Book Title:                  We Were Liars (Standalone)
Author:                         E. Lockhart
Number of pages:  227

Synopsis:

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

(re: Goodreads @ We Were Liars by E. Lockhart)

Should this book be picked up? the tl;dr spoiler-less review:

– If you are dying to read this book, forgo every review and just read.
– Putting on that detective hat may ruin the reading experience. The “big twist” isn’t earth shattering if readers can uncover the clues.
– The narrative follows an unreliable narrator and often reads with a staggered-yet-lyrical bounce. The descriptive prose is vivid but often overbearing and too dramatic—teenagers don’t think/speak the way this novel imagines them.
– The plot centers on a mystery and how the protagonist cannot recall a pivotal moment that changed her family. Everything else is filler content; basically tom-foolery, eating lots of food, and romantic dilemmas.
– Themes (money and power, corruption, racism and discrimination, misogyny, etc.) are lacklustre in development and add limited commentary to inspire change.

Initial Thoughts

First-world problems.
To eat that scone or not.
A fair-skinned girl; a boy quite the opposite.
Three musketeers, three French hens, a BLT sandwich. Three.
A skeptical hat. An ill-conceived plan. A lot of hype.
No one likes the truth.
Truth can save you.
Truth is boring.

Read it (or don’t).
And if anyone asks you how it ends, please consider the TRUTH.

In another world, this may have at least made it past the first round of proofing. (Maybe not, maybe not, maybe not.)

Disclaimer: Potential spoilers inherent to this review from here onward.

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