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 New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.

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

So this will be my first ever mini-review. Basically, whenever I read a book and I decide that I don’t have all that much to say on it (whether it’s because it’s a book that is best when you go in blind, or if I just don’t exactly know my thoughts on it) I will write a mini-review for it. These reviews will probably be 500 or less words and not structured like my other reviews. These reviews will also all be spoiler-free, as are most of my reviews. I think that We Were Liars is the perfect book to start off with because it’s a book that’s best when you go in not knowing anything. It’s also a short book, so a mini-review kind of fits with that. So anyway, let me express some opinions of mine on this book.

So I have heard nothing but amazing things about this book on every platform we bookworms invade (ie: Goodreads, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube,…) so I had to pick it up myself. I bought the book but, like usual, it stayed on m shelves gathering dust for months before I actually picked it up and cracked the spine. My sister actually saw the book on my shelf first and decided that she wanted to read it. After she raved about it, and I finished the book I had currently been reading, I picked the book up and finished it in that same day.

This book was such a quick read. I read this book faster than any other book I’ve read in my life. That being said, there were flaws and things I didn’t like all that much about this book. I won’t go into detail, but the main protagonist is unreliable at best and she’s not nearly as smart as she thinks she is. She’s privileged and spoiled rotten by her rich family. This leads to her making bad decisions, of course, because that’s what happens in the real world.

This book leaves you questioning everything the character does or says or thinks. You don’t know what’s actually real or what’s a figment of the character’s imagination. I think it’s a wonderful way to captivate readers and to keep them hooked in a story. I want to read more books with unreliable narrators like this one. If y’all have any suggestions, please let me know!

I’m actually surprised by how invested I got in this story, and the ending completely wrecked me. When I finished the book – I kid you not – I sat there on my couch with the book lying on my lap with my mouth hanging wide open. And once the surprise passed, anger and bewilderment took place. I told myself “Well that was a waste of my time” and things like “You can’t just write an entire book and then end it like that“.  I honestly think I’m still in denial over this one.

I still can’t bring myself to rate it anything lower than 4 stars because it was truly a greatly crafted book. E. Lockhart surely knows how to write a captivating read that keeps you on the edge of your seat, questioning your own questions. I would recommend this book to anybody who loves a good mystery read, or if you just need a short book to read on a dreary day. After all, I read this book on a dreary day and it certainly made the day more eventful for me.

What were your thoughts on this book if you’ve read it? Did you enjoy it or did you think it was a waste of your time? Let me know in the comments below! And try and keep everything spoiler-free! You don’t want to spoil the book for somebody else!