Review by kristyndcruz - We Were Liars

kristyndcruz 's review for:

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

4.5

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

I loved this. The whole book revolved around a mystery which built up to a plot twist that explains the entire story. Out of all possible predictions I would have made, I did not expect that. It was so confusing during the whole story, but when you find out the truth, everything falls into place and everything makes so much sense. The writing was very disorienting with line breaks and fractured sentences but I loved how it was a metaphor for the confusion and disorientation that Cady was feeling with her fractured memory. It was a bit hard to read at times, but the stylistic choice was genius. The start began very slow and it was hard to get into, but after the accident it was so intriguing. The plot itself focused on the privileged, white family who vacation on an island in Summer. It focuses on their wealth and power, and their obsession with it. They were very pretentious and manipulative family. They were also racist against Gat and other people who weren’t white. This made me dislike the characters as people, but was interesting as characters as they were complex. I also loved the ending with the plot twist revealed. It could have been better as it was slightly ambiguous. It was still confusing at the end and not much was explained, but I still liked it. I’m also confused why they were called ‘liars’ when they hardly ever lied. Overall, I highly recommend as a mysterious, dark, and unexpected novel.
“Always do what you’re afraid to do”
“Be a little kinder than you have to”
“Do not accept an evil you can change”

Content Warnings