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.
Rating: 🌟🌟
I think I would've enjoyed this a lot more had my expectations been different.
Between the vague synopsis and "mind-blowing" twist everyone always
talks about, I was anticipating a mystery thriller about a bunch of
spoiled rich kids on a private island doing scandalous things. Instead,
this is a slow-moving mystery about a girl with amnesia wandering around
her family's private island. Because of my wrong expectations, I was a bit bored with the story overall.
But let's talk about the things I liked first. The writing in this is gorgeous. I understand why its not some people's jam, but I adore well-done purple prose and E. Lockhart is undeniably a skilled writer. The beautiful prose really helped carry me forward through the novel, because even if I was bored with the story, I loved the images I was experiencing. However, I do think Lockhart did take metaphors a bit too far in places, especially in the beginning of the novel when Cady says her father shot her in the heart when he leaves. It took me a moment to realize he didn't literally shoot her and Lockhart meant these moments of her being wounded as metaphors.
Because Lockhart is a such a strong writer, I thought she did a really fantastic job of setting the atmosphere for this story. Everything felt so surreal, it made me feel really uneasy and unsettled. Obviously I knew there was a big twist coming based off of reviews, but if I hadn't, the novel's tone definitely made me feel like something was very wrong and something huge was about to happen.
But that's about all I enjoyed.
Without getting into any spoiler territory, I was severely letdown by the plot twist and it honestly tainted the entire book for me. Instead of shocking me, it just made me sad and disgusted, which was amplified by how sensory the writing was. I really wasn't sure what direction the novel would take, but the plot twist was one of several guesses I had, so it had less impact on me. Plus, I didn't really care about any of the characters, including Cady.
But ultimately, what disappointed me most was how much potential this novel had to critique the wealth gap between the white elite and people of color in the U.S., and its failure to do so. With all the little hints of critical thought littered throughout the novel, I really believed that was the direction it would take. I thought this was leading to a Get Out scenario, only in book form. But it didn't, and I'm really sad about it.
Overall, I think this novel has gorgeous prose and a carefully cultivated atmosphere, but fails to deliver a satisfying twist due to bland characters and missed potential to talk about important issues.
But let's talk about the things I liked first. The writing in this is gorgeous. I understand why its not some people's jam, but I adore well-done purple prose and E. Lockhart is undeniably a skilled writer. The beautiful prose really helped carry me forward through the novel, because even if I was bored with the story, I loved the images I was experiencing. However, I do think Lockhart did take metaphors a bit too far in places, especially in the beginning of the novel when Cady says her father shot her in the heart when he leaves. It took me a moment to realize he didn't literally shoot her and Lockhart meant these moments of her being wounded as metaphors.
Because Lockhart is a such a strong writer, I thought she did a really fantastic job of setting the atmosphere for this story. Everything felt so surreal, it made me feel really uneasy and unsettled. Obviously I knew there was a big twist coming based off of reviews, but if I hadn't, the novel's tone definitely made me feel like something was very wrong and something huge was about to happen.
But that's about all I enjoyed.
Without getting into any spoiler territory, I was severely letdown by the plot twist and it honestly tainted the entire book for me. Instead of shocking me, it just made me sad and disgusted, which was amplified by how sensory the writing was. I really wasn't sure what direction the novel would take, but the plot twist was one of several guesses I had, so it had less impact on me. Plus, I didn't really care about any of the characters, including Cady.
But ultimately, what disappointed me most was how much potential this novel had to critique the wealth gap between the white elite and people of color in the U.S., and its failure to do so. With all the little hints of critical thought littered throughout the novel, I really believed that was the direction it would take. I thought this was leading to a Get Out scenario, only in book form. But it didn't, and I'm really sad about it.
Overall, I think this novel has gorgeous prose and a carefully cultivated atmosphere, but fails to deliver a satisfying twist due to bland characters and missed potential to talk about important issues.
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