Reviews with content warning for Blood - We Were Liars

I don't normally write reviews, and I also read the whole thing in a few hours earlier today, so don't expect this to be well thought out or anything -- this is just a knee-jerk reaction after reading some other reviews of this book.

In my opinion, this was a fine book, but people just can't handle books with unlikable protagonists/just read things at face value without thinking about them for even two seconds. (Note that when I say “fine” I really do mean “fine”, as in “okay”, not “the best book ever written”.)

“The main character is self absorbed and annoying” yeah no kidding, it’s almost like that was part of the point. Cadence is self-absorbed and naive and incredibly privileged, and it's these traits that, in part, lead to her inadvertently killing her cousins/closest friends. Like, if you think the author's decision to give the main character(s) so many negative traits was misguided or didn't work well, then say that, but otherwise it just sounds like you’re saying, “The author achieved their desired effect. 0 stars.”

Similarly, a lot of people complain about the writing style, but I felt like having repetition, line breaks, etc. was a valid stylistic choice for a narrator who is revealed to be

suffering from selective amnesia/short term memory loss and thus asks the same questions every day and always forgets the answer by the next day, remembers things in fits and starts, and so on

. Perhaps you could take issue with its execution, but it’s not (just) pretentiousness for the sake of it (although honestly, a rich white coddled teenager coming across pretentious in first person narration? I don't know about you, but as a former teenager myself that sounds pretty realistic to me).

I've also seen people say the plot was confusing (or not there at all, which, what?)/the final plot twist came out of nowhere, and I'm like, did we read the same book? If anything I think it could be criticized for being too obvious by the end:

the Liars didn't answer any of Cadence's messages, they kept their distance and didn't come greet her when she and her mom got to the island in summer seventeen, they didn't come to meals at the main house, there were no interactions between them and any of the parents or younger cousins, they wouldn't tell Cadence what happened (which makes sense, since Cadence's mind was repressing those memories, so obviously figments of her own mind would be unwilling or unable to "tell" her what happened), Cadence talks about not hearing them come into a room or them suddenly leaving, and more. Also for the fire itself, the main clue the new house, especially after all the emphasis on belongings -- why would Grandad choose to completely demolish the old house and start over? Nothing about his character suggested that he would (perhaps it could be blamed on his apparent dementia, but in that case, why wouldn't there have been pushback from his daughters?), so I assumed something had to have happened to make him. I did think the event of the fire itself was kind of bizarre, but I don't think you can say it came out of nowhere.

Just like I do think Cadence and many of the other characters were not exactly likable, but I don't think you can say it was without purpose (not all stories can be about good people, or at least they shouldn't be; an author giving their characters certain traits isn’t some kind of tacit endorsement of those traits).

Anyway, people are entitled not to like a book for whatever reasons they want obviously, and they're also entitled to read a book however they want (including taking it at "face value" as I admittedly kind of meanly put it in the beginning of my review) but I'm so tired of reading a book, coming on here to see what other people thought (because even though whether or not other people like a book generally doesn't affect my own enjoyment of it, it's still interesting to get different perspectives), only to find review after scathing review filled with what **to me** feel like such surface level criticisms. This is the same thing people did to Bunny by Mona Awad.

Again this is just my opinion -- and again, it's not like I loved the book, and it's *not* without flaws, I just didn't think there was anything, like, egregiously horrible about it because felt like I understood why certain stylistic and narrative choices were made, even if they didn't always work for me. I really hope no one read this review lol but if you did then sorry for wasting a few minutes of your time :)

Content Warnings

gabsruth's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

ITS SO SO GOOD, i never saw the plot ending, i hated the ending but it was what made the book so loveable and rereadble; once you read the plot twist itll make you wanna reread it and notice things and it would change your whole mindset the second time reading it. The end made me sad and mad but it was what made the book different from others. The other parts were not as intriguing but I promise just read to the end.

Content Warnings