Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
What: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Who: Allen and Unwin
When: August 1st 2014
How: A copy of this novel was provided by Allen and Unwin in exchange for an honest review.
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 that will leave you reeling.
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.
We Were Liars absolutely and completely blew me away.
From the moment I opened the book, to the moment I closed it and stared at its cover in awe, We Were Liars was brilliant. Incredible. Mind blowing. Moving. Beautiful. I cannot use enough adjectives to accurately describe how much I adored and loved and covet this book.
We Were Liars centres around Cadence Sinclair. A spoiled, broken rich girl. Cadence’s internal monologue throughout the entire novel was captivating. It truly was. It was rife with beautiful metaphors and made-up fairytales and painful memories. And every single word made me want to keep reading.
Her love for Gat was gorgeous. Gat himself was gorgeous. This ship sailed from the shores the instant I was introduced to it. It was completely bittersweet and incomprehensible and yet understandable – all at the same time. And I think that’s one of the things that drew me to it so much. Its depths and intricacies. I could read on and on and on, which is pretty much what I did until I hit the last word of the last page.
I loved the pacing. The pacing was beautiful. It let me know exactly who each character was, and exactly what had happened before the accident which Cadence does not remember. The mystery was drawn out and suspenseful, but did not annoy me in the slightest. Of course, it made me want to keep reading, but every single other aspect of We Were Liars made me want to keep reading, as well. This was mystery done perfectly, I tell you. Absolutely perfectly.
I’m not going to lie about the ending, but I will tell you that after I finished it, I practically went back and re-read the whole book. I really needed to. I needed to go back and read what the characters really meant when they said things I couldn’t understand, or that I couldn’t decipher. And it made so much sense. It made such sense.
Now, I’m not entirely sure if what I am about to say next is spoilery, but it’s about my emotions (but sometimes a reaction can spoil, which is why I have made the text white). We Were Liars made me cry. It made me sob and it made my throat constrict with the effort of trying not to bawl at midnight. And it is now the sixth book in my entire life to ever make me cry. It is that beautiful. It is that heartbreaking. It is that superb.
I cannot get over We Were Liars. I cannot get over everything that it gave me, everything that it made me feel. And I have a deep sense that I will never get over it. Because We Were Liars is not a book that you can ever forget.
© 2014, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.
While I myself read it and didn’t really enjoy it, your review would have made me want to run and read it. I agree that this book has its emotional moments (I just really couldn’t feel anything. I blame the writing style). Wonderful review :)
Awh, no! I’m sad you didn’t like it as much as I did, Marianne. :( I’m glad my review was persuasive to you, though :D
Thank you, dear!
I have this on my to-read list, which is huge, so I was starting to wonder if I should bump this one, but after your wonderful review, how can I? It sounds like a must read, so thanks for sharing :)
Oh definitely bump it up! It is so very worth the read ;D
No problem – thank you for reading, Rochelle!
I agree with that ending being killer. The story is unique and different and I’m glad you enjoyed it!
It was an absolute crazy ending! It blew me away. I absolutely loved how unique this book was – probably one of the reasons it is now a favourite ^.^
*cries* I feel like I missed something massive with this book, because I ended up giving it three stars. The ending, while completely unexpected, just didn’t blow me away for some reason. And I did not get Cadence’s love for Gat at all. I guess it’s just not my thing?? I wish it was, though.
That’s okay! It would be a boring world if we all loved the same books, right?
I just loved their relationship because it was really reminiscent of how I have felt about people – so I was able to really emotionally connect with it. <3
OH THAT ENDING. OMG I CAN’T…Im still in shock, quite honestly. Like all the signs were THERE, but I just didn’t see it. And I’m almost always predicting books. And wasn’t the style awesome?!! Oh I loved ever second of that book. It was PERFECTION. Because of course I like to see my heart ripped out and trampled on. XD
I KNOW, CAIT. I KNOW *SOBS*
I am usually really good at predicting things as well, but this one absolutely blew me out of the water with its reveal! :O
The style was beautiful and this book was definitely perfection ^.^
Doesn’t everyone love to see their heart ripped to shreds?
I have seen so many amazing reviews for ‘We Were Liars’, which just makes me even more excited to really get into it! I love the sound of unexpected twists and turns, and I certainly hope it lives up to the hype for me :)
I hope it does too, Eugenia! I shall have to look out for your reaction :D
Is it really awful of me to be happy that you cried? If it is… well I’m still happy ;) I’m so glad this one could do that for you! It’s really such an amazing story – and now you’re making me want to reread it as well! I think I wouldn’t be as shocked about the truth, but I’d be able to see all the little details a bit clearer.
HAHA. Nah, it’s okay. :P I am really glad, too. It feels so special when a book can make me cry!
It was the little details that made the re-read so fantastic. Because there were some scenes and conversations that left me a bit confused but then they made so much sense after finally founding out the secret :'(
I definitely think this is a book that you need to reread to get the full experience which is maybe why I didn’t like this book as much as others? I haven’t yet had the chance to reread it but I think I will in the future because I think it’d be cool to kinda go back and see what clues the author dropped. And wonderful review Chiara! If I hadn’t read the book already, I know that your review would convince me to!
I hope you re-read it, because I felt a lot more connected to the story after I went back and understood what everything really meant.
Thank you so much, Annie – that means a lot!
This sounds amazing! I think with books with such mixed reviews you just have to make a decision based on whether or not is sounds interesting by the plot and it definitely does to me so I’ll be keeping this one in mind, lovely review!
I think it was absolutely amazing! :D
I hope you get around to reading it Safah, even if to finally found out what the secrets are and whether or not you love it!
The layout of your review if really cute. ^^ I’m glad you liked this book although I really hated it. It’s really a love or hate kinda book and I saw SO MANY mixed reviews; crazy! Wow, I see the ending had a huge effect on you! Lovely review, Chiara. :)
I’m glad you like it, Lola! :D
Awh, no. To be honest, I think it takes a special book to get such mixed reviews!
Thank you ^.^
Oh wow!! The awe-struck way you talk about this book has me completely sold! The contemporaries I usually read are the cutesy, fluffy pick-me-ups but THIS ONE. So much secrecy. Need to get to reading it! Thank you for the great review :))
Oh, yay! I’m so glad, Alicia :D
I hope you do pick it up, it was absolutely fabulous. And many secrets and mystery :)
No problem, dear!
Ohhhh, how I loved this one too. There are no words. No. Words. Perfection. I’m still thinking about it too. We really need a support group. Awesome review hun <3
Yay! I know a few people have been ‘meh’ about it, but I’m glad you loved it as much as I did, Kelly :D
We definitely need a support group to try and get through this! Thank you ^.^ <3
I bawled like a baby at this one! I couldn’t believe it! It was seriously amazing. I love everything that you said in your review, you were spot on with everything. I wish I had re-read the book after I had finished. Brilliant review!
I know the feeling, Gina! It definitely was amazing, and it has made my favourites shelf (which is very hard).
Maybe you can re-read it sometime soon! I think it definitely makes it even more feelsy than it is already.
Thank you ^.^
Aw, I’m so, so glad that you ended up loving this book, Chiara! Unfortunately it just didn’t work for me…the ending blew me away, but I felt distanced from Cadence throughout the majority of the novel, and for some reason, I just felt as though it was 3.5 stars-worthy for me. Which is a shame, as I usually adore similar books. Oh well, maybe a re-read in the future will change my mind?
Me, too! I hadn’t had much luck with YA mystery novels, and then I was so happy that this one was so wonderful :D
Awh, no, it’s a shame you didn’t like it, Ebony :(
Cadence was a bit distanced, but I think that’s because she was so confused and couldn’t remember.
Who knows, maybe a re-read will endear the book to you a little bit more ;D
I am so glad you loved We Were Liars as much as I did, I thought it was absolutely amazing and so completely emotional and it was masterful how it all clicked in the end even though I never would have guessed. Lovely review hun! x
Me, too! There have been heaps of mixed reviews, but I definitely adored this one :D
I definitely agree that the ending was masterful – I had no idea it was coming!
Thank you Jeann <3
Before the hype around this book started, I must admit that I wasn’t THAT interested. I thought the blurb sounded okay, but then all the raving reviews started to come in.. and now I hope I can pick it up soon :)
I hope you do pick it up, Mel! It’s an amazing read :D