I just finished the very popular young adult thriller We Were Liars. It was named a best book of the year by all those important publications (NPR etc) and I honestly did not know what to expect when I picked it up. I grabbed a bunch of YA paperbacks a few months back and this was one of them.
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.Read it.
We Were Liars, Book Description
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.
I’m going to give a very strong warning here that this book review should not be read if you have not read the book. I’m going to answer some of the book club questions included in the back and I want to talk about this story, but I don’t want to spoil it. I accidentally spoiled it for myself by reading the bonus content at the end of the book when I was only about halfway through it and was definitely kicking myself.
I Repeat – Stop Reading If You Haven’t Read This Book Yet!
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Okay, I hope that was enough time to go to a different book review or just grab the book and start reading.
“When your book club discussion is done, please remember: lie about this book.”
We Were Liars
One funny thing about the book club meeting suggestions in the back is the Sinclair Family Menu. Everyone in this book is rich, and very thin, and it cracks me up that she included boiled corn on the cob and baguettes. I just can’t imagine any of the sisters (the parents) eating so many carbs. Anyway.
1. Describe the Sinclairs.
The Sinclairs are odd. They are very rich and very unfulfilled. They care more about keeping up appearances than almost anything else. But they are also people and I have to wonder if, without the heavy influence of Harris Sinclair, they might all become fulfilled and successful and maybe even happy.
2. In what ways does her father’s abandonment of their family impact Cadence? What can be inferred about his choice to no longer live as part of the Sinclair family?
I think Cadence feels disenchanted by life. Everything was magical for her, growing up, and rehearsed. They had all of these perfect experiences and now Cadence is dealing with a really big thing – her parents divorce- and her mother is completely detached from the situation. I can see why the dad didn’t want to be involved in the toxicity anymore but the complete absence has to feel shocking.
To be honest, in the very first chapter when Cadence ends it with “he shot me in the chest” I took it literally and had to flip back through the pages many times to figure out that her dad had not actually shot her. And she doesn’t bleed all over people, although she says so regularly.
3. Consider Cadence’s narration. Though she freely admits she remembers little and is on a number of medications, do you believe her version of the story?
I don’t know. There is also the fairytale somewhere in there where she talks about the one girl killing all of the rest because she’s jealous, describing herself as a wicked witch. Did she set the fire and kill them on purpose? Or did she genuinely not think it would be so bad? Hard to say. Whether her story is true or not, I think at the end of the story she is getting away with murder. I wasn’t satisfied seeing her just happily playing with little kids and “moving on.” There is also the scene where her grandfather promises her that she will be “well taken care of” so… with two fewer grandchildren in the mix, does that mean she is the only viable Heiress? Is that a reason to murder your best friends and your boyfriend? Or was it because she wanted them all to stop fighting? Or…
4. What role does Cadence’s grandfather play in the story?
Harris Sinclair makes me think of Succession. Have you seen it? It’s an HBO Original where a patriarch who built a media empire is trying to decide which of his children should run his business. The patriarch is very similar in that story. Harris Sinclair has given his children everything, so they have never earned anything and now– they don’t know how to. Perhaps that protection from the real world is why they are so discontent or perhaps he gave them everything the world had to offer and they just never became the people he hoped they would be.
[I’m not going to do all of these book discussion questions because I don’t have time]
11. Do you believe the Liars were justified in any way in committing the crime they committed? Was the crime successful in any way?
Maybe. I think the house became a symbol of all of their unhappiness. They were all beginning to worry that their time on Beachwood would come to an end because their families were fighting and tearing apart. They wanted to destroy it but — were they justified? No. Cady says that she knew that the dogs slept in the room upstairs in the house and they were there. They died in that fire. These dogs are bad dogs and they bark at the screen doors and at people and— they never barked at the kids when they went upstairs? They didn’t whine and scratch at the door when they heard them pouring gasoline? And why would Gat set fire to the basement? Wouldn’t the walls be concrete (so they wouldn’t burn anyway?)
I don’t think the crime was successful. Yes, she put an end to the bickering but she also ruined their lives. She stole the future from her best friends and her decisions that day changed the course of their family forever.
At the end of the book, the author talks about how she was worried that people wouldn’t like the book and that some people did throw it across the room. So, here are my closing thoughts. Did I like this book? Yes. I loved it. Did I like Cady? Yes. Do I support Cady and hope she has a happily ever after? No. I think Cady should probably be on trial for what she did. And I don’t think it’s all that believable that no one ever questioned her. The parents of the other children never thought for a second that maybe she was involved? Fire Arson Investigators are pretty good at knowing where fires begin and what they start with. They would know that the fire began on the main floor. They would know that Cady set fire to the only exit to the house and she was the only one to leave.
“The flames were terrible. Unearthly.
Then someone screamed.
And screamed again.
It was coming from the room directly above me, a bedroom. Johny was working on the second floor. I had lit the study, and the study had burned faster than anywhere else. The fire was rising and Johnny wasn’t out.”
We Were Liars, p. 228
She literally hears them burning to death, leaves and saves herself, then has the gall to wonder where they are. She then runs all the way to the other house, thinking that they will be waiting for her there. The timing makes no sense. She had just heard them burning to death. She knew they were dead and she had killed them. And she still never heard the dogs. These are big dogs, golden retrievers. And she never hears from Gat. She is guilty as it gets. Her privilege never shines brighter than when she walks away from it all, only to be doted on by everyone else.
All that to say, I really enjoyed this book. It was messy and emotional. It captures so many of those huge feelings that are hard to cope with when you are young. And it is heartbreaking. I can understand why some people might hate the ending. I think it’s going to be one of those novels where you either love it or hate it. I also really enjoyed the poetic prose and the way that Lockhart dares to break some grammar rules. Some people didn’t like that. I’m glad E. Lockhart took a risk and shared it with us.
Wait – So, Why Did I Spoil The Book for Myself?
Oh, I forgot to mention. I kept falling asleep through the first part of this book. I just couldn’t stay awake. It is kind of boring and a little frustrating because you are constantly … well, being lied to. Remember Cady saying her father shot her but he didn’t shoot her? He just moved out and she was feeling dramatic. So, every now and then I would get this jolting shock of a statement that made me wonder what was going on but I struggled through Part 1. So, I flipped to the bonus content and happened to read a massive spoiler about what happened to the Liars. Things do begin to pick up afte rthat and I did like how all the Liars are with each other. I liked their friendship and I liked the relationship with Gat. Maybe I stole some of the experience of the plot twist away or maybe I was able to read the rest of the book through the lens that they were all dead and maybe that made the book better. I can’t say for sure!
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