Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Disclaimer: I'm feeling a bit ambivalent about this one.

We Were Liars is a tale told by unreliable narrator Cadence Sinclair Eastman (emphasis on the Sinclair). Cadence has grown up spending every summer on her grandfather's private and personal island, equipped with boats, tennis courts, and personalized mansions for each of his three daughters. Cadence has two cousins the same age as her. In addition to these three, there is Gat, friend of Cadence's cousin Johnny and step-nephew to his mother. Their clique is called the "Liars," apparently because they have a tendency to get into mischief and stretch the truth. They refer to each summer as the summer of their age-summer fourteen, summer fifteen, etc.

The story begins at the start of summer seventeen, although a great deal of the narrative is spent in Cadence's past. There is the sense that the plot follows its present line of thought, but there are long passages where Cadence has a specific memory or thought and will elaborate in great detail. Her voice is fractured and detached, giving the story a both chilling factor and a sense of anticipation that something awful is going to happen.

To be honest, I was quite frightened by this book for the first half of it. It isn't so much what is said, but what is left unsaid. From the start, you know there is a great deal left beneath the surface. Whether of not Cadence is privy to this information is unknown. However, I loved this book the first half. I thought it was elegant and beautifully written, even poetic in a way.

Most people who read this book refuse to talk about the ending with someone who has not read it, but this rule sort of baffles me. Is the ending supposed to be a surprise? Not that it's not a GOOD ending, but is it really surprising? To me, this is another one of those cases where you see hints of the ending very early on and begin praying in earnest that you are wrong. You don't want to be right because you figured it out so early. And you so dearly want to be surprised.

There are just way too many hints for this to be a surprise. I mean, really. I won't go into the details in case someone hasn't read the book or does not agree with me, but the overwhelming predictability caused me to knock my numerical rating of this book from a 5 star to a 3. I thought it was solid gold for the first half.

But the predictability did not ruin the entire experience for me, as predictability usually does. Instead, I found myself rather taken by Cadence and her crew and, shockingly, her materialistic, rich family. I enjoyed reading this not so much for the story but for the voice in which it is told. The characters are likable, but despicable, and I'm sure they are meant to be that way. It's most likely that not many readers can really relate to that kind of wealth and privilege, but plenty can relate to the frustratingly thick ties of family, friendship so strong you would do anything to salvage them, and to the growing pains of finding your own identity outside of your family's.

As for the romance, it is astounding. It's very much a coming-of-age drama, not dissimilar to Romeo and Juliet's insurmountable struggle. It's unlikely that this kind of lifelong, young romance would ever happen in reality, but it is compelling. And it does feel real. Really, there's not a whole lot of time for you to actually think about it. It just is.

This book is heartbreaking and beautiful. It's also unique in the sense that you don't frequently see the good sides and weaknesses of such upper class people represented in fiction. Yes, I knew how the book would end quite early on, but I'm still glad I read it. The pages just fly by. Yes, I saw the ending coming a mile off, but it still hit me out of nowhere.