Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - ما دروغگو بودیم

I don't really know to begin with this book. I don't regret reading this book. I wanted to see what the hype was about surrounding this book, and now I can give my opinion about it.

The writing style made this book super hard for me to read. It was choppy. A lot of sentences were spilt into two different sentences, like they were incomplete thoughts. (For example: Gat and I. Rode on the boat) For me it was hard to understand what was going on. For the first like 50 pages, I couldn't even comprehend what I was reading.

For a little context so you understand, cady has 2 cousins her age, Johnny and Mirren. Johnny has a best friend named Gat. Thay all go to an Island their grandpa owns every summer. Also, this book is split up into parts. Just so you can get an idea this is how long each part was. Part one is pages 1-44. Part two is pages 47-64. Part three is pages 67-164. Part four is pages 167-219. Part five is pages 223-250.

So, I felt parts 1-3 were a little confusing. You go through each summer with Cady until you get to summer 15, Cady's accident. Then it gets pretty confusing after that. Cady doesn't remember what happened on summer 15. She doesn't go to the Island until summer 17. All the time in between summer 15 and 17 were jumpy and I didn't really understand what was going on.

Part 4 and 5 talk about the accident. What happened and how it happened. I think these Parts saved the book, if there wasn't those Parts the book would have been a one star for me.

There is only 250 pages and if a book takes 170 pages to even just get interesting, I would say that it isn't a good book. I read a few different reviews saying like part 5 gets super good. But I feel like yes part 5 is good, but it defiantly doesn't redeem the whole book.

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fabycamurugy's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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katherinek's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This absolutely tore me into pieces. It was so beautifully written and I didn’t expect the ending at all. The characters felt so real. Some of the metaphors confused me, though, which took away some of the shock factor for the first plot twist for me because I found myself going back trying to figure out if it was real or not. The middle also slows down just a bit, but after the ending I realized why so many of the seemingly unimportant details in the middle were actually so important. This is one I would totally go back and reread to try and find all the clues I missed—

How they never went to dinner, they didn’t want Cady to jump off the rocks, the kids seeing ghosts, none of them receiving her gifts or responding to Cady’s emails, Aunt Carrie walking around at night, the lie about the donut shop, why Grandad kept calling her Mirren, etc etc.

I don’t think a book has ever made me cry as hard as this one did.

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krystaltyong's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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mattiedancer's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad fast-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

4.75

Writing: 5⭐️/5

Hmm. How to discuss this without spoiling it or ruining the fun of reading it? I think, very plainly, I’ll say it’s some of the most technically controlled and interesting writing I’ve read in a YA novel.

Characters: 4.75⭐️/5

Again, I’m going minimal with this review. Don’t expect anything, but do understand that the characters will jump off the page.

Plot: 4.5⭐️/5

No way to talk about this one. Take the mark as it is, but go in expecting nothing.

Post-Reading Rating: 5⭐️/5

Stunning.

Who Should Read This?

Fiction fans
Fans of gossip girl vibes, but looking for more serious themes
Someone looking for a well-balanced book with virtuosic writing control, well-developed characters, and an interesting plot

Final Rating: 4.75⭐️/5

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