We Were Liars by E. Lockhart: Book Review

cover from Goodreads
Title: We Were Liars
Author: E. Lockhart
Published: May 13th 2014 by Delacorte Press
Copy: Paperback bought from National Bookstore

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.


I've been seeing We Were Liars all over Tumblr. I've been hearing about how good it was, and that plot twist almost everyone was raving about! It made me really intrigued but never had the chance to buy the book, until National Bookstore announced E. Lockhart's book signing event.

I finished the book one day before the signing event. Even though I knew that there'll be a plot twist, the reveal still surprised me. And that book made me cry. It was, however, a good kind of sad cry.

I was in a bus when I started the book. I smiled and gasped (Haha!) when I saw the map in the beginning of the book. Well, it may be just me. I always get excited by maps in books. Haha!

Plot and Characters
The story started a bit slow for me, but I was really curious about Cadence's 'accident'. It was really intriguing what happened that summer 15. The story built up as I went through my reading.

With flash backs from the previous summers up to summer 15, I was able to look into the Sinclairs, their lives as a family, as well as individually. Their story, who they are and what they live for, was also strengthened through the little fair tale sections. I liked how the fairy tales were told, how they were incorporated in the story.

I was not able to know the characters deeply but I liked how mysterious they all are. The characters are three-dimensional. There's a lot to know about them. There's a lot to know about Cadence.

I also liked the reference to Wuthering Heights. I find it very interesting. I've read the book and it's so dark. I think it matches the mysteriousness and darkness of Gat, as well as Cadence's grand dad.

Overall, I really liked the story, how it was told, the build-up, the mystery and of course, the twist! I did double-take when I got to that part. And the ending folks, as I've mentioned, I did cry. But it was a good kind of sad cry. :)

Writing
We Were Liars was a fast read. It was only around 200 pages. The way it was written made it easy to read. The writing was almost lyrical, like in a poetic manner. I loved it!

I liked how the flash-backs and fairy tales were incorporated to summer 17 chapters (present) to create a beautiful story about the Sinclair family.

-o-

Beautifully written and thought-provoking. We Were Liars is a story about family, relationships, individuality and moving on.

Furthermore, I think We Were Liars teaches us to be beyond material things, the worldly things. Oftentimes, we can be blinded by money, by possessions that we forget the really important ones- family and relationships.

I think We Were Liars teaches us that our actions, no matter how small they are, matter. That people can see us. That our actions, no matter how small, can affect people, especially those around and close to us.

I definitely recommend We Were Liars! I think everybody should read this amazing book! :)


from Goodreads

E. Lockhart is the author of We Were Liars, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, The Boyfriend List and several other novels.

Disreputable History was a Printz Award honor book, a finalist for the National Book Award, and recipient of the Cybils Award for best young adult novel. We Were Liars is a New York Times bestseller and a Goodreads Choice 2014 winner.

E. Lockhart has a doctorate in English literature from Columbia University and currently teaches creative writing at Hamline University’s low-residency MFA program in Writing for Children (source: Goodreads).



For my E. Lockhart book signing post, click here.

That's all folks!