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A review by readivine
One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus
2.0
I've demoted this book into a 2 star rating.
I was clearly blinded by the romantic subplot that had become a major plot device, and I have to shake that off. I did not like the over all pacing, I did not like how the author portrayed depression. Yes, I'm actually contradicting my review of this hahahahaha. Although it was right of her to expose the self destructive sides of depression I think it is important for her to correct the idea of mental health issues as the villain here. I also expected something more out of element from the usual tropes. I thought that she would be able to deviate from the over the top cliches but NO she did not. I do like ingenuity of the killer's methods but I do know that there are problematic portrayals in this book. Funny how I only thought of it just now!
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3.5 stars to be exact.
Well, this one reeks of The Breakfast Club all right and took up a notch with the whole murder scene on top. One of Us Is Lying is about 5 high profile students who have super clean reputations in detention for trivial reasons. The only scapegoat here is Simon Kelleher, admin of Bayview's notorious gossip app: About That. Simon's even the one who pointed out the pretty obvious setup of their situation.
And of course, everything was fine until he dropped dead.
Yup. Very nice opening chapter. I'm not gonna lie though, the whole first few chapters were a burden for me. I get that it is important to flesh out the characters later on but oh dear, my patience is running thin especially when I like to delve quickly into HOW the murder was done. I really want to get on full Detective Conan here. Good thing there was a romantic subplot that turns into a major thing later on and had got me gripping for more. It was the only reason why I even turn the pages.
However, I also like the character developments mostly that of Addy (The Princess) and Cooper's (The Jock). And as cliche as these developments turned into, I'd like to commend the author for tackling sensitive issues of these teens. As a matter of fact, McManus had managed to sprinkle a little bit of this and that issues on the entirety of the novel. It portrayed a lot of racial stereotypes and discrimination, LGBT issues, toxic natures that sprung up from family orientations, and the cruel truth about mental illness.I've seen a lot of reviews about this book not portraying depression appropriately but I do think it was right for her to expose another facet of this condition. It is undeniable of the relevance of these matters and from my analysis, it's like a portrayal of how self-destruction can be tied to validation.
Of course, my theories were right, well most of them are. But the major ones actually hit the mark and I'm so glad that it turned out this way because if it turned out to be, I'd naturally be ticked with the implausibility of it. This book was almost thrown into the DNF shelf had it not picked its pace by the second half of it. I love how the revelation was splayed over and although its kind of pretty neat, (I demand a messy one packed with action you see but then again this is a teen drama, so I kind of set my standards down a notch) I liked how it all turned out in the end. Such a happy ending which is good because I hate tragedies. Overall, a good read for me and deserves the attention but not the hype it initially had. This one's supposed to be a 3 star for me but got an extra .5 because of the romantic subplot and the HOW of the murder.
I was clearly blinded by the romantic subplot that had become a major plot device, and I have to shake that off. I did not like the over all pacing, I did not like how the author portrayed depression. Yes, I'm actually contradicting my review of this hahahahaha. Although it was right of her to expose the self destructive sides of depression I think it is important for her to correct the idea of mental health issues as the villain here. I also expected something more out of element from the usual tropes. I thought that she would be able to deviate from the over the top cliches but NO she did not. I do like ingenuity of the killer's methods but I do know that there are problematic portrayals in this book. Funny how I only thought of it just now!
-------------------------------------------------
Well, this one reeks of The Breakfast Club all right and took up a notch with the whole murder scene on top. One of Us Is Lying is about 5 high profile students who have super clean reputations in detention for trivial reasons. The only scapegoat here is Simon Kelleher, admin of Bayview's notorious gossip app: About That. Simon's even the one who pointed out the pretty obvious setup of their situation.
“She's a princess and you're a jock," he says. He thrusts his chin toward Bronwyn, then at Nate. "And you're a brain. And you're a criminal. You're all walking teen-movie stereotypes.”
And of course, everything was fine until he dropped dead.
Yup. Very nice opening chapter. I'm not gonna lie though, the whole first few chapters were a burden for me. I get that it is important to flesh out the characters later on but oh dear, my patience is running thin especially when I like to delve quickly into HOW the murder was done. I really want to get on full Detective Conan here. Good thing there was a romantic subplot that turns into a major thing later on and had got me gripping for more. It was the only reason why I even turn the pages.
However, I also like the character developments mostly that of Addy (The Princess) and Cooper's (The Jock). And as cliche as these developments turned into, I'd like to commend the author for tackling sensitive issues of these teens. As a matter of fact, McManus had managed to sprinkle a little bit of this and that issues on the entirety of the novel. It portrayed a lot of racial stereotypes and discrimination, LGBT issues, toxic natures that sprung up from family orientations, and the cruel truth about mental illness.
Of course, my theories were right, well most of them are. But the major ones actually hit the mark and I'm so glad that it turned out this way because if it turned out to be