Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

164 reviews

_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I liked the speediness of this book. The short chapters ❤️ I'm seeing reviews that don't like the fractured writing but that's what got me in the first place. Despite the muddled, neurotic over-sentimentality, the writing didn't feel off-putting or clunky for me. At points I got some Merricat/WHALITC vibes. (Was that what E. Lockhart was going for, maybe?) Sometimes, I'm in the mood for this style idk. Also, maybe it's bc I'm a metiche chismosa but I was all in reading about the lazy, worse than parasites, rich, mentally stunted daughters and all the awful manipulation they did to their own kids to get their inheritance from the racist patriarch and the eventual self-destruction by the dumbest kids alive lmao. I guessed the plot twist ! and actually had a fun time reading this almost soap opera about racist white rich democrats (😬), but the ending was a little icky tho bc none of these characters deserve pity or second chances bc they didn't grow and I don't care about them becoming a "real" family.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Child death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Dementia, Alcoholism, Animal death, and Vomit

Minor: Cancer, Death of parent, and Self harm

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Death, Grief, Self harm, Sexism, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Animal death, Blood, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Medical content, Racism, and Ableism

Moderate: Alcohol, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Dementia, and Hate crime

Minor: Colonisation, Vomit, Cancer, Death of parent, and Rape

g slur, homelessness, poaching.

bookishlittleme's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

The aesthetic and writing style of the novel are quite fitting and hauntingly beautiful. I also thought the concept of lying was really interesting because now having finished the book I''m left unsure of several narrative details. I know they were liars but which were the lies?! The reason I haven't rated this book higher is because the characters aren't lovable. The adults are all the yucky parts of American capitalism, elitism, privilege etc. (I'm aware that's the point). And the children don't give us anything to root for. The main romance in the novel

, between Cadence(Cady) and Gat,

comes too quickly and dwindles for the rest of the book. It becomes an awkward after thought rather than a place for romantic tension to build. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Animal death, Classism, and Medical content

Moderate: Alcohol, Vomit, Alcoholism, and Racism

eli_ravioli_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

The time jumps are a little confusing but the plot twists are worth it. This novel made me feel a wide range of emotions and I have trouble processing the end (in a good way).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Child death, Death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Alcohol

c_e_w's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Cursing, Death, Grief, and Medical trauma

Minor: Racism

ludmireads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I hated the main character, she was whiny and as some other character said, she just wanted everyone to pity her, she was also really, really, really annoying. She was just a rich privileged girl who didn’t realise she was privileged. 
The side characters (or the Liars) were all bland and without a personality and didn’t add anything to the story really. I had exactly zero emotional attachment to those characters.
The story itself wasn’t bad, I certainly wasn’t expecting the plot twist at the end (wow, still recovering from that) but it would be much better if the main character wasn’t as annoying and the characters were more complex in general.
The pacing was great - it’s one of the books you could finish in one sitting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcohol, Addiction, and Suicidal thoughts

itsjusterika's review against another edition

sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I didn't expect the plot twist.

why did she call her mum Mummy it was so weird.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Chronic illness, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Classism, and Racism

Minor: Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, and Addiction

katherinek's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Dementia, Drug use, Alcohol, Racism, Death of parent, Classism, and Medical content

Minor: Cancer and Suicidal thoughts

pumpkinbread02's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

the dogs.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Abandonment, Chronic illness, and Animal death

Minor: Emotional abuse, Racism, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Classism, and Dementia

ashleyvharris's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

This was not fun. I only finished this book because I heard promises of a great twisty ending. It left me feeling meh. Not shocked or outraged or slighted. Just underwhelmed. The whole story felt super pretentious and unrelatable, more like watching an episode of The Kardashians where they’re bitching over shoes that cost more than a tropical vacation. Genuinely do not understand the hype. 

The one thing I will give this book is the RARE representation for chronic illness. I appreciated the portrayal of chronic pain via Cadence’s migraines. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Death, Gaslighting, Murder, and Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Racism, Chronic illness, Dementia, Addiction, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, and Classism