Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

We Were Liars

Author: E. Lockhart

Release: May 13th 2014

Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, YA

Plot:

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. 

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Review:

I really wasn't sure what to think of this book when I went into it, and I still didn't really while I was reading it, because it was ... not exactly confusing, but definitely strange in a unique way.

Maybe I'm just ignorant, that could be true — this is not a genre I venture into very often, but obviously, since everyone is talking about this book and it was only 3€, I had to give it a chance. Suffice it to say that I had seen enough of both — negative and positive reviews to be wary. And perhaps it is because of my rather low expectations that this was such a mindblowing read, but I do think that Lockhart managed to do what she intended to do with this novel.

What was that, you might ask? Well, to create a complete mindfuck, actually. Everyone has told me to go into this knowing as little as possible, which is my general custom for every book, but usually, I know at least something. With this, I had absolutely no clue, in fact, I wasn't even sure which genre it was going to be. Cute fluffy contemporary, mystery, or maybe I was signing up for a thriller? To be honest, even after having read it, I'm not sure which category it really falls into. Which is to say, I personally think this book is one of a kind and extremely memorable; I honestly don't see myself ever forgetting it. Which is good, I guess.

Lockhart has done a perfect job of creating the best atmosphere there could have been for this kind of book, it was both strangely haunting but also very beautiful and scenic at the same time. There are tons of great quotes to find in We Were Liars, in that sense, it's a real gold mine, but it's also so rich in its imagery that it wasn't hard at all to picture the idyllic life of Beechwood that was perturbed by the dysfunctional family inhabiting it. Which was simply such a well chosen setting for the novel, creating a really fitting backdrop for the plot. Having finished it, I now long for my very own private island where I can spend summers in rich, lavish manors doing all kinds of stuff. 

As for the plot, I agree with the whole "Go into it knowing as little as possible." However, I wouldn't see it too extreme, there are some basic things about it that won't hurt knowing, to lessen the confusion that comes at first a bit. This novel is about a stinking rich dude who has three daughters, who each have their own children and every summer, the whole family comes together on this island they own. The protagonist's name is Cadence aka Cady and the book is told with the occasional flashback, as well as some other fun stuff that, instead of disrupting the flow of the story, were more of a cute break in between; I liked the idea of it, and Lockhart executes it nicely.

All in all, as I said, this is definitely a novel that I won't forget soon. The characters are relatable and for the most part likable, however, a lot of them were wholly forgettable as opposed to the unforgettable plot. They didn't do much for me, you know? I liked them well enough, obviously, but I never cared all that much about them. Anyways, I still really enjoyed the novel and I'd say it's worth reading.