Book: We Were Liars
Author: E. Lockhart
Pages: 240
Read On: My Kindle
How Long it Took Me To Read: 2 days ( I really struggled with this book.)
Plot Summary: 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.
General Thoughts: This book was all over the internets last month. The hype was full-on. And there was this weird gimmick going on, about lying about the plot of this book. Don't let the actual plot slip out...go into this book without knowing about this book is about....Hmm... I don't know about you, but to me plot is everything. I pick allllllllll my books based on what they are about. Barring a few authors, whose work I love and admire so much, I'd read anything by them, I only look at the plot of a book before picking it up. So this whole , keep mum about the plot made me mad at a basic level. Like...really...is this the only marketing tactic the publishing company had left???
But the hype ensured that I got this book on my Kindle and started reading it pretty much immediately.
Things I Liked:
1. The setting of the book, a private island. A little bit of paradise. Pretty unique as settings go.
2. This book is about the super rich and I liked the way the rich were written about. Normally, when writing about the super rich and privileged, the characters and especially their wealth become caricature-ish.
3. I loved the equations between the cousins (the liars, if you will!) and how they bonded and connected over their summers spend together. I also peculiarly loved how they never kept in touch the rest of the year. But each summer they picked up where they left off. It reminded me of my summer holidays with my cousins, where we spent allllll our time together but the minute summer ended and I left for home, we never kept in touch. Maybe a birthday card now and again, but for all intends and purposes, we only existed in the summer. Though, this was a time before rampant cell phone use and Facebook and such..but still, this aspect of the book really resonated with me.
4. I also really liked the petty squabbles of this family. The lengths people go to fight for family property and wealth and how familial ties mean so little when money is at stake. Sadly, this aspect of human relationships is all too familiar for me.
5. Racism was dealt with in a really nice and subtle way.
Things I Didn't Like:
1. The writing was just....NO...too much flourish. Too much style. Just not for me. Choppy, disjointed and just...noooooooooooo.
2. The Liars...are called liar why exactly???? This is never explained!
3. So basically 2 years ago something BIG happens on this island. The BIG THING is so incredibly stupid. Even for 15 year olds...how could they think this would end in anything for chaos?
4. The family then keeps THIS BIG THING hidden from Cadence (our leading lady). This is not a thing that can be hidden. Not for long. Not forever.
5. Amnesia...I am sick of books using amnesia as a plot device.
6. No one in this book is particularly likable. No one merits feelings and caring.
7. The big mystery, the missing memories..the BIG THING if you will..I guessed half of it in the very beginning and all of it before the big reveal!
Rating: 2/5
Never reading something because of hype ever again!
Comments
You saved me one book's worth of time.
xx