagged my attention (nor narrator and painter Clementine’s, I am certain).
Clementine Pritchard is a successful visual artist based in Los Angeles. In addition to a wonderfully dark sense of humor, Clementine has a red ’68 Corvette, an ex-husband very much in the picture, a shrink doubling as inappropriate boyfrien...more
Clementine Pritchard is a successful visual artist based in Los Angeles. In addition to a wonderfully dark sense of humor, Clementine has a red ’68 Corvette, an ex-husband very much in the picture, a shrink doubling as inappropriate boyfrien...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This was the best book I have read in quite a while. While one expects this book, a story about Clementine, a woman planning her suicide in thirty days, to be depressing, instead it is uplifting and humorous. Clementine, a well-known artist, suffers from bipolar disorder. Prone to episodes mania and extreme depression, and fed up with her mental illness, her medications, and their side effects (inability to actually taste food and lack of libido), she has fired her psychiatrist and stopped her m...more
Clementine is an accomplished artist who has spent her adult life struggling with bipolar disorder. When the book opens, she's decided to give up. She's given herself thirty days to get her affairs in order and then she plans to kill herself. We follow her last thirty days and see Clementine prepare herself for death, and in that preparation hope to see her find something to live for.
Writing
Amazing. I was especially impressed because this is the author's debut novel. The book is at times both hi...more
Writing
Amazing. I was especially impressed because this is the author's debut novel. The book is at times both hi...more
Determined to end her life, Clementine decides to tie up lose ends, in which she fires her assistant Jenny, makes emends with her past, become friends with her X-husband Richard and tries to find a loving home for her weird cat Chuckles. Clementine is not going to spend her last month in a state of zombiegirl though, so in this case the only thing to do is go drastic. She go's off all her medication, flushes it down the toilet, buys a casket and decides to live life like she never has for her la...more
Mental illness often drives people to behave in irrational ways. You might act impulsively, you might shut down emotionally, you might not be able to interact successfully with others. Whatever effect mental illness has on your behavior, the result is often paired with a lack of self-awareness. You simply can't recognize that your behavior isn't rational. I'd venture to say that's the case with Clementine, the the titular lady in Ashley Ream's debut novel. An eccentric artist who is more or less...more
4 1/2 Stars!
Absolutely brilliant! A big huge two thumbs up for new Author Ashley Ream (and not just because she has the same name as my daughter! LOL) This basically was a book about a woman getting all her effects in order so she could commit suicide in 30 days. I loved how the chapters were labeled by how many days she had left. This kind of made it seem more real to me. As the days were counting down, as it was getting closer to the end of her time - I was getting more and more nervous.
Great...more
Absolutely brilliant! A big huge two thumbs up for new Author Ashley Ream (and not just because she has the same name as my daughter! LOL) This basically was a book about a woman getting all her effects in order so she could commit suicide in 30 days. I loved how the chapters were labeled by how many days she had left. This kind of made it seem more real to me. As the days were counting down, as it was getting closer to the end of her time - I was getting more and more nervous.
Great...more
1 like · like · see review
The sardonic voice of Clementine Prichard screams off the pages of this novel. Set over 30 chapters, a count down to the day she's planned to commit suicide, Clementine has scored to settle, people to bid farewell, and a cat to find a home for.
Clem isn't particularly likable, and at times she's downright nasty. She's narcissistic and treats those around her as pawns in a chess match, not maliciously, but in the narrow minded way of someone so selfabsorbed she doesn't realize people are not put o...more
Clem isn't particularly likable, and at times she's downright nasty. She's narcissistic and treats those around her as pawns in a chess match, not maliciously, but in the narrow minded way of someone so selfabsorbed she doesn't realize people are not put o...more
This book started out great for me. It was an interesting premise and it really had me interested. It's really strange for me to say this, but I was okay with Clementine wanting to kill herself at the end. She had lived such a difficult life with mental illness and it seems that she was very prepared for ending it. She even left out all of her important papers, sold her items, gave her cat a new home and purchased a burial plot and coffin.
The ending really bothered me. It just felt so rushed an...more
The ending really bothered me. It just felt so rushed an...more
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What happens when you decided that 30 days from now you would end your life? Do you avoid all responsibility, have fun, and go wild? Or do you put all your ducks in a row, buy your burial plot, and find a new owner for your beloved cat? The latter is exactly what Clementine Pritchard did.
This review is difficult to write for two reasons. The first being I still haven’t mastered the art of reviewing without giving anything away. And the second is that I am not articulate enough to give Losing Cle...more
This review is difficult to write for two reasons. The first being I still haven’t mastered the art of reviewing without giving anything away. And the second is that I am not articulate enough to give Losing Cle...more
This was the best book I have read in quite a while. While one expects this book, a story about Clementine, a woman planning her suicide in thirty days, to be depressing, instead it is uplifting and humorous. Clementine, a well-known artist, suffers from bipolar disorder. Prone to episodes mania and extreme depression, and fed up with her mental illness, her medications, and their side effects (inability to actually taste food and lack of libido), she has fired her psychiatrist and stopped her m...more
**some spoilers** This is a wonderful book about a non-so-wonderful subject. Knowing that the novel is about a young woman who has given herself 30 days to tie up the loose ends of her life before she commits suicide would lead one to believe this book is going to be sad and depressing. It had its sad moments, but the book itself was clever, witty, and humorous. Clementine has been through way too much trauma in her life for anyone to comprehend how broken she is emotionally and mentally. That b...more
I'd like to give it a 2.5, really, but that, alas, is not an option. Had the book not been written with soooo much passive voice, she says in an extremely non-active voice sentence herself, I would have rated it a 3. But no higher than that.
I like Clementine. At times, I felt sorry for Clementine and understood why she felt the ways she did. I wished for more depth surrounding her mental illness. But the parts of her I got to know, I liked.
The disappointment at the end left me thinking, "Really?...more
I like Clementine. At times, I felt sorry for Clementine and understood why she felt the ways she did. I wished for more depth surrounding her mental illness. But the parts of her I got to know, I liked.
The disappointment at the end left me thinking, "Really?...more
I loved Clementine from the very first page. I had been a little apprehensive knowing that this charming girl was sick enough to commit suicide. Initially I did think it was her illness that was prompting her to wrap up the loose ends of her life. While she made me laugh as she got rid of that tea set, deliberately punished the driver who left his car in the way and dumped her meds (I cheered at that) but I was so entranced, was so much a part of this woman’s life that I wept as she had to find...more
When I first got this book in the mail it actually looked a little depressing- a bit appropriate for the grandaughter of someone who has decided it's his time. But I didn't find this book depressing at all! I laughed far more during this book than I cried- actually I only cried when she had to say goodbye to Mr. Chuckles.
I thought this was a great book. It is about a smart, funny, artist who has given herself 30 days to live. I thought at first she would have an incurable disease- and she does...more
I thought this was a great book. It is about a smart, funny, artist who has given herself 30 days to live. I thought at first she would have an incurable disease- and she does...more
If you like the unusual, this is your book. This book has many interesting twist and turns and is an intriguing look at a person that decides they are done, by done she means finished with life.
Clementine Pritchard, Artist decides enough is enough and strikes out to make things as right as she can with those that will let her, plans to get rid of all her worldly belongings and plans to spend whatever time she has left in doing any and every thing she desires.
But she has limited her time to 30 d...more
Clementine Pritchard, Artist decides enough is enough and strikes out to make things as right as she can with those that will let her, plans to get rid of all her worldly belongings and plans to spend whatever time she has left in doing any and every thing she desires.
But she has limited her time to 30 d...more
If I could give Losing Clementine more than 5 stars, I would! Author, Ashley Ream, brings you into the last 30 days of Clementine Pritchard's life. Ream makes reading effortless and she has such a wonderful way with words. Her attention to details awakens your senses making you see, feel, taste and experience Clementine's experiences. Ream's description of food makes your mouth water! Her description of despair and the dark side of mental illness brings you down and Clementine's highs lift you u...more
Very well written novel with many surprises, so expect to be captured by the story, the well crafted descriptions and the unique tone. I mean, c'mon, it's a countdown to a young woman's very well planned suicide. So you'd think sad, dark, depressing, right? But it actually has humor and heart and you'll come to care very much for Clementine. As the deadline (and that's pretty literal in this case)nears, the weight of the situation grows and turns heavier. Much of the story deals with mental illn...more
I just finished reading Losing Clementine. Even though the topic is depression's "black days" and Clementine decides that in 30 days she'll commit suicide, I found the book humorous and thought-provoking. She threw away most of her possessions, picked out her own casket, and stopped being nice to people she never liked anyway. As the book moves along and the days count down, she makes all the preparations necessary to end her life.
Ashley Ream did a good job of taking me into the depths of depres...more
Ashley Ream did a good job of taking me into the depths of depres...more
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It seems like such a morbid subject - I mean, Clementine is an artist who starts the book out with the planning of her own suicide. We meet her after she's already completely given up - yet the sense of humor infused into the voice of the character is engaging, and even addicting.
I've not always been a big fan of women's fiction. Sometimes it seems as if it's seeking to pull tears out of nothing, stabbing here and there with a tender subject, hoping to provoke a r...more
I've not always been a big fan of women's fiction. Sometimes it seems as if it's seeking to pull tears out of nothing, stabbing here and there with a tender subject, hoping to provoke a r...more
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Ashley Ream got her first job at a newspaper when she was 16. After working in newsrooms across Missouri, Florida and Texas, she gave up the deadlines to pursue fiction. Her debut novel, Losing Clementine, which sold at auction, was a Barnes & Noble debut pick and a Sutter Home Book Club pick. She and her books have appeared in L.A. Weekly, Los Angeles Magazine, Bust Magazine, the Kansas City...more
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“Encino is a small community in the San Fernando Valley smashed up against and completely indistinguishable from all other Valley communities. You can drive from one to the other, passing the same dry cleaners, dubious sushi restaurants, and gas stations, without so much as a sign to mark your transition. It does, frankly, matter much where are you. If anything at all marks Encino from its clone neighbors, it's that it isn't aging quite as well. Sherman Oaks and Woodland Hills have kept their figures and shown up on time for regular collagen injections while Encino is really starting to let itself go.”
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“Richard disagreed, but we all know when we have done something from which there is no going back, when we reveal to ourselves what we are capable of, even when we want to believe that we can and will do better.”
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Apr 10, 2013 12:22am