A review by chezler24
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

After reading some reviews, I understand why some people would not like this, but I had a great time reading it so a 4 it is. The best way to tackle this book is to go in completely blind and let the story unfold for you. The writing style in some places might annoy some readers; however, I enjoyed certain sections' descriptive language and jarring style changes. It might feel a bit overdramatic, but the main character is a teenage girl who comes from an affluent, appearance-based background and had something traumatic happen in her past. To me, the language fits Cadence. When I first started, I thought this was going to be a book rehashing overdone notes of materiality, classicism, status, appearances, and family secrets with a stereotypical WASP-y cast, but, as the story unfolded, it took these aspects and layered some cryptic elements ensconced by Cadence's memory loss and the family's attempts at maintaining their air of normalcy. The twist definitely got me when it revealed itself fully.  I am certainly going to reread this at some point based on how the ending panned out to see if I can experience certain interactions in a new light. (I was hoping for two characters to overcome external issues and maybe change the family for the better, but alas.) 

For this particular copy of the book, the author included some bonus content (Gat's poems and notes to Cadence, an original map and family tree, the process of writing this book, and a book club menu and reading guide) which helped expand some aspects of the book and allowed the readers to see kind of what the author wanted to do with this particular storyline.  
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