A great book for fans of The Summer I Turned Pretty. I didn't get what the whole book was actually about, but I enjoyed reading it nonetheless.
We Were Liars
By E. Lockhart
| Interest Level | Reading Level | Reading A-Z | ATOS | Word Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grades 7 - 12 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
A New York Times Bestseller
One of James Patterson's "Favorite Thrillers for the Beach" (New York Times)
"Haunting, sophisticated . . . a novel so twisty and well-told that it will appeal to older readers as well as to adolescents." —Wall Street Journal
"A rich, stunning summer mystery with a sharp twist that will leave you dying to talk about the book with a pal or ten." —Parade.com
"Thrilling, beautiful, and blisteringly smart, We Were Liars is utterly unforgettable." —John Green, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars
"You’re going to want to remember the title. Liars details the summers of a girl who harbors a dark secret, and delivers a satisfying, but shocking twist ending." —Breia Brissey, Entertainment Weekly
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.
"An ambitious novel with an engaging voice, a clever plot and some terrific writing." —New York Times Book Review
"No one should be talking about the shocking twist ending. What we can talk about is...[Lockhart's] razor-sharp portrayal of a family for whom keeping up appearances is paramount and, ultimately, tragic." —The Chicago Tribune
Publisher: Ember
ISBN-13: 9780385741279
ISBN-10: 0385741278
Published on 5/29/2018
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 320
Book Reviews (3)
![blayne187](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 12 12"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
We Were Liars written by E. Lockhart is about a girl named Cadence Sinclair who struggles with extreme migraines and other mental illnesses. She spends her summers on her grandfather’s private islands with her cousins; Mirren, Johnny, and his friend Gat. The summer she was 15, she had a terrible accident and forgot everything that happened that summer. Cadence didn’t go back until she was 17 and she was determined to remember everything she had forgotten. This realistic fiction novel addresses topics such as family, trauma, love, death, and suicide. I loved this book and I’ve never read and plot like it before. I was challenged by the plot structure in the first couple of chapters but the ending made it completely worth it. Overall, I would rate this book a 4 and would recommend it to older readers who might understand the plot structure more than I did.
We Were Liars is fascinating. The writing style is very concise, and while there is fabulous description of the island that the Sinclairs occupy every summer, there's also an underlying eerie note that makes it all the more interesting to read about. The setting seems intricately real, what with the shimmering waters and the seashells and ice cream. Cadence, Mirren, Johnny, and Gat are easily distinguishable and entertaining. The gradual family tension among the Sinclairs is well-developed, and the plot twist at the end had me reeling. However, I definitely didn't like this book right from the start. The writing is a bit peculiar and jerky at times, and Cadence (who narrates the story) seemed quite whiny. I did warm up to the novel once more problems were woven into the plot. Sometimes, though, there was a weird feeling, as if these problems weren't as big as they really were. For example, the twist at the end was executed in an almost anticlimactic way. It's sort of just...confusion for a few chapters or so. Once I understood, though, I really liked the ending. Overall, I would definitely recommend this book as a lighter read, though I did have a few problems with it. The descriptions are marvelous and the overall idea is very unique.