We Were Liars

I love, love, love unreliable narrators. We Were Liars does just that!

The narrators has great voice and is easy to follow aside from some memory issues. The secondary characters are so distinct I could almost visualize them. I was little thrown off by self-entitlement by the Aunties and wondered if that is realistic in families as wealthy as this family is.

The plot was wonderfully tragic and I honestly did not foresee the ending. I loved it! I hated it! I wanted to change it, but I knew it had to end the way it did. Awesome ending that I didn't want to happen.

The writing is lovely and I wanted to see if such an island existed. It was described so well, that I suddenly felt the need to fly out to the east coast. I need a new writing destination spot and this little island would be perfect.

Kuddos for writing an awesome book!

We Were Liars is far more unique than I ever anticipated. Lockhart certainly has a writing style that is all her own, but one that I feel is dividing readers. I loved it. But, I can see where it would annoy others. It opens with short, choppy sentences that are more statements of fact than storytelling, but it is incredibly effective. The story is told from Cady's point of view who suffers from memory loss, migraines and is forced to use pain killers to cope. These facts left me wondering about her reliability as a narrator and questioning everything that she tells the reader. It also features variations on the the three princesses fairy tale which add charm and depth to the story.

I will admit, there was a point about halfway through where this felt like just another rich girl, whining about her problems. It certainly took patience to begin to piece the clues together and see that there was a really important story to be told. There are a lot of characters to get straight and a lot of home names to put into place. There are actually three group of players on the island: the Liars (the older children), the Aunts and Grandfather, and the Littles. The Liars are the main characters, teens who have run of the island each summer. The Aunts constantly fight each other for the Grandfather's attention and bicker over belongings and homes. The Littles do not play a major role, but, when the book was over, I found myself thinking back to some of their actions in light of the new information which added some great depth and enjoyment. In fact, by the end, the reader realizes that there were clues from the very first page, we were just unable to see them in context without more information.

To be honest, this review is really difficult to write without giving away too much of the story, so I will probably stop there. We Were Liars is a beautiful, melancholy mystery that is beautiful in it's style and storytelling.

This book was absolutely wonderful. It was so beautifully written. The prose is amazing and the plot is just mind blowing. This book messed with my psyche and psychologically messed me up so much, but I don't even care. I love it. The metaphors are so excellently written, they shock you when you first read them and you have to go back and read them a couple of times because you're like, "that couldn't have actually happened" until you analyze it and realize it is a metaphor. Just the writing itself, story aside, is amazing. Combine it with such a shifty and psychological plot and the book is the definition of perfection.
Well that is all I can say without spoiling anything. So if you haven't read this book, PLEASE GO AWAY AND READ IT!!! You will thank me later.
Now to the real SPOILER deal.
Right from the start we get such beautifully written prose when Cadence is setting up the story. Like when she states that her dad shot her, I literally thought he shot her until I realized it is a metaphor.
When we learn Gat has a girlfriend and Cadence starts acting a fool, I was so mad at Gat, I mean, what a selfish bastard. And then she goes and kisses him, like NOOOOO don't be stupid Cadence.
Cadence's mom.... I hate her. She mistreated Cadence so badly and was really just a selfish bitch. For example when Cadence is crying over Gran, she tells Cadence, "She made me act normal. Because I was. Because I could. She told me to breathe and sit up. And I did what she asked. Again." I mean... what a heartless mother.
Whenever Cadence was describing the metaphors, I was just so awed by how powerful and beautiful the metaphors were. Lockhart did an excellent job crafting them.
In general, the family was terrible. But that in itself is a better of how money doesn't necessary equivalent happiness. I found it awful how the sisters only wanted money and property and Grandad just strung them along cause he liked the feel of power.
When Bonnie is talking about Cadence's hair and she replies with, "It's okay, I don't actually care what you think, so it's perfectly okay." That made me sooo happy. She really needed to stick up for herself.
I absolutely loved the little stories Cadence made up about the king and the sisters. I feel like they really helped draw a picture of how awful the rich can be if they allow money and power to get to them.
When Cadence first started getting her memories back, I started freaking out cause I could see they were headed in a bad direction. So when she gets all her final memories back, I almost cried because I couldn't believe Mirren, Gat, and Johnny had been ghost/hallucinations or whatever the hell they were the whole time and died in the fire. That mentally f@cked me up. I still can't wrap my head around it.

MY THOUGHTS
Let's get one thing straight: I did not like this book.
Yes, I gave it a high rating, but to tell you the truth, this is not a book that you can like.
A book I like would not screw up my mind, confuse the hell out of me, and leave me crying in a QuickTrip parking lot. Point being: This is not an enjoyable read.
For the most part, this book is slow and a bit dull. I was curious all throughout the book, since I've heard so many thing about THAT ENDING and there was an aura of mystery, but not a whole lot happens.

But the writing in this book is beautiful. Some people hate the choppy style of writing (an example is shown in the synopsis), but I think it works brilliantly with the story, as our main character isn't exactly all there.

The turning point for me, though, was the ending. I cannot tell you the ending, it's much better if you go into this book without knowing anything, but the ending screwed me up. I was not expecting that ending, even though I look back and see that there are so many clues to it in the book! But it's not something that you would easily guess! The ending destroyed me, but it was beautiful, tragically so, but it was still beautiful.

IN CONCLUSION
I originally picked up this book because I heard so many things about the ending. In fact, I picked up this book just because of my curiosity. The ending screwed me up, yes, but I still believe this book to be unique and beautiful. I do think that people should pick up this book just to read the end, but I know that the ending will not have the same affect to others. You will either love this book thanks to the ending or completely hate it. It's all up to you.