Reviews with content warning for Grief - משפחה של שקרנים

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Reviews tagging 'Grief'

משפחה של שקרנים by E. Lockhart, א' לוקהארט

95 reviews

siennabea's review against another edition

3.75

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

So I did quite like this book. I really did prefer the main character (Carrie) over Cadence ( from We Were Liars) because I felt like she had a stronger, more memorable character than Cadence. I really did prefer this book. I just felt like it had a better plot and cast of characters. I did enjoy seeing how the sisters were together as, seeing how I am a sister myself, it was more real then anything else I have read.
I also think though that the romance was a little odd, like not completely finished. I just didn't really feel anything. I did enjoy seeing more about why the Aunties were how they were, I just wish we could have seen why Harris or Tipper are how they are. Maybe, in the future, there could be another prequel, but maybe in Tippers POV.
Thank you for reading my short but hopefully helpful review 😊.

Content Warnings

mmellinger's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

penguininabluebox's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

jennyoli96's review against another edition

4.0

emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

guivx5's review against another edition

3.75

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

When I reviewed
We Were Liars,
I said:
"I still have the sequel to read, and I hope it doesn't suck."
Well,
I'm glad to say it didn't!

Lockhart had a terribly doomed job here: to write a worthy new story based on the universe of a success she wrote almost ten years ago, a book that was so unique in it's style it would be hard to avenge. Thankfully, the task was accomplished, and now we have more lies to be shocked of.

I see Family of Liars as a great expansion of the first book's universe. The Sinclair family has a twisted charm to their tale that guaranteed my interest here, no matter what. You simply want to know more about them, it's undeniable. But then, what could she write? After the shocking story of Cadence and her friends, the broken family full of intrigue and ambition? We Were Liars was an ambitious story itself. I had to find out what's up with their past. Turns out, it wasn't pretty.

Now, let's talk about reading experience here. This book has less strength than it's older brother, simply because it doesn't benefit of the surprise factor. That was taken away by the first story, so it is an inevitable fragility. But I do think Lockhart handled well with this weakness, and soothed it as much as she could, which made the story still full of surprises. The characters, both old and new, were as intriguing as ever, and the plots involving the long-known family of liars were really good. I feel like the second third of the story could do with a bit more of clues and intrigue, but that's just me. Overall, the story is as well built as the first one in terms of consistency. But I do have a big caveat:

Rosemary

This could be just me playing with my frustrated expectations, but I do feel like Rosemary deserved a better plot. I mean, it's The Sinclair Family we are talking about, I don't believe she just died on an accident. Her presence could be more meaningful, specially revolving around her motives to visit Carrie. Even if she just died like that, even if this is really her only motive, to look out for her sister, I feel like this wasn't developed enough. It should be brought up more during the chapters. But sorry Lockhart, the only way to redeem yourself here is to write a third book, a prequel where we learn the origins of Harris and Tipper and how they were the real guilty ones behind Rosemary's death. You just have to do it, or I won't raise my rating on this book on my next reread.

Again, I think Lockhart gives us mystery and suspense done right. And this is a great expansion upon the first novel, maybe with a few hiccups towards the middle and in the need of a little more development here and there. It is, ultimately, worth reading if you liked the first book.

Now, how long do you guys think she'll take before deciding to write another prequel? I don't want to reread this too much before she releases it.

Content Warnings

dancing_on_ur_muml0l's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional informative 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

Pfeff can stay at the bottom of the ocean and die idc

Content Warnings

jojo_fiction_'s review against another edition

4.25

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I recommend reading We Were Liars first, as this book has major spoilers for it.

“I have been a liar all my life, you see.

It is not uncommon in my family.”

The life of the rich and privileged, who have nothing to worry about, and can do no wrong (and if they do, no one will ever know).

I was so excited to stumble upon this book in a bookstore, I had no idea it even existed so I kinda lost my mind when I saw it on the shelf. I read We Were Liars years ago and it was one of those books with characters, a setting and plot twists that stay with you. So of course I had to read the prequel.

In Family of Liars, we follow Johnny’s mother, Carrie Sinclair, as she describes: “the worst thing she ever did”. The book shows the way different people handle grief, the complexity of family and what even makes people be considered as family, sisterhood, and how far people are willing to go to protect them.

“We show our love not with honesty or affection, but with loyalty”

I won't explain the details of the plot in case there are any potential readers who don't want to get spoiled, so this will be more like my thoughts about the characters and overarching themes.

I love stories about rich, old money families. Maybe because I like the aesthetic, or more likely because I like examining the inner workings and psychological issues that a lot of these families have. We get insight into all three of the sisters, Carrie more than the others, and despite them not being good people I think they were good characters.The sisters in Family Of Liars, are not supposed to be likeable. They are spoiled, pretty, privileged, and filthy rich. But I think it's easy to forget that despite their privileges they are still just children when this story takes place (17,16 and 14). The events that happen (

like the death of their youngest sister.

) follow them throughout their lives and they are shown to have no healthy grieving processes in order to “protect” the family and their reputation. Instead they bury it inside themselves and the pain leaks out in other ways. Carrie through her drug addiction, Penny through her need for attention, and Bess through her people pleasing nature and need for order and control.

Throughout the story we are introduced to themes that shape the plot and the characters. Grief, and it’s all consuming nature. Family loyalty, no matter what. The dark origins of old money wealth. Appearance vs reality. The book handles these themes not by just telling you they are there, but by having the characters actions governed by them.

I liked how Lockhart used choppy writing and line structure at points throughout the book to show the disordered thought process of Carrie. Both due to grief and the heavy drugs she was on. As well as her back tracking near the end to tell the real story and not what happened in her head. Just like in We Were Liars, we were left wondering how reliable this narrator is, and how much we could actually believe the story we were being told.

“I did say at the start of this story that I am a liar”

One thing I didn't love, or at least don't know how to feel about is, the way ghosts were shown as being real. One thing I loved about We Were Liars was the ambiguity due to the unreliable narrator. Were the other liars ghosts? Or were they a figment of the imagination of a broken and traumatized girl? Family of Liars takes away from that as it seems that ghosts are the answer. Not that it's a bad interpretation, I just liked the open ended idea We Were Liars left us with.

Overall , E.Lockhart did an amazing job handling difficult topics while keeping the same feelings from We Were Liars. Such an outwardly perfect family, perfect island, perfect summer. But something in the back of your mind telling you something is terribly, terribly wrong.

Content Warnings

eib_21's review against another edition

2.0

emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

dalek_caan's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I loved this book almost as much as I loved We Were Liars. I was really impressed by the author's ability to tell a story just as captivating as the previous book, in a prequel no less. I would definitely recommend this book BUT I recommend reading the other book first because this book will spoil We Were Liars.

Content Warnings

elianahanstater's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

i want to start by saying that i absolutely love how the author writes. her language is absolutely beautiful and you really feel as if you are inside the lines of the story. however personally i found this book underwhelming compared to the first. i was expecting to be hit as hard as the first book but this never came which was disappointing. regardless the story was very nicely written and portrayed.

Content Warnings

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