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dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Review for We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Writing Quality 5/5
The unreliable, first-person narrative has a very poetic, fluid pace to it, and then we are snapped out of the trance by the abrupt and graphic intrusive thoughts of our MC, Cady. It’s believable. Her emotions were written in a way that I could feel them with every intense description, staccato wording, or lyrical paragraph. The relationships between the characters are realistic. I did not see the plot twist coming until I was there but it made sense and looking back the hints were all there. Lockhart’s writing made me ache for every single character.
Characters 4/5
Overall the characters are convincing, each showcasing their flaws and strengths. Cady uses beautiful adjectives to describe her group of Liars. I didn’t give 5 stars only because the Sinclair family is a hyper-rich, snobby family (mostly) that kind of annoyed me. This obviously is not a fault of the author. Just my reaction to how well-written and realistic they are.
Plot 5/5
Unique and riveting. Following Cady on her journey to find out what happened during Summer 15 on Beechwood Island was so intriguing. I was always trying to figure out what happened. And when I thought I had the answer something would come along and change that. I honestly was not expecting the plot twist, but it made. So. Much. Sense.
Post-reading Rating 5/5
This is a book I will think about for a long time and recommend to everyone. I finished this, and then continued reading the author’s annotations because I needed to know how and why and what’s next.
Who Should Read This
-Can I say everyone?
Final Rating 4.75/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Medical content, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Racism, Sexual assault
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Animal death, Racism, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
woah. i just finished reading and im deciding to write my review no while everything is still fresh. but anyway.
i highly recommend this book. i love the way e lockhart incorporated themes of greed, materialism, and wealth in general into the book. there’s a lot that can be unpacked about these topics, and they did it perfectly by portraying an economically privileged family that is being torn apart. i enjoyed how this depicted the 1% of families that live in extreme luxury, as it showed a unique perspective that i don’t often see depicted in novels. i also saw the connections between the sinclair family and my own, which was definitely a way for me to reflect.
also, the descriptive details in this book are top tier. down to the details about cadence’s migraines and injuries, the vivid descriptions and thoughts that cadence has, even the fairytales. incredible.
i did struggle to understand exactly what the end connected back to, as well as a lot of the foreshadowing, which led me to being a bit confused before reading the authors notes in the edition i was lent of the book. this might be because i read a lot of this late at night, and this is definitely a book that i need to read twice in order to catch and think about everything.
anyway, please read this book.
i highly recommend this book. i love the way e lockhart incorporated themes of greed, materialism, and wealth in general into the book. there’s a lot that can be unpacked about these topics, and they did it perfectly by portraying an economically privileged family that is being torn apart. i enjoyed how this depicted the 1% of families that live in extreme luxury, as it showed a unique perspective that i don’t often see depicted in novels. i also saw the connections between the sinclair family and my own, which was definitely a way for me to reflect.
also, the descriptive details in this book are top tier. down to the details about cadence’s migraines and injuries, the vivid descriptions and thoughts that cadence has, even the fairytales. incredible.
i did struggle to understand exactly what the end connected back to, as well as a lot of the foreshadowing, which led me to being a bit confused before reading the authors notes in the edition i was lent of the book. this might be because i read a lot of this late at night, and this is definitely a book that i need to read twice in order to catch and think about everything.
anyway, please read this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Chronic illness, Medical content
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Drug use, Injury/Injury detail
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book put me in a reading slump - I was confused and the plot was slow and uninteresting. I felt most of the time I was trying to force myself to read it. After Part 4 (150 pages in) the plot finally picked up and I did enjoy it but I think this book was overhyped for what it was.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cursing
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Mental illness
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Racism, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book is one of the most shocking amazing books I have read, The ending was truly shocking and had me mind blown for ages after, I still can’t believe it and I read it first 2 years ago The character development in this book is amazing and how you start to learn little things as the book continues is amazing. It does take you by surprise the only thing I can say is that it is slightly slow in the beginning but it quickly picks up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail