We Were Liars Review

We Were Liars

by: E. Lockhart

"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 National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE."

-Goodreads

From the hands of E. Lockhart and publishing company, Delacorte Press, out came We Were Liars a hooking novel full of sudden surprises and complex characters. We Were Liars is a standalone dedicated to, Daniel, a someone who E. Lockhart may only know. Text copyright took place in The United States, 2013.

The main plot of this novel takes place on a private island where aunts, cousins, and granddad (Sinclairs) could spend summer break. The aunts are known as Carrie, Bess and Penny. The story revolves around the character named Cadence, the only child of Penny. Cadence and the rest of the "Liars" (Gat, Johnny, Mirren) take on countless adventures on the island with the "Littles" (Will, Taft, Bonnie and Liberty). Everything is fun in the sun until the aunts start to argue over inheritance and a tragedy takes place that threatens strong bonds and spins Cadence's world upside down. As she takes on the journey to recover, people are lost in the process and Beechwood Island as she knew it registers in some way, foreign.

An interesting take on We Were Liars includes the fact that everything happened for a reason. Things were done and said that may have not made sense right of the bat, but in the end as the tragedy is explained to Cadence -who suffers memory loss- it is also revealed  to the audience. For example Carrie walking the island alone at night, or granddad's continuous mistake of calling Cadence, Mirren.

The story is very complex but understandable all the same. Cadence not being able to handle the truth of what happened on summer fifteen on the island, causes her to forget each time the story is told to her. Doctors and the aunts agree to allow Cadence to figure out the tragedy on her own, without the help of the "Liars". This frustrated Cadence, not being able to get answers out of her family or Gat on what happened. Towards the end, after a series of migraines and flashbacks, truths unravel and the dams break. All tears are set loose.

We Were Liars features an un-praised, almost secret love story of Cadence and Gat, an "Indian" boy who came to the island with his uncle Ed. Although, Gat may not blend with the Sinclair family, he is still tolerated by most. Allowing him and his uncle, who is dating Carrie a place on Beechwood.

With the absolute enjoyment of this novel, five stars would never be enough of a rating. I recommend We Were Liars to anyone seeking a Young Adult novel filled with joy, pain, suspense and tragedy with a touch of romance. I would like to thank We Were Liars for being such a great and fulfilling dish.