Book Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Hey, I’m back with a book review! Haven’t done one of these in a while. Hope you enjoy!

Realistic fiction and I have had a pretty solid relationship, so I find it kind of shocking that I spend most of my time reading fantasy or science fiction. For one, most of the really good books I read are realistic fiction, like Looking For Alaska, Hoot, A Fleeting State of Mind, or The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. I guess my main problem with the genre is that the premises are normally too mundane and there’s always a very heavy risk of boredom. Yeah, there’s always a risk of boredom with any book you may pick up, but unless a book in the realistic fiction genre is somehow able to captivate me with interesting characters or themes, then it’s basically dead upon arrival. Though, on the other hand, at least it’s more tolerable than a boring book about zombies, gunfights, and killer robots, since you didn’t expect something awesome, right? Ah, it always boils down to expectations, doesn’t it? And when someone hypes a realistic fiction book up as the best book of 2014, then don’t your expectations get warped enough that you’ll willingly check it out? That book is the topic of today’s review: We Were Liars. Does this book manage to provide an unforgettable experience like every great realistic fiction novel should, or does it trip over its own feet and not deserve the title of “Best Young Adult Novel of 2014?” Sit back, relax, and read on as I review We Were Liars by E. Lockhart.

The Setup:

Cadence Sinclair Eastman is 18 years old, and is the heir to the head of the prestigious Sinclair Family, a prominent and wealthy lineage in the United States. However, she suffers amnesia due to an accident two years ago at her summer home, and now her main goal is to learn what actually happened to her. The details of her accident are sketchy at best, and her family refuses to tell her anything. So, over the summer, she goes to her summer home to see her extended family, in an attempt to discover what actually happened two years ago. From there, a tale of love, tragedy, mystery, and corruption unfolds.

The Characters:

What’s interesting about the main character, and most of the other characters for that matter, is how she feels both alien and human at the same time. It’s strange; on one hand, she’s relatable and complex, but on the other hand, I felt so distant from her problems and conflicts. However, this isn’t a bad aspect at all; let me explain. Cadence’s goal to discover what happened to her is understandable, but the way she talks about it and goes about solving the issue is roundabout at best. In fact, she doesn’t seem incredibly concerned by it most of the time, which confused me. Was she just used to not getting any answers? Is she just indifferent now? Is she normally this lackadaisical? Why isn’t there a sense of urgency? I guess you could say that her lack of motivation is due to her brain trauma, but at the same time, I guess no one in her family was eager to tell her what happened, so maybe it’s just her environment affecting her. Whenever she does ask, she gets vague and unspecific answers, since the doctors told her family that her memories will come back to her naturally. It’s a display of how environment can change psychology and thoughts, maybe, which plays into the themes of the novel nicely. So, what did that long paragraph of me rambling over questions and trying to come to a conclusion have to do with anything? Well, that’s what this book does incredibly well: making you think. All of the decisions that the characters make affect another character either physically, mentally, or both, making these characters feel less like hardened sculptures but more like wet clay that just keeps on getting rebuilt and rebuilt, using different colors and styles taken from others. Each character tries to remodel another character by ordering them to do something, or suggesting different ideas that could change their lives. All this culminates into everyone trying to accommodate each other’s needs, leading to stress and anguish, eventually resulting in a tragic conclusion that everyone is trying to recover from. What alienates these characters, however, is how robotic some of these decisions seem in order to accomplish what that character wants, which is what leads to the tragedy in the first place. For example, Cadence’s mother wants to keep her nice house, so she forces Cadence to kiss up to her grandfather over things Cadence doesn’t care for in the slightest. It makes you think: what good mother would force her daughter to lie to gain a materialistic end? It’s all these that stresses out Cadence and her cousins Mirren, Johnny, and her friend Gat, leading to what can only be described as a disaster. This novel’s character development is also great, though not in the traditional way. The side characters do their jobs, but outside of the mains and their mothers, no one really stands out.

The Story:

Of course, this novel depicts how Cadence discovers how corrupt and defunct her family truly is, but it’s not without its fair share of side stories and filler. I did not like how the story meandered into random side plots that felt really unnecessary in the long run. Then there’s the pacing, which is rather inconsistent. There were some parts where I wanted to throw my book against the wall because the story was moving too slowly, and other times I had trouble processing what was happening. Though, the latter only happened once, and that was near the end. In the beginning, the book appeared to literally have no direction or plot, which makes for a bad first impression. As the story went on, however, I started to get more invested, because if there’s anything the book’s good at, it’s the mystery aspect. I honestly had no idea where the story would take me, and all my predictions were completely incorrect. The themes about greed and racism are also done pretty well, which I didn’t expect. Overall, while the story does have its problems, I did enjoy reading the book, and the ending is exceptional.

The Writing Style/Grammatical Errors:

The imagery in this book is stunning and is also very shocking. This book seems to like using blood metaphors, which caught me off guard on more than one occasion. For example, something would happen, and then Cadence would describe some sort of major injury, which made me think, “Why aren’t you DOING something to help yourself?! Does no one around you notice that you’re bleeding to death!?” As it turns out, it just represents pain. The book also sometimes uses a structure similar to what you would see in poetry, which was slightly unneeded, but it still fit somewhat. There were no grammatical errors to be found.

Final Judgment:

Overall, We Were Liars is a pretty good read. However, I do think that your enjoyment of it depends on whether you like the ending or not. For me, I loved the ending, and thought that the buildup and characters were great. But, I can see why others would dismiss this book for that very same reason. I give We Were Liars a 3.75 out of 5, and a recommendation to check it out. But, like always, it’s up to you to decide your own opinions.

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