We Were Liars

by E. Lockhart

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart. Don't miss the #1 New York Times bestselling prequel, Family of Liars.

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.

Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

"Thrilling, beautiful, and blisteringly smart, We Were Liars is utterly unforgettable." —John Green, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars

• ISBN10: 038574126X
• ISBN13: 9780385741262
• Publish Date: 13 May 2014 (first published 1 January 2014)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Delacorte Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 256
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780385741262

Reviews

[A Darker Shade of Rosie]

LIKED:
- This was not what I was expecting at all. GORGEOUS writing. Parts of a sentence broken into one or two words per line... I don't know, I just fancied it a lot.
- It's a story about 3 cousins plus-a-sorta-halfway-adopted cousin, and their rich family. And! Main setting! Is! An island! Like!
- It's a mystery... On an island! (Which I sorta figured out from the time the main character returned to the island after her "accident", but then I doubted myself, but then at the end, I was RIGHT!)
- Even though I basically figured out the mystery, I loved it none-the-less, heartbreaking though it was.

[blog & instagram & twitter]

[girlinthepages]

I waited impatiently to read this book all summer, aching for the day my library hold would come in. I had heard everyone raving about it everywhere around the book blogging community, yet at the same time no one was talking about it, adamant that to even express their opinions on the book was to spoil it. Having finished it in less than a day, I can attest to the hugely surprising ending and the unexpected twist, but I also think there’s quite a bit that I can tell you without ruining any aspects of the novel.

This is a book about power. This is a book about family. This is a book about inheritance, wealth, capitalism, and entitlement. This is a book about questioning ordinary, everyday evils, and questioning what evils you’re willing to do for a greater good. This is a book about the power of memory and the punishment of grief. This is a book about intent and consequence. This is a book that begs the question of how damaged can children be by dynamics established long before they were born.

E. Lockhart manages to write a haunting story about all of these things in a short novel with a unique prose style, told from the perspective of Cady Sinclair, a seventeen year old granddaughter of as wealthy, WASP-y, old money family who has suffered an accident two years prior and spends the novel trying to piece together her recollection of not just the accident, but of her own family dynamics while sequestered on the Sinclair’s private island. Lockhart’s prose resides on the border between fascinating and infuriating, often comprised of short sentences, fragments of thoughts, repetition, and turns of phrases. While initially I was turned off by the writing style, I came to appreciate how it made Cady’s narration seem very authentic, as she herself is dealing with fragments of memory and incomplete ideas.

I wish the novel had been longer, as there were so many issues about the Sinclair family that the narrative only scratched the surface of. There’s so many things going on in this book, but readers only catch glimpses of them, including characters. There’s multiple generations of Sinclairs living on the island and so many characters who seem like they have interesting back stories, but the short length of the book means that with the exception of the narrator Cady, most of the characters (even the Liars) are quite underdeveloped, ambiguous, and mysterious (which could’ve been done purposely by E. Lockhart, as the entire book has a mysterious feel that keeps readers engaged and filling in the gaps about the family dynamics themselves, just as Cady does).

This book delivered the plot twists that I expected, and definitely didn’t let me down regarding the mysterious premise. This book stood out against other contemporaries I’ve read and hinted at deeper and more complex issues that I would like to see addressed more in YA. It’s a quick read with a tragic ending and it’s definitely worth adding to your bookshelf for a little something different! Does anyone else see Cady as an unreliable narrator like me? Beware the problem with this book- it’s impossible to really discuss without spoiling!

This review was originally posted at Girl in the Pages

[Sophia]

I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't that. wow.

[whisperingchapters]

I love contemporary novels along with mystery but this one didn't do it for me because it was slow. It was VERY slow-paced for me. If it had been a shorter book, I wouldn't have minded much, to be honest. The whole book was slow, the story was slow, the characters sometimes wouldn't do it for me and I had a hard time reading this book. It took me 22 days to read We Were Liars..22 days. It wasn't book that I just had to keep reading because it was interesting. Yes, I wanted to know what was going on in the story and what had happened but it wasn't enough to make me want to read it at once.

The only time it really got to me and really got me hooked were the last few chapters when everything is revealed. I was mind blown completely; totally unexpected and I never saw that one coming. Maybe some people did, but I definitely didn't. The ending made up for the rest of the slow-paced book. Writing this short review, I look at the book (it is next to me) and I can't believe it really got me good. It freaked me out a bit when I finished reading, but it doesn't matter because that ending was amazing.

I really loved the ending, how everything played out and the goodbyes even if it did creep me out but I think it was a good way to end that part of the story. A lot of things of the story finally made sense, with the e-mails and how they wouldn't hang out. I knew something had happened but to that extent...it never crossed my mind. It is a very slow-paced books but with an amazing ending.

[shannonmiz]

I wanted this to be amazing for me. I really, really did. I did all the "right" things: I stayed away from reviews, didn't know what to expect, didn't even read the blurb! But ultimately, it fell short for me a bit. This isn't to say I didn't like it, because it was an enjoyable book, but the "wow factor" that I'd heard about just wasn't there for me.

What I liked: The writing was really unique and lovely. The setting is of course, gorgeous, and easy to picture. There is mystery, and intrigue, and all kinds of ridiculous family drama/first-world problems. It is a quick book that is definitely easy to read.

What I didn't: I guessed the twist early on, at one point in the story that perhaps others would overlook, but immediately, I read one particular sentence and knew at least part of the big plot point. So maybe that's on me, but it does dampen the excitement for the book. Also, every time I read "Cady", all I heard in my head was Tim Meadows saying "Cady Heron" ala Mean Girls. Again, that one is probably on me too. And I didn't really connect with Cady a ton either, which probably made it less enjoyable. Ultimately, the ending just didn't live up to the hype, and I was left kind of feeling a bit let down.

What confused me: I still don't have the faintest clue why they've always been called The Liars. Seriously, someone going to fill me in? Did I miss something?

Bottom Line:
It wasn't a bad book by any means, it just didn't "wow" me in the way I was expecting. Perhaps I went in with too many expectations. Either way, I still think is definitely a book worth reading. Obviously, you're going to want to form your opinions on this one, and it really is quite well written and a quick read.

[Kelly]

http://www.divabooknerd.com/2014/07/we-were-liars-by-e-lockhart.html
I simply can't review We Were Liars coherently, it was phenomenal. From the very first page, it grabbed my attention and unraveled a storyline that left me in tears, shaking and on the verge of a literature breakdown. We Were Liars is the perfect example why I read young adult, how a novel with so few pages can have an incredible impact on the reader. I wondered if this would be just another heavily recommended book that would fall flat, but he writing was impeccable, short sharp sentences intended to draw you into the world of the Sinclairs. Personally I absolutely adored it. It gave me a sense of arrogance that came with the Sinclair name and not so much as telling a story, but stating facts.

I knew very little about the actual storyline and tried to remain as oblivious as possible, which only added to the intensity and left me on the verge of a manic hysteria. I read long into the night and with only a small few pages to go, I was pacing the house.

READ IT.

[pamela]

E. Lockhart has written a book that simply can't be described. A description of the plot makes it sound boring, and going in to too much detail ruins the effect. 'We Were Liars' is equal parts charming and confronting with a whopping twist at the end which punched me right in the feels.

It is a tale of teenage love written in a way which reminds you how it felt to be fifteen and besotted, with a smattering of 'Brideshead Revisted' and 'Wuthering Heights' thrown in. It's genre bending, poignant, beautiful, tragic, nostalgic, heartbreaking and unexpected. I loved every moment of it.

I won't tell you about the characters, I won't tell you about the events, I won't tell you about Lockhart's writing style (which incidentally is flawless). What I will tell you is that you need to pick up this book. It's a stunning piece of literature.

http://iblamewizards.com/review-we-were-liars/

[Amanda]

This is one of those rare cases where my enjoyment scale doesn't really cut it here. I didn't enjoy this book. It was intriguing. I had to know what Cady was heading toward. But enjoyment doesn't quite cover it. It's not a book I enjoyed, but it is a page turner.

We Were Liars plays on your sympathies. I knew going into the book that Cady was an unreliable narrator, but man. There's unreliable, and then there's unreliable. Cady is the latter. It makes sorting through everything that much more difficult.

And the ending is... an ending. Make of that what you will. It's hard to talk about this book without messing with the suspense aspect (which is well done, mind you).

If you like a little mind-fuckery in your stories, We Were Liars is going to work for you. I still have no idea if it did for me.

[Sam@WLABB]

A five-star book that left me sobbing.

This is not a story, it is more of a conversation, between you, the reader and the narrator, Cadence Sinclair Eastman. Cady is the eldest grandchild of the Sinclair clan. A clan, which will remind you of the Kennedy family, minus the politics, but with all the drama. Each summer, the three generations gather on the family island near Martha's Vineyard and spend time frolicking on the beach, tubing, making ice cream, etc.

The summer of her 15th year, Cady's world starts to crumble. Her father decides he cannot live like a Sinclair any longer and he abandons his family. Then there's the "accident" which leaves Cadence with selective memory loss -- she cannot remember most of her 15th summer. She suffers from crippling headaches and starts to act erratically and irrationally. During her 17th summer, she returns to the island and her memories of the 15th summer return to her.

What's great? I liked the writing style a lot. Somewhat reminiscent of "What My Mother Doesn't Know". This style seemed appropriate for delivering Cady's story to the reader. It made me feel as though I was sitting down with Cadence as she re-told the tale of her 15th summer. The "Liars" were well constructed characters and the other characters were also well defined - from the weak "mummies" to the manipulative grandfather. But what really made this book 5-stars was the ending. So unexpected, and the follow up chapters added to the weight once "the truth" was revealed.

In true great YA fashion, I was left sobbing.

[catiebug]

OMG! What?!

That ending though.

This was an amazing book. It was so beautifully written. And the story was just incredible.

This is a major must read!