Hello everyone it’s Zainab, welcome or welcome back to my blog! I recently read the widely popular book: We Were Liars and I found it very interesting – so today I’ll be sharing my thoughts!
Official Reviews
We Were Liars had a variety of different opinions and reviews. Starting with an average of 3.7/5 stars on Goodreads. Amazon customers had an overall average rating of 4.3/5 stars and Waterstones giving it an average 4.5/5 star rating.
Synopsis
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.
My Opinion
Going into We Were Liars, I was very unsure of what to expect. Both the blurb and synopsis did not really give much away about the plot. On the one hand, this made for a very exciting reading experience as I didn’t know certain things would happen so I genuinely had a very raw reaction at a lot of moments within the story. On the other hand, it made reading slightly boring at times because at some points (more so at the beginning when it was slow) I was so confused of where plot points would lead to or not really be able to understand the build up. So, it was intitally a hit or miss -in my opinion!
Other than that, I thought the story was very well crafted. The Sinclair family illustrate themselves as a picture-perfect family at the beginning of the story. And I thought that the theme of family relationships was beautifully crafted in this story as Lockhart really breaks down barriers and shows realistic strains in the family – that many normal families also go through. The discovery of this was executed so well, because after the main protagonist’s, Cadence, life changing-event her family changes and breaks down – almost trying to force their past dynamics in which she realises that some things will have to change.
The idea of trauma is also heavily explored in the climax of this book – both physically and mentally. The traumatic event that Cadence goes through really set the story on it’s course. Because the mental effects of trauma are not only on herself but also felt by her family. Yet, the physical trauma meant that Cadence couldn’t remember her life-changing event – and this really began the mystery as she tries to discover what actually happened to her, all while her family ties are changing and her group of friends (The Liars) aren’t telling her something. With that being said, if you’re not good with trauma, please check the trigger warnings beforehand because some people who didn’t had an uncomfortable reading experience.
I briefly wanted to touch on the ending (don’t worry, no spoilers) because it was honestly the most unexpected ending in a book that I’ve ever read. After reading it, I was so stumped (go to my Goodreads to see my reaction to the ending!) Without giving anything away, it was so well imagined and thought out – E Lockhart really gave an incredible ending! Once you finish it, you’ll instantly respect the book and the author even more because you’ll realise how much lead up to it, even from the first page, which you didn’t realise. The subtle foreshadowing was amazingly executed!
Overall, this book was quite enjoyable. Despite the slow pace and confusion, I thought the second half really made up for it! So I’d definitely recommend if you’re into more shorter books with plot twists you couldn’t even imagine.
This review was so interesting for me to write, so let me know in the comments what you thought of this book, and whether you agreed or disagreed!
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