Reviews - Family of Liars | The StoryGraph

5.27k reviews for:

Family of Liars

E. Lockhart

3.69 AVERAGE

adwita_sinning's review against another edition

2.75

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

judealsheikh1's review against another edition

3.75

fast-paced

shadedlane's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

audreypier98's review against another edition

3.0

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

La série m’a donné envie de lire le prequel, mais j’ai encore une fois été déçue, comme lors de ma lecture du premier. Le style d’écriture ne me plaît pas vraiment, même si l’histoire était intéressante. J’ai plus apprécié la twist du tome 1.

faedyn's review against another edition

3.75

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

inkhearted's review against another edition

4.0

It would have been almost impossible for the prequel to match the tension and surprise of We Were Liars, but this does a decent job of attempting it.

We follow the story of the previous generation of Sinclairs: Caroline, Penny, and Bess, and their dark--sometimes tragic secrets...and plenty of lies, both to themselves and others.

While I thought it was solidly written, and parts really moved me, I admit I had some internal wrestling to do with this one. I suppose one of the themes of this and the other book is wealth/privilege doesn't necessarily bring you happiness, but so many of their problems are self-created that at points it was really really hard for me to maintain empathy. I felt like we were supposed to somehow forgive the parents (Tipper---ugh, and Harris) for their faults rnd honestly I couldn't. I couldn't even relate to the fact that the girls consistently refer to both their parents by their first names (or very rarely, to Tipper as "Mother") as if they were colleagues. While I know that the juxtaposition of seemingly idyllic family summers and the detachment that leads everyone to repress all feelings and means a raging pill addiction can get totally overlooked is kind of the point, it's still tough to process. As is witnessing various characters get away with not only bad or irresponsible, but unethical, or even criminal behavior because they are who they are. Unfortunately, as realistic as that part is it's still hard to swallow. As is experiencing this very white and very privileged family bubbled up literally on an island to themselves where they can block out the world and still, somehow neglect each other just as irresponsibly. At a couple of points in the book Caroline calls out another character for acting like things at the island are "surreal" . "This is our life" is her seething retort but at the same time it never has the bite she wants it to, because--where's the lie?

Obviously Lockhart is an amazing writer but I would love to see the author move on from here to tell some other stories. As solid as the "Liars" stories have been I think I might have had my fill of this family and these sorts of characters.