We Were Liars
#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
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
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Community Reviews
This book is flawed, yes. But it is enjoyable, fun, realistic, adventurous, and emotional which are all things I love. If you like unreliable but sympathetic narrators and everything else I described you will probably like this book.
This book is an absolute masterpiece! It's that good it had me crying in the bathroom! A tragedy is an understatement, my heart hurts but it's still fluttering from the love and joy this book bring! Lockhart is a absolute genius! If I could put 11 I would! <3
Initially, I was pretty pumped for this book. I craved the mystery aspect and was dying to know what the huge "twist" was at the end. Every review I saw talked about how woah it was and that it was the best book they've read.
"Be a little kinder than you have to.β
I should have read a bad review.
Synopsis:
This story follows Cadence as she moves through what's called teen hood. Her friends are the "Liars" and they only see each other in the summer time when they all visit the same place. They don't often talk during the year, but together it's like time never stopped. Over the summer, something happens and Cadence has no idea what happened. Her memory is gone, and everyone else knows what happened but won't say anything about it. But when she learns what happened, it turns her world upside down.
"We are liars. We are beautiful and privileged. We are cracked and broken.β
The Good:
To be honest, there isn't much good about this one. The only character I liked was Gat, Cadence's love interest. He was different. He's the Heathcliff of the Liars and added a different spin to the otherwise all white cast. Also, the twist was okay, and the only reason I gave this a .5 in the rating.
The Bad:
Ok, here I go. Make sure you've got something to drink, cause this will take a while.
The writing really bothers me. Maybe for some it's cool and poetic, but I couldn't stand it. It was chaotic and all over the place. There was so many run on sentences I had to take a mental breath where the period should be. I've read far worse, but I can't get over books
that
write
like this. It drives me bonkers and if she's trying to be poetic, it didn't work. I felt annoyed and confused for it's need because there's obviously regular writing. What is the point? Maybe it's just me, but I didn't like it.
The Liars are noted for being trouble makers, yet they do nothing. Literally. They'll sit on the beach or go on a boat. When did the rebellious teen behavior happen? They did nothing and I felt no connection with any of those friends. And you'd think from the title that these characters are the main ones. We'd get to see more of them, right? Not. They're barely around and when they are, they're quiet or the scene is so short we get nothing from them. This story isn't about a group of liars, it's about Cadence.
Cadence annoyed me so much. She's very wealthy but hates her families fortune, yet she uses it without thought. She's doesn't realize how pretentious she is. She doesn't know the names of those who work at her house. She gives away things without thought-and for no reason-and doesn't think about the after affects of it all. She's very much a self centered person and I couldn't connect with her at all. In fact, I wanted this book to end before it even really started. I couldn't stand her.
βThere is not even a Scrabble word for how bad I feel.β
When she got hurt, she became even worse! The story immediately becomes woe is Cadence, woe is me. She became someone I hated, and that's saying a lot. Something happened and she can't remember, but it gave her migraines. As a migraine sufferer, I totally understand the pain that she's in, but she makes herself extra pitiful to get more love and pity from her friends and family. Who does that? And the way she talks about it is weird. She's so poetic about it all and it's confusing. Why do you have to have pretty words every time you say your head hurts?
Example: A witch has been standing there behind me for some time, waiting for a moment of weakness. She holds an ivory statue of a goose. It is intricately carved. I turn and admire it only for a moment before she swings it with shocking force. It connects, crushing a hole in my forehead. I can feel my bone come loose. The witch swings the statue again and hits above my right ear, smashing my skull. Blow after blow she lands, until tiny flakes of bone litter the bed and mingle with chipped bits of her once-beautiful goose.
W.T.H
Who describes their pain that way? Or wait better than that, here's another example that confused me.
Then he pulled out a handgun and shot me in the chest. I was standing on the lawn and I fell. The bullet hole opened wide and my heart rolled out of my rib cage and down into a flower bed. Blood gushed rhythmically from my open wound,
then from my eyes,
my ears,
my mouth.
No, she wasn't really shot. That's just her having feelings about the pain of her dad leaving her. I mean, what? And when she really does get hurt, it takes me a moment to realize it's real and not her feeling pain. It's so weird! I can't handle the odd writing in this book. I'm not usually one to have problems with books written this way, but this one is overly done on it.
When she had no idea what happened that night that gave her the headaches, her family and friends knew. This always frustrates me when it happens in books. Why keep it from her? She's going to figure it out anyway, this just takes all that wasted time away!
I honestly feel like there is no plot to this story. I don't get it at all, if there is one. I felt no connection with anybody and I couldn't wait to finish it-and I only did because I hate DNFing a book.
The twist wasn't a huge one like it's portrayed. I kind of saw it coming but it certainly was a twist and that's the only reason I gave it 2.5 stars. What's left of this review are questions that contain spoilers, so if you haven't read this book, don't finish reading.
-The Avid Reader-
Questions I have that contain spoilers:
*Was she crazy or was it a spiritual thing to see her friends?
*does her family think she was talking to people?
*Has she forgotten about this a few times?
*why is she giving away her things?
"Be a little kinder than you have to.β
I should have read a bad review.
Synopsis:
This story follows Cadence as she moves through what's called teen hood. Her friends are the "Liars" and they only see each other in the summer time when they all visit the same place. They don't often talk during the year, but together it's like time never stopped. Over the summer, something happens and Cadence has no idea what happened. Her memory is gone, and everyone else knows what happened but won't say anything about it. But when she learns what happened, it turns her world upside down.
"We are liars. We are beautiful and privileged. We are cracked and broken.β
The Good:
To be honest, there isn't much good about this one. The only character I liked was Gat, Cadence's love interest. He was different. He's the Heathcliff of the Liars and added a different spin to the otherwise all white cast. Also, the twist was okay, and the only reason I gave this a .5 in the rating.
The Bad:
Ok, here I go. Make sure you've got something to drink, cause this will take a while.
The writing really bothers me. Maybe for some it's cool and poetic, but I couldn't stand it. It was chaotic and all over the place. There was so many run on sentences I had to take a mental breath where the period should be. I've read far worse, but I can't get over books
that
write
like this. It drives me bonkers and if she's trying to be poetic, it didn't work. I felt annoyed and confused for it's need because there's obviously regular writing. What is the point? Maybe it's just me, but I didn't like it.
The Liars are noted for being trouble makers, yet they do nothing. Literally. They'll sit on the beach or go on a boat. When did the rebellious teen behavior happen? They did nothing and I felt no connection with any of those friends. And you'd think from the title that these characters are the main ones. We'd get to see more of them, right? Not. They're barely around and when they are, they're quiet or the scene is so short we get nothing from them. This story isn't about a group of liars, it's about Cadence.
Cadence annoyed me so much. She's very wealthy but hates her families fortune, yet she uses it without thought. She's doesn't realize how pretentious she is. She doesn't know the names of those who work at her house. She gives away things without thought-and for no reason-and doesn't think about the after affects of it all. She's very much a self centered person and I couldn't connect with her at all. In fact, I wanted this book to end before it even really started. I couldn't stand her.
βThere is not even a Scrabble word for how bad I feel.β
When she got hurt, she became even worse! The story immediately becomes woe is Cadence, woe is me. She became someone I hated, and that's saying a lot. Something happened and she can't remember, but it gave her migraines. As a migraine sufferer, I totally understand the pain that she's in, but she makes herself extra pitiful to get more love and pity from her friends and family. Who does that? And the way she talks about it is weird. She's so poetic about it all and it's confusing. Why do you have to have pretty words every time you say your head hurts?
Example: A witch has been standing there behind me for some time, waiting for a moment of weakness. She holds an ivory statue of a goose. It is intricately carved. I turn and admire it only for a moment before she swings it with shocking force. It connects, crushing a hole in my forehead. I can feel my bone come loose. The witch swings the statue again and hits above my right ear, smashing my skull. Blow after blow she lands, until tiny flakes of bone litter the bed and mingle with chipped bits of her once-beautiful goose.
W.T.H
Who describes their pain that way? Or wait better than that, here's another example that confused me.
Then he pulled out a handgun and shot me in the chest. I was standing on the lawn and I fell. The bullet hole opened wide and my heart rolled out of my rib cage and down into a flower bed. Blood gushed rhythmically from my open wound,
then from my eyes,
my ears,
my mouth.
No, she wasn't really shot. That's just her having feelings about the pain of her dad leaving her. I mean, what? And when she really does get hurt, it takes me a moment to realize it's real and not her feeling pain. It's so weird! I can't handle the odd writing in this book. I'm not usually one to have problems with books written this way, but this one is overly done on it.
When she had no idea what happened that night that gave her the headaches, her family and friends knew. This always frustrates me when it happens in books. Why keep it from her? She's going to figure it out anyway, this just takes all that wasted time away!
I honestly feel like there is no plot to this story. I don't get it at all, if there is one. I felt no connection with anybody and I couldn't wait to finish it-and I only did because I hate DNFing a book.
The twist wasn't a huge one like it's portrayed. I kind of saw it coming but it certainly was a twist and that's the only reason I gave it 2.5 stars. What's left of this review are questions that contain spoilers, so if you haven't read this book, don't finish reading.
-The Avid Reader-
Questions I have that contain spoilers:
*Was she crazy or was it a spiritual thing to see her friends?
*does her family think she was talking to people?
*Has she forgotten about this a few times?
*why is she giving away her things?
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