Review: We Were Liars | E. Lockhart

This review is spoiler free.

“Be a little kinder than you have to.”

Published: 2014, by Hot Key Books.
Pages: 225
Format: Paperback
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery, Fiction, Romance, Thriller
Contains: Strong Language, Injury, Blood/Gore, Fire, Death, Anger

‘We Were Liars’ tells the story of a beautiful and distinguished family. A private island. A brilliant, damaged girl and a passionate, political boy. A group of four friends – the Liars – whose friendship turns destructive. Read it, and if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

I first read ‘We Were Liars’ a few years ago, and found myself very disappointed by the writing style and plot development. However, I decided to pick it up once more this year to see whether I felt any different towards the characters and the story as a whole. Needless to say, my whole opinion has changed.

Cadence is a very interesting character, who makes the entire story crumble into unreliability. She has an accident, an accident causes her to lose her memory of a very important event in her life, and as she gradually discovers her secret, the readers are drip-fed information regarding the accident itself and her relationship towards the other Liars. It’s fascinating, brilliantly written and the story unfolds at a great, jitters-inducing pace.
The other Liars, however, are a little flat. Although, there’s interesting conversations with sprinkles of humour throughout the pages, I didn’t really feel anything for them. I felt Cadence’s pain and sorrow, but I felt nothing for the others other than a little sympathy. It didn’t impact the story much, however, considering this was Cadence’s world and her story to tell.

The writing style is incredibly well-written, being full of fascinating dialogue and luscious descriptions of the world the Liars live in, before gradually deteriorating with the health of the protagonist. It’s beautiful, and with an epic twist that keeps you on your toes. I couldn’t image this book being any longer than this, however, moving at a quick, digestible pace to keep you entertained.

This book is known for being like marmite in the book community, you either love it or you hate it. And personally, I loved this book. My opinion has changed drastically over the years, and I cannot wait to absorb all of Lockhart’s other works.

4/5