Review | We Were Liars

Title: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Date Published: December 31st, 2014

Dates Read: May 3-5th, 2021

Current Goodreads Rating: 3.84/5

This book has been running WILD on BookTok (that's Book TikTok for those of you who aren't as Hip as I am). I've seen so many videos of readers who have talked about how this book absolutely destroyed them so, naturally, I wanted in on this pain. The book haul I bought this book in consisted of We Were Liars and only other books that I had previously read. Based only on the reviews I had seen online and the fact that the back of the book literally says, "If anyone asks you about the ending: LIE" I took a chance and ordered the book without any idea what it was about.

Ok, so what happens? Cady is part of a privileged family. Every summer she and her mother travel up the coast to a small private island off the coast of Martha's Vineyard where her grandparents have cultivated an intimate community of houses; one for each daughter - 3 houses on each side of the island - and one main house for Cady's grandparents. Each summer Cady rejoins the Liars - the group of eldest children in the family. Though they never contact each other outside of their summers together Cady, Johnny, Mirren, and Gat are inseparable for the two months they spend on that tiny island.

But one summer something tragic happens and Cady's memory is shattered. Her next summer on the island is a mystery and she spends the summer picking up the pieces of what went wrong.

Ok, so what did I think? I was a huge fan of this book. If you follow me on Instagram, you already know this book gave me anxiety (but - like - in a good way). The mood of this book is tense from the get go. The way Lockhart writes in Cady's voice is very disjointed an off. From the reviews on Goodreads it sounds like readers are torn between loving the atmospheric tone and absolutely hating it. Personally, I thought it really set the scene for what was to come. This book is about an idyllic, privileged family crumbling apart and I thought Cady's haunting narrative was a great way to show that.

The relationship between Cady, her cousins, and Gat, the outsider who's father married into the family, is so remarkably like my own relationship with my cousins - admittedly without the beautiful private island or the creepy grandparents or aunts - that I felt like one of the Liars from the beginning. I can't tell you how many summers brought me and my cousins close together only for that close relationship to disappear during the school year. Something about Cady's experience, however, was so unbelievably lonely. Obviously this book revolves around the different summers she and her family spend on this island, but the few glimpses we get of Cady's life outside of the island are usually devoid of other friends.

I think what you can probably gather from everything I've said so far is that this is not a happy book. Even the few chapters from before the Tragic Event there aren't many happy-go-lucky adventures of a family happy to be around each other. We see through the eyes of a young Cady how jealous Cady's mother and her aunts are of each other and how greed clouds their judgement. If there was ever a time where the phrase "money doesn't buy happiness" was actually true, it would be in this novel.

All that said, while this is a sad book, I have to say my favorite part of reading this story is trying to guess that twist ending. In the reviews I'd seen online many people said they had gotten to one twist, thought it was over, and then were surprised by the final twist. I had several theories, but it wasn't until probably the last 50 or so pages that I came to the sudden realization of what had happened. Despite being able to figure out the twist, it still was a gut punch, and I'm still thinking about it and talking the ending over with my friends. I went into reading the book worrying that We Were Liars had been too psyched up for me, but I still devoured the story and enjoyed every second of the pain.

(Also, I've read that the audiobook version of We Were Liars punches in the gut just a little bit harder. So if you prefer to listen to your books maybe check it out?)

Long Story Short:

• Books with maps are superior to other books,

• Sometimes weird writing helps with the tone,

• Sad books aren't always just depressing. Sometimes they're really, really good.

My Rating: 4/5