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A review by alexawkelly
We Fell Apart by E. Lockhart
3.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's Books for providing an ARC of this title. All opinions are my own.
A satisfying mystery set in the same universe, and concurrent with the events of, Lockhart's 2014 smash hit We Were Liars.
Disclaimer: We Were Liars is a semi-problematic fave of mine. I love the tragedy, the old-money New England-ness of it all, the way it plays with your head. I say semi-problematic because I know, okay, I KNOW that the format is weird and self-indulgent at times. I know those kids don't talk like you've ever heard any teenager in your life talk, at times. I know the famous twist at the end doesn't work for everybody. But for me, I can't resist it anyway, and we're all going to have to deal with that (like how I'm dealing with the psychic damage that came from discovering this WEEK that a TV adaptation of the book is premiering on Amazon Prime next MONTH). My fierce loyalty to this book has no bearing, however, on my opinions of We Fell Apart.
With that out of the way: in a departure from Lockhart's previous additions to this universe (2022's Family of Liars), Lockhart takes us back to Martha's Vineyard through the eyes of a brand-new protagonist, Matilda. Matilda has grown up with a flighty mother who is uninterested in being a parent, and has never known who her biological father is—until a famous, reclusive artist named Kingsley Cello reaches out to her out of the blue with the stunning confession that she is his daughter, and an invitation to Hidden Beach, his palatial estate on Martha's Vineyard. There, she meets an eccentric cast of characters, including a half-brother she never knew she had, as well as several other young people who, for one reason or another, have been drawn to the dreamy, isolated paradise of art and creativity that is Hidden Beach. But, of course, not everything is as it seems...
I'm purposely going to be vague about the plot beyond that, since this is a series that famously deals in secrets and twists, which are best experienced organically. I will say that I greatly enjoyed the ways in which Lockhart explored a favorite theme of this series—wealth and privilege and the ways in which these things often lead to destruction—through the lens of a family less pedigreed and and showy with their wealth than the Sinclair family. Cello and his family are hippie peacenik artists who lock away their electronics, use tinctures of herbs for medicine, and spend their days following every creative impulse that comes into their heads...which, of course, is only possible in the first place because of Cello's immense fame and wealth. As with previous books, this money also ends up being the thing that exposes the rot within the family—for all that their lives seem idyllic, it's clear from the beginning that something isn't right. The mystery of what exactly is wrong with this picture unfolds in a way that had me constantly second-guessing, and concluded in a very satisfying way as well.
There is some romance, for those who partake, but I honestly felt, as an adult reader, that much of the romance and angst and drama was overblown. This is probably less an indictment of the book and more an indication that I'm no longer the target audience for it, which is of course okay. I also was left overall wondering if this might have been a stronger book if it stood on its own, unconnected to Lockhart's successful series. The callbacks to We Were Liars were numerous and, frequently, to me at least, felt forced. I will also caution readers that, while this book technically can be read without having read We Were Liars first, readers are likely to be lost at times in a sea of what to them will be references to unfamiliar names and events, all of which will probably seem to have little to do with the story we're actually being told. It also heftily spoils We Were Liars and its notorious plot twist, as the book takes place during the summer that Cady, the protagonist of We Were Liars, cannot remember and is trying to re-access her memories of. (An author's note from E. Lockhart also makes this clear, and likely will be included in the published title.) Nevertheless, for best reading experience, I'd recommend reading We Were Liars before this.
A satisfying mystery set in the same universe, and concurrent with the events of, Lockhart's 2014 smash hit We Were Liars.
Disclaimer: We Were Liars is a semi-problematic fave of mine. I love the tragedy, the old-money New England-ness of it all, the way it plays with your head. I say semi-problematic because I know, okay, I KNOW that the format is weird and self-indulgent at times. I know those kids don't talk like you've ever heard any teenager in your life talk, at times. I know the famous twist at the end doesn't work for everybody. But for me, I can't resist it anyway, and we're all going to have to deal with that (like how I'm dealing with the psychic damage that came from discovering this WEEK that a TV adaptation of the book is premiering on Amazon Prime next MONTH). My fierce loyalty to this book has no bearing, however, on my opinions of We Fell Apart.
With that out of the way: in a departure from Lockhart's previous additions to this universe (2022's Family of Liars), Lockhart takes us back to Martha's Vineyard through the eyes of a brand-new protagonist, Matilda. Matilda has grown up with a flighty mother who is uninterested in being a parent, and has never known who her biological father is—until a famous, reclusive artist named Kingsley Cello reaches out to her out of the blue with the stunning confession that she is his daughter, and an invitation to Hidden Beach, his palatial estate on Martha's Vineyard. There, she meets an eccentric cast of characters, including a half-brother she never knew she had, as well as several other young people who, for one reason or another, have been drawn to the dreamy, isolated paradise of art and creativity that is Hidden Beach. But, of course, not everything is as it seems...
I'm purposely going to be vague about the plot beyond that, since this is a series that famously deals in secrets and twists, which are best experienced organically. I will say that I greatly enjoyed the ways in which Lockhart explored a favorite theme of this series—wealth and privilege and the ways in which these things often lead to destruction—through the lens of a family less pedigreed and and showy with their wealth than the Sinclair family. Cello and his family are hippie peacenik artists who lock away their electronics, use tinctures of herbs for medicine, and spend their days following every creative impulse that comes into their heads...which, of course, is only possible in the first place because of Cello's immense fame and wealth. As with previous books, this money also ends up being the thing that exposes the rot within the family—for all that their lives seem idyllic, it's clear from the beginning that something isn't right. The mystery of what exactly is wrong with this picture unfolds in a way that had me constantly second-guessing, and concluded in a very satisfying way as well.
There is some romance, for those who partake, but I honestly felt, as an adult reader, that much of the romance and angst and drama was overblown. This is probably less an indictment of the book and more an indication that I'm no longer the target audience for it, which is of course okay. I also was left overall wondering if this might have been a stronger book if it stood on its own, unconnected to Lockhart's successful series. The callbacks to We Were Liars were numerous and, frequently, to me at least, felt forced. I will also caution readers that, while this book technically can be read without having read We Were Liars first, readers are likely to be lost at times in a sea of what to them will be references to unfamiliar names and events, all of which will probably seem to have little to do with the story we're actually being told. It also heftily spoils We Were Liars and its notorious plot twist, as the book takes place during the summer that Cady, the protagonist of We Were Liars, cannot remember and is trying to re-access her memories of. (An author's note from E. Lockhart also makes this clear, and likely will be included in the published title.) Nevertheless, for best reading experience, I'd recommend reading We Were Liars before this.