E. Lockhart - We Were Liars

Synopsis

Meet the Sinclair f. No one is a criminal, addict, nor failure. This is what Cadence believed for the first 17 years of her life. Every year the Sinclairs travelled to their private island for the Summer to reconnect and create new memories. From the Summer of ‘08 to ‘14 it was always Cadence, Johnny, Mirren and Gat – The 4 Liars. Each year was always a good year… except the Summer of ’15 where Cadence had little to no recollection of what happened. All she knows is what she was told by her mum and doctors - she was involved in an accident which left her sickly with strong migraines. In a desperate attempt to find out what happened during that Summer, Cadence returns to the island 2 years later in hopes of regaining her memories. However, the closer she gets to the truth, the darker her family becomes as she is faced with the realisation that the Sinclairs are everything they portrayed themselves not to be

Likes

Although the story unravels from 17-year-old Cadence’s point of view, the reader is still able to get to know the other members of the seemingly perfect Sinclair family. With this, we are exposed to how dysfunctional they all are, the expectations they set for themselves, and the lies they’ve been living

E. Lockhart effectively carries Cadence’s desperate tone throughout many parts of the book as she tries to remember what happened during the Summer of ‘15. In doing so, the reader also finds themselves keen to know what happened that summer – both for Cadence’s curiosity and our own. This allows us to better engage with the novel as we uncover the truth with Cadence, resulting in a deeper level of sympathy as we’re exposed to what transpired

The twist towards the end of the book is not one I saw coming nor could have been well prepared for. Lockhart cleverly uses the opportunity to change the pace and tone of the story from steady but desperate to find out the truth, to frantic, panicked and devastated once that truth has been revealed. Doing so causes the reader to also adopt this shift in tone as we go from being relatively relaxed to suddenly on edge as we aggressively flip through the pages to satisfy our urgent need to know what happens, strengthening our interest in the plot and how it will unfold

Dislikes

The author uses both the past and present tense to jump from before the accident to the present day. However, I only realised this near the end of the novel. Although this tactic was effective for the most part, I was confused looking back through the book because Cadence was clearly not in her right frame of mind, yet none of the other members of the family approached her concerning this and allowed her to continue with her bizarre behaviour. For example, Cadence wandering around Beechwood Island and engaging in deep conversations with herself seems to have been ignored by her family. Additionally, after reading the book, I was no longer certain of what was the past and what was the present which further made it all the more confusing

Although the plot twist near the end of the book was exciting as we finally regained Cadence’s lost memories, it seemed very rushed. Up to this point the story had unfolded at a moderately steady pace, but there was no build up to the plot twist. It was very sudden, out of the blue and appeared forced as though the author really wanted to include this turn of events but didn’t know how so just threw it in there. As a result, I felt that it wasn’t effectively executed as there were some gaps and it seemed rather bizarre

While Lockhart encourages the reader to know a bit about Cadence’s extended family, I would have liked to know more about her cousins who were also involved in what happened the summer of ‘15. As Gat was Cadence’s love interest, it made sense that we knew a little more about him, but I would have appreciated getting to know Johnny and Mirren’s characters more. Additionally, most of Cadence’s interactions were with Gat and few were directly with Johnny and Mirren which prevented me from being able to express much sympathy towards them as I was detached from their characters

General Thoughts

The writing was not one which suited me due to the rushed pace at times and lack of information in areas which I found to be confusing and limited how much of the story I could grasp. Furthermore, although the novel takes a personal and emotive tone from being in the first-person narrative of a sick teenage girl, I was not able to develop much of a like nor interest in her and her situation which made it difficult to remain invested in the story. Had the protagonist been able to stir some sort of emotion in me and I didn’t feel forced to accept a plot twist which I don’t think was very well executed, I like to imagine that I would have enjoyed the book a bit more

Rating

I was encouraged to read this book due to the positive reviews it had received but was disappointed by my lack of interest and investment in the novel once I was gifted my own copy. Although it did not take me long to read, I found it difficult to enjoy which made me eager to finish it so that I could move onto the next book

Based on this, I would give this book a 2/5

Would I recommend?

Although this book did not meet my expectations, I am glad to have read it. However, had I felt that there wasn’t content missing in some areas, the main character was able to evoke any feeling in me, and there was more of a build up to the plot twist, I would have enjoyed it more. As a result, this is unfortunately not a book I would recommend

Favourite Quotes

‘Then he pulled out a handgun and shot me in the chest. . . . The bright red shame of being unloved soaked the grass in front of our house, the bricks of the path, the steps to the porch. My heart

spasmed among the peonies like a trout. Mummy snapped. She said to get hold of myself. Be normal, now, she said. Right now, she said. Because you are. Because you can be’

‘If you want to live where people are not afraid of mice, you must give up living in palaces’

“Be a little kinder than you have to, Cady, and things will be alright”

‘It is good to be loved, even though it will not last. It is good to know that once upon a time, there was Gat and me’