Review: We Were Liars, by E. Lockhart

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Published by Random House Children's Books ISBN: 9780375984402
on May 13th 2014
Genres: Young Adult, Family, General, Social Issues, Death & Dying, Emotions & Feelings
Pages: 240
My rating:
Check it out in 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 New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart. Read it.And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

 

 

I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t a good read. If you’ve been paying attention, you probably know by now that the end is supposed to be mind-blowing. And it is. Yup, this is one more girl here who can vouch for the unexpectedness of it. So, you can worry a little less about that.

But as for the rest of the story…

The writing was hard to get through though. It was different, and it worked in certain parts. A mysterious writing style, for a mysterious plot. Except, there were times where the plot called for an emotional connection, and that’s where it failed to serve its purpose. The writing style didn’t work too much with those. It felt detached, and flat.

Candace told us and explained how much she grieved, how miserable she was, how no one understood her -in just a half obnoxious way- but the way it was written didn’t let me even try to empathize with that, sadly.

It was a bit confusing, but I think that’s part of the lure. You get used to it, because soon things start to make sense, more or less.

It’s better when the pity party spreads to her cousins too. They all mope about their family, and how oh so fake it is.

That’s how it goes for most of the book. Don’t get me wrong, it’s quite good. Because the family is really messed up. It’s very softcore The Girl with the Fire Tatoo, now that I think about it, in terms of messed up families.

Anyway, the guys then  do something really stupid, and you understand a few things here and there. Other things are revealed, and you finally feel it’s been worth it. I felt it. I was satisfied, even though the middle of the book left me disappointed.

This is one of those books that are really not for everyone. But one I would suggest to try, because despite the flaws, there’s a good story there.

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