Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Title: We Were Liars

Author: E. Lockhart

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Publishing Date: May 13th, 2014

Read: January 23rd, 2023

Pages: 419

Audio Length: 6 Hours 27 Minutes

Genre: YA contemporary mystery thriller

TW: Self harm and suicidal ideation

Series: We Were Liars #1

Source: Audio

What it's about:

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 New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.

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

What I thought:

It took me a long time to get to this book, I kept seeing the hype and thought it looked good, especially since I've read E. Lockhart's books before and really enjoyed them. And this one, while being very different than her other ones, did not disappoint. Once I started this book it had me completely and entirely enthralled.  

Cover:

I love how mysterious this book looks. The colors are beautiful and it has a ghostly look to it. 

Story:

I really had no idea where the book was going at the beginning, and it kept me having to read more to figure out where the author was going, I thought it was just going to be a mental health book, but it turned into so much more than that. 

Pace: 

I feel like just the first few chapters are a bit slow, but really it's just building up for the big bam.  

Writing: 

I think the author did a really good job writing the characters, the emotions, the story of it all. 

Characters: 

I'm not sure about this, I think the point of the book is for the MC to be... Not unlikable per say, but she has a huge wall up and that's for good reason, it really shows us who she is in the end. The other characters are just okay, I didn't like or dislike them. 

 

World building: 

I read this so long ago, I'm trying to remember. I know I could picture the house and the lake so I guess she did pretty decent at it?  

Ending: 

The ending destroyed me. Destroyed. I remember I was reading this in the bath and I just sat there once it ended, stunned. I had to process and rethink everything. 

Narrator:

She did a good job. 

Overall:

This book broke me. It had me feeling so much and I was just in shock. 

A little Snippet:

“We are liars. We are beautiful and privileged. We are cracked and broken.”

― E. Lockhart, We Were Liars

Possible books of likeness:

Author's info:

Website

E. Lockhart is the author of Again Again, Genuine Fraud, We Were Liars and Family of Liars, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, and several other books. Whistle: A New Gotham CIty Hero is a graphic novel.

website: www.emilylockhart.com

Instagram: elockhartbooks

Twitter: elockhart

Other books I've read by this author: