Novel Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5-4

Genre: YA Realistic

Publisher: Delacorte Press (Random House)

Release Date: 2014

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

The Cover:

I actually really like this cover. It's simple and not at all embarrassing. The scene is fitting for the characters and the island they live on, and I think the blurring effect works really well with how the story goes.

 

Review:

I must admit, I didn't see that coming.

I knew that a big twist was going to come, but I didn't think that would be it. Literally not until it pretty much spelled it out. And even then, I didn't want to believe it. For one, because I didn't realize this was going to be that kind of book. But for another, because it's just so awful, and unfair, and sad.

It leads up to it really well. You get to know each of the characters, and there's some mixed feelings and some really close friendships. Slowly, the tension on the island grows, and slowly you discover why. Part of Cadence's brain was filling in the pieces of what she was missing, in odd ways and odd memories and stories. Looking back, I quite enjoyed the little fantasies she created and how it evolved into the truth. And how it all adds up makes perfect sense, and the events leading up to it were realistic. I was even behind the groups decision, up until we realize how wrong it went.

Even though this is “that kind” of book, I think it handled it really well. How it wraps up in the end, how the goodbyes are handled, I thought was really sweet. It, maybe, softened the blow a little bit.

I was surprised by this book, and I did rather enjoy it. Or, more accurately, I definitely think it was worth reading.