We Were Liars

“Live in the moment because life is short” - advice young people frequently hear. But is living in the moment always the right decision? If you're constantly living in the moment and making impulsive choices, couldn’t your actions spiral out of control like a tornado ripping through a town, destroying everything in its path? It’s important to consider the consequences of your actions before doing them because when the dust settles, you can see what you’ve truly done…how do you go back? In We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, Cadence Sinclair, the main character, wishes she asked herself questions like those before making one of the worst decisions of her life one summer at her beach house. E. Lockhart develops the characters so they each possess a distinct and unique personality, and the plot keeps the reader intrigued and on the edge of her seat throughout the book...until the surprise conclusion…The Sinclairs had a perfect little family that vacation on a perfect little beach, Beechwood, during the summer. They were athletic, beautiful, and rich. They walked in straight lines and held sophisticated discussions around the dinner table. They were the definition of quintessential. At least, they used to be. But everything changes one summer when Cady, Gat, Mirren and Johnny craft a foolish plan. Now, two years later, Cady is back at Beachwood for only four weeks. Four weeks to go through the twisting chaos of her memory and find out how consequential her actions really were. But after Cady finds out the truth, she finds that it was more beneficial to her fragile state of mind to be left in the dark. Friendship and family are important, but they are also fragile. What happened that summer? With her perfect family crumbling down around her, will Cady be able to overcome and accept what she did?The way Cady, Gat, Mirren, and Johnny are portrayed is vital to the success of the book. As you read, each personality floats out of the pages and can be seen as a reality. The reader can easily relate to the main characters, their emotions, relationships with each other, and struggles they go through. There are two main characters that especially pop out at you. The first one is Gat who was passionate, political, and ambitious, brings perspective, intelligence, and diversity to the island, “Not everyone has private islands. Some people work on them. Some work in factories. Some don’t have work. Some don’t have food” (Fantasy Island by Meg Rosoff). Gat is aware of everything going around him and wants to make a difference. He never lets anyone forget how bad the world sometimes really is, “You don’t know my bedroom with the window onto the airshaft…...You only know me on this island, where everyone’s rich except me and the staff. Where everyone is white except me, Ginny [the housekeeper], and Paulo [the gardener]” (103). He doesn't want to be perfect and put on fake smiles at dinner. Gat pops out of the book because of how different he is. Gat wasn’t a Sinclair. He wasn’t blond and rich. In fact, he was the complete opposite of a typical Sinclair and while some of the family couldn’t stand him, Cady fell in love with him.With Gat in the picture, Cady views the world differently. In my opinion, I think that Cady wouldn’t have made those mistakes and gotten into her accident if it hadn’t been for the way Gat influenced her and convinced her to take more chances without fully thinking through them.Not only are the characters important to the success of We Were Liars, but the plot is as well. Each good story must contain a strong, intriguing plot. There must be suspense, diction, and conflict. The plot E. Lockhart creates with her surprise ending will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page. When you start reading We Were Liars, the reader discovers that the main character, Cady, was in an accident. She’s been told that she hit her head while swimming. However, the reader and Cady, who are both limited to the information of what actually happened, start to question the sequence of events from the night of her accident, “I make a separate page for the accident itself…I must have gone swimming on the tiny beach alone. I hit my head on a rock….I was diagnosed with hypothermia, respiratory problems, and a brain injury…Did I really have a head injury from the swim, or did something else happen?...Was I the victim of some crime?” (77). Cady starts wondering about what really happened, and no one will help her remember, “Johnny stares at me oddly. ‘You don’t remember?’ ‘Her memory is messed up Johnny!’ yells Mirren……..No, no, shut up right now,’ Mirren barks……..’This is important! How can you not pay attention to this stuff?’ Mirren looks like she might cry” (94). Cady and the reader are limited to the information of the accident but discover that Cady’s mind conjured visions of Mirren, Johnny, and Gat to protect her from what actually happened that night. As the conclusion of the book comes, suspense builds and the ending is unforeseen.Your actions are important. Consider the consequences of what you’re doing before doing them. If Cady had done this, the place in her heart meant for family and love would not feel so empty. E. Lockhart uses Cady’s choices to make We Were Liars an unpredictable roller coaster from start to finish. I would recommend this book to someone who loves suspense action, and love.

I watched We Were Liars the show first and binged it in two days—it completely pulled me in. While it's not your usual light and breezy summer series, the emotional intensity made it so worth it. I felt what the characters felt, and I absolutely hated the manipulation and hypocrisy Mr. Sinclair put his daughters through. It made everything that happened later make sense, even when it hurt.The show hinted at deeper layers, so I picked up the book right after. I loved how short and direct the chapters were—it made it a fast, impactful read. The book and show are very closely connected, and I think the show did a phenomenal job bringing the story to life without losing the tone or heart of the original.I’ve already started Family of Liars because I want to know the full story behind the moms and aunties. The show gives little glimpses of things that the first book doesn’t cover, and it made me even more curious about the prequel. I love how it’s all connecting together.This is a perfect binge-worthy summer read/watch combo with real emotional weight and beautiful storytelling. Highly recommend!

It was an easy read with a wonderful plot twist! Once the plot twist was revealed, the story slowed down instead of speeding up, and it became arduous to finish the chapter. Otherwise, great novel!

Rating: 3.5Welcome to the beautiful Sinclair family.No one is a criminal.No one is an addict.No one is a failure.The Sinclairs are athletic, tall, and handsome. We are old-money Democrats. Our smiles are wide, our chins are square, and our tennis serves are aggressive.So begins E. Lockhart’s much-hyped YA novel, We Were Liars. And, with these first lines, we immediately suspect that our young narrator, Cadence Sinclair, may not be terribly reliable.Through Cadence, we meet the Sinclair family. At its head is Harris, Cadence’s grandfather, the patriarch of the Sinclair clan. He is a wealthy and powerful man who lords his wealth and power over his three useless, divorcée daughters, Carrie, Penny, and Bess. They vie for his affection (read: they try to sinclair-family-treelock down their inheritances), drink too much white wine, and bicker constantly. And, every summer, they bring their seven children and Gat (Carrie’s boyfriend’s nephew, who first summers with them the year he is eight) to the Sinclairs’ private island, Beechwood Island, a twenty-minute boat ride from Martha’s Vineyard.Cadence is the oldest grandchild, but she, Johnny, Mirren, and Gat are all roughly the same age, having been born in the fall of the same year. The four of them are inseparable on Beechwood Island, and the rest of the family calls them, collectively, “The Liars.” They refuse to be involved with their mothers’ incessant efforts to plead their cases for this house or that piece of jewelry. Instead, they just enjoy the island and being together. They are happy.But, then, tragedy befalls the Sinclair family on Beechwood Island. During the summer that Cadence, Johnny, Mirren, and Gat are fifteen (“summer fifteen,” they call it), Cadence has a terrible accident. She is found on the we-were-liars-mapbeach alone, lying in her underwear, half in the water, suffering from hypothermia. She can’t remember what happened (the doctors diagnose her memory loss and horribly painful headaches as post-traumatic amnesia and migraines), but her family, who believe that “Silence is a protective coating over pain,” refuse to speak of the accident.Her mother (whom she calls “Mummy,” obviously) determines that Cadence should spend summer sixteen in Europe with her father, but, for summer seventeen, Cadence is ready to return to Beechwood Island to see Johnny, Mirren, and Gat, and uncover the mystery of the events surrounding her accident.Not only is Cadence an amnesiac, but she is also highly emotional and prone to somewhat melodramatic bouts that she describes in vivid, metaphorical detail (“My head and shoulders melted first, followed by my hips and knees. Before long I was a puddle, soaking into the pretty cotton prints. I drenched the quilt she never finished, rusted the metal parts of her sewing machine. I was pure liquid loss, then, for an hour or two.”). She is also an opinionated teenager. All of these factors contribute to her being a somewhat limited narrator . . . and it is through her that we are introduced to all the other characters. There are the bad guys: Mummy, who is “delusional,” always reminds Cadence to “Be normal now. Because you are. Because you can be,” and tries to cover problems up with money, and Grandfather, who is a maxim-spouting (“We work for what we want, and we get ahead. We never take no for an answer, and we deserve the rewards of our perseverance.”) manipulator. And there are the good guys: Johnny, who is “bounce, effort and snark,” Mirren, who is “sugar, curiosity and rain,” and Gat, who is “contemplation and enthusiasm. Ambition and strong coffee.” She has them all pigeonholed just so. And, because the characters are all described exclusively by Cadence, they all come off as one-dimensional. This may be intentional, but the result is a book full of fairly flat characters.At times, the writing style is beautiful and clever and creative (like the interspersed fairy tales that mimic the Sinclair family history). At other times, it borders on annoying. There are lots of choppy sentences and sentence fragments, sometimes with excessive paragraphing, so it verges on wannabe-poetic or somewhat reminiscent of Katherine Faw Morris’s stark style in Young God. Oddly, this combination makes for very fast and interesting (if somewhat fragmented) reading, and I devoured the book.Any write-up or review of this book will mention that there is a big twist ending. Normally, I loathe twist endings (I’ve mentioned Gone Girl as an example of this premise on numerous occasions). Twist endings tend to be a little too gimmicky, and this book’s ridiculously gimmicky marketing tagline (“Read it. And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.”) doesn’t help matters. But (in a surprise twist!) I didn’t mind this book’s twist. The ending is a surprise, but it’s not a stupid, out-of-nowhere, makes-no-sense twist. And, while I was reading, I didn’t find myself obsessing over the possibilities (there are clues but not overly obvious ones) or rolling my eyes at the predictability of it all.This is one of those books that was only a click or two away from being really, really great. If the characters were a little more interesting, if the writing style were a bit more cohesive, and if the plot had been a little less contrived, it could have been amazing. As it is, it’s pretty good.

I liked this book because the plot was unexpected and different. I thought at first the writing was a little simple, but over time it drew me in. Story of wealth, family fighting over inheritance, and a tragedy. I could have done without the fairytales, but other than that, it was a great book.

Great summer read! Invested in characters and surprised in the end! Quick read. Following up with the other two books in the Liars family.