I don’t even know how to review this book. I got a text from my dear friend, Elizabeth, full of praise for this one. She’s a discerning reader, much like me. I can like and enjoy a lot of books. I can recommend a good number of them to my friends. But, there are very few books that make me stop and think as much as this one. There are very few books that make me text Liz bad words when I get to a certain point because the author went there. There being subjective – a twist, a relationship, a moment that takes your breath away and makes you want to start re-reading the book from the beginning just to see if there were any clues you missed.
We Were Liars is that kind of book. It’s hard to review, because you don’t want to give anything away. The Sinclair family is a little dark, a little twisted, and a little messed up. Sisters fight. Patriarchy rules. And, amongst all the drama there are four friends, some related by blood, some related by experience. They get together every summer on their private island and the world seems just out of their reach. This is the story of the island, the memories, the people and the stories. The Liars, Cadence, Gus, Johnny and Mirren, see their world falling apart. They want to change things, but then something goes horribly wrong. Can the Liars piece the story of their 15th summer back together in time to really make a change? Can Cadence remember what her brain refuses to let surface. Can the truth be any more haunting that the fiction she makes up in her head?
Just when you, the reader, think you have the story figured out, author E. Lockhart throws another curve ball to the mix, creating divergent story lines that come crashing together at a critical moment.
That’s all I’m going to say. Read this one. And, if you’re a friend, feel free to text me bad words when the thing happens. You’ll know what it is.
