We Were Liars in ENGL 596 / EDCI 551

Apr 01, 2015 Logan rated it it was amazing

E. Lockhart's We Were Liars is, to put it colloquially, the young adult version of Gone Girl. This is not to say that the plot mirrors that of Gillian Flynn's best-seller; in that respect, the books could not be more unlike. The beauty of We Were Liars lies in the author's ability to twist the notions of reality four-fifths of the way through the book, leaving readers to gape at their suddenly-shifting perspectives as the book winds to a close.

The novel focuses on Cadence Sinclair Eastman, the e ...more

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Apr 07, 2015 Michelle rated it liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. While I wasn't the biggest fan of the turn the book took towards the end (although it did invoke a suitable reaction that I felt the need to put the book down for a moment. Kudos to that), I enjoyed reading We Were Liars and having lovely little flashbacks of my time watching Gossip Girl in high school. Our protagonist, Cadence, is dealing with the aftermath of a tragic accident that she has retained no memory of, despite her mother informing her of it several times over. As the story unfolds, w While I wasn't the biggest fan of the turn the book took towards the end (although it did invoke a suitable reaction that I felt the need to put the book down for a moment. Kudos to that), I enjoyed reading We Were Liars and having lovely little flashbacks of my time watching Gossip Girl in high school. Our protagonist, Cadence, is dealing with the aftermath of a tragic accident that she has retained no memory of, despite her mother informing her of it several times over. As the story unfolds, we learn that this 'perfect' family is even more imperfect than Cadence had previously thought and we learn of her own shocking role in it.

I enjoyed Cadence very much as our protagonist (granted, I have a soft spot for unreliable narrators) and I thought that Lockhart did a stunning job portraying a character suffering from a mental illness in the wake of her accident. And I think young readers (or any read, truly) can relate to her repeated feeling of being incapable of getting up and going through the motions of the day. Her reaction to discovering her own secret is also admirable. I was impressed with how well she handled the weight of her actions and, while she felt blame and guilt for what she had done, she did not allow it to consume her and, by the end of the story, while its doubtful she will ever overcome the accident, she was on her way to integrating the tragedy into a part of who she is.

I will admit that the end left me fumbling for a moment; I thought the poor dogs dying in the fire was bad enough, but then her friends had to be claimed by it, too, and I'm still uncertain of how I feel about the protagonist undergoing such a substantial loss; while it's clear Cadence loves all her family, the Liars were such a large part of her world. I did, however, greatly enjoy the relationship between the four, and that between Cadence and Gat especially. I just liked Gat so much in general. Here, with him, the novel became more multifaceted, introducing the conflict of racial and social equality. Gat made Cadence question the very foundation of who she was in a way that could influence the reader to question the reasoning for their own beliefs on such standings. And that sets in the motion the events that lead to the rest of the novel. We Were Liars is both thoughtfully and emotionally provoking while also questioning identity and the reasoning behind it, making it a great addition to any YA library. ...more

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Apr 09, 2015 Hannah Alexander rated it liked it · review of another edition

Reading We Were Liars by E. Lockhart tested my patience. I feel as though I often reference my socioeconomic status as a child, so I will try to refrain. However, I have an extremely difficult time understanding and relating to the issues of the 1%. Until I came to college, the lifestyle of people having the kind of money the Sinclair’s had was fantasy. No one except the movie stars owned houses on a private island that they visited every summer.

With that in mind, I feel as though I will need t ...more

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Apr 09, 2015 Mykala rated it really liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. In We Were Liars by E. Lockhart Cadence is part of the Sinclair family who is practically perfect in every way, at least on the outside. Within the family there is turmoil that revolves around the battle for the family inheritance, which escalates when everyone is together. Every summer they all convene, kids in tow, on their private island where they each have a private house. This is where the four eldest cousins, including Cadence, form their own group they name the Liars. Together the Liars In We Were Liars by E. Lockhart Cadence is part of the Sinclair family who is practically perfect in every way, at least on the outside. Within the family there is turmoil that revolves around the battle for the family inheritance, which escalates when everyone is together. Every summer they all convene, kids in tow, on their private island where they each have a private house. This is where the four eldest cousins, including Cadence, form their own group they name the Liars. Together the Liars endure their manipulative parents, the pressure to be perfect, and the power of truth. It is not until summer fifteen though that everything changes, altering the Liar’s lives forever.

The unfolding of this story is allusive and captivating. The slow release of memories from Cady’s character kept me guessing and trying to piece together the events myself. The jumps from past to present were interwoven in such a way that made the story flow rather than feel broken up. I also enjoyed Cady’s use of the typical fairytale to draw parallels about what was happening in her family throughout the novel. The fairytales mimicked the mystical quality that was present in Cady’s interactions with others and her memories from the accident.

Lockhart’s use of vivid and detailed descriptions of Cady’s pain gives the reader an idea of the physical suffering she endures, whether real or mental. I would describe the descriptions as graphic, in that they involve blood and internal organs, such as the brain and stomach, spilling out of the body. These depictions create depth and add dimension to Cady’s character as a whole.

Personally I didn’t see the plot twist coming near the end of the novel. I hadn’t read any reviews or even the inside cover synopsis so I was a bit shocked. I found myself rereading the lines that stated how Johnny, Mirren, and Gat had perished in the fire. This twist made me question the thoughts and interactions that Cadence had had with the Liars. Was she mentally ill, was she addicted to drugs, was it all made up, or were they hallucinations? It made me want to go back and read the novel again from the beginning in order to glean more details. I feel as if I would read the novel completely different now that I know how it ends.

This book still has my attention even though I finished it several days ago. Overall it brings my thoughts back to our discussion about the counter story. This book emphasizes that things aren’t always what they seem from the outside and that even the “perfect” family struggles. For readers this novel can point out that you shouldn’t be quick to judge, especially before you know the whole story. Overall I liked how this novel forced me to think about how much trust readers place in their narrator and how they have the power to shape our interpretation of the story as a whole.
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Apr 09, 2015 Lauren H. rated it really liked it

Emily Lockhart’s book follows Cadence Sinclair as she navigates her world following a traumatic injury. Cadence doesn’t know what exactly happened to her; all she knows is that things are drastically different on her family’s island. In terms of structure, this book is highly unlike all the other Young Adult fiction that I have read. The pages take us backwards and forwards in time, and the ending is entirely unexpected for most readers. The first time I read We Were Liars, I wasn’t too thrille Emily Lockhart’s book follows Cadence Sinclair as she navigates her world following a traumatic injury. Cadence doesn’t know what exactly happened to her; all she knows is that things are drastically different on her family’s island. In terms of structure, this book is highly unlike all the other Young Adult fiction that I have read. The pages take us backwards and forwards in time, and the ending is entirely unexpected for most readers. The first time I read We Were Liars, I wasn’t too thrilled with it. I thought that the ending was unearned and that the stages of the mystery were not fully put into place. However, as I have re-read through many sections of the novel, I have come to appreciate much more of E. Lockhart’s clever devises, and more than that, I have come to recognize and enjoy the ways in which Lockhart disrupts the “tie the story in a bow” mentality.
I especially enjoyed the books critiques of capitalist society. Lockhart does not shy away from recognizing the ways in which money and materialism divide and disrupt families and societies, and she forces us to view the “picture perfect” family through a very gritty, very “not perfect” lens. She shows characters, especially Cadence, trying to disrupt the materialistic values of the family, but Lockhart also presents the reality of that difficulty as well. Also, Lockhart brings out issues of race in the world of capitalism. She places the character of Gat in the story as a way to deliberately critique what is wrong in a world that is made of money.
Furthermore, this book really gets at the way we are all “actors” in society. There are multiple moments in which Cadence’s mother asks her to act a certain way or perform perfection, essentially. Readers of all societal classes would be able to understand the ways in which we constantly perform our roles in society. Every person acts differently around different people, and this book demonstrates the very theatrical nature of our actions.
I also loved the ways in which fairytale stories and stories like King Lear are woven throughout the book as Cadence tries to make sense of the traumatic event that she experienced. These stories demonstrate the ways that, like all of us, Cadence can keep re-telling and mentally re-creating the same event in her mind in order to make sense of it. The stories demonstrate her confusion and the ways in which real life both blends with and deviates from fictional stories. The King Lear story especially demonstrates how family tragedy isn’t simply a thing of history; rather, it is still being lived in very vivid ways today.
In the end, I would definitely recommend this book to other readers, especially young adults. I recognize that this book isn’t for everyone; as I found when I first read it, it can feel a bit jarring. However, it certainly is exciting and unlike most other YA books, and it is a great fit for readers who like to try to guess the ending while still gaining insight into the society around us.

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Apr 05, 2015 Nancy C rated it liked it

We Are Liars, by E. Lockhart, follows Cadence Sinclair Eastman, nearly eighteen, and her summer of trying to remember a tragedy. Her family members and cousins try to help her recall summer 15 and how she ended up in the hospital with amnesia.

It was interesting to read about how the "one percent" might live. Private island, custom houses, fancy sounding food. The Sinclair's lived in decadence and style. Her grandfather owns a private island and he makes sure that his family is taken care of by We Are Liars, by E. Lockhart, follows Cadence Sinclair Eastman, nearly eighteen, and her summer of trying to remember a tragedy. Her family members and cousins try to help her recall summer 15 and how she ended up in the hospital with amnesia.

It was interesting to read about how the "one percent" might live. Private island, custom houses, fancy sounding food. The Sinclair's lived in decadence and style. Her grandfather owns a private island and he makes sure that his family is taken care of by building them all houses on the island and having them stay there all summer long.

Cadence if very close to her "liars", which are her two cousins, Mirren and Johnny, and her childhood friend turned lover, Gat. Cadence spends her summer 17 trying to figure out what happened summer 15. The ending is quite the crazy twist. The actual relationship between all of them was lovely and pure. I liked how Cadence would repeat what her cousins and almost boyfriend were like. Bounce, sugar, strong coffee.

I liked this book okay, until the very ending. The twist was interesting and heartbreaking--what ruined the book for me was how in the very VERY end, Cadence talks about how the people in town, their neighbors, school peers, and basically society looks at them in awe and everyone always whispers about the Sinclair family and their great loss and what a mysterious powerful family they are.
I could care less.

The book went from Cadence being close to her family, finding out she has lost her family and she has been making up their appearances in her head. Or perhaps they're real ghosts, back only to help her with her memory--to "all of society wants to be us because we're rich, white, and Sinclair's--who lived through a tragedy."
What others thought of the family wasn't really mentioned before--and if it was, it wasn't a prominent entity influencing the family and their decisions. I'm with Gat on this one, in that the Sinclair's are oblivious and only care about their money, looks and power. Cadence proves it in the end by bringing it up. If she had changed, it didn't need to be mentioned at all. It should have ended with just her and her family--not society also included. *end of rant*
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Apr 02, 2015 Michelle Parsons rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ya-lit

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I had heard a lot of hype about We Were Liars before I ever picked it up. By that, I mean I had sold copy after copy as it occupied the YA bestsellers shelf at my work for a few months in a row. However, I had never actually heard any other information about the book, and I had never read anything else by E. Lockhart.
I was totally blown away. The writing style was spare, elegant, and full of multivalent meanings. It was a combination of prose and free verse poetry that was intense and invited m I had heard a lot of hype about We Were Liars before I ever picked it up. By that, I mean I had sold copy after copy as it occupied the YA bestsellers shelf at my work for a few months in a row. However, I had never actually heard any other information about the book, and I had never read anything else by E. Lockhart.
I was totally blown away. The writing style was spare, elegant, and full of multivalent meanings. It was a combination of prose and free verse poetry that was intense and invited multiple re-readings. Cadence's very unreliability depended upon this style. Her memories, like her narration, are fragmented and constantly in flux. Her emotions are conveyed in extreme metaphors that are easy to read as factual experiences until after the experience. For example, when her father leaves, she describes him as pulling out a gun and shooting her in the chest. It is conveyed in such plain words that one almost believes that it could be truth. And it is, of course, truth of a kind, but a truth that is non-literal.
Cadence herself grows as she finally realizes what she has done. Whether or not the ghosts are literally there (there are suggestions through Tad and one of Cady's aunts that they are), they are vitally necessary to Cadence's development as she grows to accept her own role in their death. While there are, in fact, some things that are never explained (why does the family call the four the Liars?), upon further re-readings, it becomes clear that much like the color red in the Sixth Sense, there are hints to the final twist throughout. In addition, the contents of Chapter 1 are perhaps the most important clue we will get to the events of the entire book, though it is far too easy to skim it during your first read-through.
Social and racial issues, family and identity issues, and personal issues of growth and responsibility are all explored in this novel without detracting from the suspense of the story overall. This novel can also spark discussions about the nature of truth and testimony; it is always going to differ from person to person, and from one time to another. I don't know if it was absolutely necessary for the burning of the house to have quite these consequences in order to discourage readers, but even Cadence explains that tragedy and life in general do not always have a moral.
This book has only some educational value, in my opinion, but is to be highly recommended for extracurricular enjoyment. The suspense keeps the reader interested. The writing style is dense, rather than wordy, which is to be preferred for many readers. And it invites mature reflection and re-reading.
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Mar 13, 2015 Jung Han rated it liked it

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart deals with family relationship, racism, and resistance against social order and mammonism. Among others, I was interested in rebellion against social injustice manifested through patriarchy. The mysterious house Clairmont in Beechwood Island is described as a symbol of patriarchy, and there are four liars who revolt against authority. The protagonist Cadence and her two cousins, Johnny and Mirren, and Johnny’s friend Gat realized Granddad Harris’ unjustifiable power, We Were Liars by E. Lockhart deals with family relationship, racism, and resistance against social order and mammonism. Among others, I was interested in rebellion against social injustice manifested through patriarchy. The mysterious house Clairmont in Beechwood Island is described as a symbol of patriarchy, and there are four liars who revolt against authority. The protagonist Cadence and her two cousins, Johnny and Mirren, and Johnny’s friend Gat realized Granddad Harris’ unjustifiable power, which casts shadow on the family in Clairmont. Beechwood Island, as a micro society of hierarchy system, represents the predominance of patriarchic power, and Granddad Harris reigns his family as a king of his island. The dictator of Clairmont, Harris’ motto is “don’t take no for an answer”, and when Cadence mentioned the ivory statues he bought illegally, he says, “Do not tell me what to do with my money.” (p.112) He surely believes his power backed up with wealth.
Cadence skewers Harris’ dictatorship over his land and the people in his property through producing her own fairytales of King and the daughters. Clairmont is a small society, where is filled with despotism, mammonism, and racism.
Through Cadence’s narrative, the author criticizes current society inherited with patriarchy, where social status and authority are still dominant. In this hierarchical society, people are submissive to the ruler, who manipulates the law. In Cadence’s eyes, Harris is the king who rules his island with his power of wealth and patriarchic ideology. People in his land obey his power for the sake of social stability and the wealth that would be inherited from the owner.
But for four liars, including Cadence, detected injustice in their family and realized that they should overturn the rule and start over. Their rebellion represents the resistance against social injustice, and destroying Clairmont symbolizes the defiance toward the social system of hierarchy and materialism. These liars represent the subjugated class who dream of turning over the unjust social system. Cadence says, “Always do what you are afraid to do”, but Mirren says, “You actually shouldn’t, because you could die”.
There are four liars including Cadence, who resist the patriarchic power through burning down Clairmont, which represents unjustifiable hierarchical society based on materialism, and Cadence’s father, who left the family disillusioned with Harris’ dictatorship with his power of wealth. But this novel bitterly shows how it is hard to overturn the deep rooted injustice to start over; even though the liars burnt the Clairmont to the ground, Cadence lost her precious possessions, and she got a heavy migraine and pain. On the contrary, Harris is not changed and rebuilds Clairmont, which is a symbol of patriarchy and materialism.
Our society has been undergoing rebellions continually by subjugated class, but it seems impossible to overturn social structure entirely within patriarchic ideology and materialism. The author sarcastically skewers these patriarchic society and mammonism and dictatorship through metaphors and satires.
One of the morals what readers should note in this novel is that we could not gain anything we want without some sacrifice, but despite the incessant rebuilding of social injustice, we should keep rebelling and resisting the unjust power. Cadence says, “I would rather hurt and be hurt than live in a little box for the rest of my life”.
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Apr 09, 2015 Jacob Mroczkiewicz rated it really liked it

The stars are giving me troubles again. I wish there was a half-star option, because this one's not quite a four but warrants more than a three. Killing me, Goodreads.

Lockhart's We Were Liars explores many topics such as materialism, marginalization, racism, faith, Capitalism, charity, friendship, etc. etc. The story's protagonist and unreliable narrator, Cadence, is stuck within a traumatic event in a relatively traumatic life. Sure, she experiences privilege of which she was not mindful until The stars are giving me troubles again. I wish there was a half-star option, because this one's not quite a four but warrants more than a three. Killing me, Goodreads.

Lockhart's We Were Liars explores many topics such as materialism, marginalization, racism, faith, Capitalism, charity, friendship, etc. etc. The story's protagonist and unreliable narrator, Cadence, is stuck within a traumatic event in a relatively traumatic life. Sure, she experiences privilege of which she was not mindful until Gat enlightens her, but the period leading up to the central action (no spoilers from me) is marked by highs and lows. Facing this both privileged and pitied existence, Cadence must piece together the pain that wracks her brain and the story that could explain her loneliness.

With this novel mostly focusing itself as a mystery novel, I enjoyed piecing together Cadence's amnesia-addled memories. Much like she did with her own notes, I was trying to paste evidence to the mantle of my brain and see the connections. (I'm not going to say that I guessed it, but I knew somebody out of those three had died. Just saying.) It is the mystery aspect of the narrative with which I think secondary students would readily engage. The secondary teacher could also use this text to explore with his or her students what constitutes an unreliable narrator, perhaps by comparing Cadence with Kier from Lynch's Inexcusable or even a canonical text, perhaps even "The Tell-Tale Heart" (I'vejust been looking for an excuse to use that somewhere).

I think that this text also did a better job of examining the patriarchal power structure at play in a competitive Capitalist society by using the institution of the American family and its many dynamics to illustrate her points. While my own perceptions are not the same, I respect the manner she went about illustrating this point, such as I was with the A.S. King text from last week. However, I think using the only culturally other character as the voice of resistance was a bit cliched. And while I think using Gad for that purpose is something that young readers will be able to pick up on, and while I also acknowledge the point the author was making about the oppressive and often discriminatory nature operating within the patriarchy, it just seemed a little tired. The possible suggestion being made here that white privilege cannot be actualized by adolescents, thus resulting in irreconcilable greed, materialism, and ethnocentrism -- I just don't think that its true from my perspective. I did enjoy using the fairy-tale parallel narratives to illustrate the self-perpetuating struggle with aristocratic life or otherwise patriarchal oppression. Similar to what My Boy Ness did with the tales in A Monster Calls.

With that said, I am going to contradict myself by saying that some of these lessons should be introduced to students and have the potential for pedagogical and developmental value. Such as the many variations in existential experience that Cadence argues, students also need variations of every story, issue, explanation, so that they may too find a truth that may have been suppressed or eluded. ...more

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Oct 03, 2014 Morgan rated it really liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart follows Cadence Sinclair Eastman as she rebuilds her memory of summer fifteen on her family's private island. With the entire family treating her as a fragile, broken thing, she has a hard time piecing together the scattered memories that slowly return. The ending, though. THE ENDING. We Were Liars was definitely not what I thought it would be. I ran with the plot, thinking Gat had raped Cady or something similarly sexually deviant. Just because in the present plot, We Were Liars by E. Lockhart follows Cadence Sinclair Eastman as she rebuilds her memory of summer fifteen on her family's private island. With the entire family treating her as a fragile, broken thing, she has a hard time piecing together the scattered memories that slowly return. The ending, though. THE ENDING. We Were Liars was definitely not what I thought it would be. I ran with the plot, thinking Gat had raped Cady or something similarly sexually deviant. Just because in the present plot, he is more...secluded? distant?...from her than in her memories, I thought he must be hiding something. And he was; just not what I thought he was hiding.

I struggled with the racism in this text. It didn't feel entirely fleshed out enough to warrant a position in the novel. That is one possibility. The other is the more likely: Lockhart crafted Granddad to be subtle in his racism, or at least to the faces of those he discriminates against. Yet Granddad throughout the novel is vibrant, expressive, even in his dementia. I have a hard time thinking he would back off of his discrimination to allow Gat to remain on the island and for his daughter to date a man of non-white lineage. After all, they are the beautiful Sinclair family; they have a heritage to uphold.

This novel opens a door on traumatic mental illness, on taking responsibility for your actions (even when the consequences are dire), on loving your family through the hardest times. There are dozens of little things to be analyzed throughout the novel. Yes, Cady is unreliable. Extremely so. However, her experiences as a person suffering from a traumatic brain injury contribute greatly to the novel. The reader sympathizes with her. The reader never suspects that Cady is hiding a dark secret within her traumatized noggin. And neither does Cady; we get to grow with her, to piece together her flashbacks at the same time.

Why would I offer this to my students? What sort of pedagogical value could I possibly find to warrant placing this on my classroom bookcase? For staters, it offers the idea that everyone has problems. Even the family that seems perfect has some sort of issue stored away within their personal lives. If nothing else, I hope students can gain the ability to look at those around them and realize that we are all human. We all must deal with the tragedies of life. There is the theme of responsibility. Cadence eventually realizes that it is her fault (to some degree) that the rest of the Liars are dead. It is her fault that the perfect Sinclair family will never again be complete. She cannot hide from this awful truth; instead, she is forced to accept it, grieve, and move on. She learns life lessons along her path to understanding and acceptance. Perhaps students can learn that something may seem terrible, on this side of it; however, the days march on. Someday they will come out on the other side, take responsibility for their actions, and become a stronger and more seasoned individual. ...more

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Jan 23, 2015 Jawaria rated it liked it

Unnerving ... what a story, what writing style, what an ending. It came as such a shock that I had to re-read at least twice to swallow what happened at the end - the truth. And even then I still continued to search and wait for an alternate story of Cadence drowning and hitting her head, or the four Liars jumping off the cliff and tragedy striking there, as hinted on pages 139-142.
I stared at the book in horror, trying to absorb the fact that Gat, Johnny, Mirren, and the two dogs Prince Phillip Unnerving ... what a story, what writing style, what an ending. It came as such a shock that I had to re-read at least twice to swallow what happened at the end - the truth. And even then I still continued to search and wait for an alternate story of Cadence drowning and hitting her head, or the four Liars jumping off the cliff and tragedy striking there, as hinted on pages 139-142.
I stared at the book in horror, trying to absorb the fact that Gat, Johnny, Mirren, and the two dogs Prince Phillip and Fatima had all burned to death inside Clairmont - and that too by stupid mistakes Cadence made. What a tragedy. Not only a sad tragedy but an unsettling angry one. I was upset why Cadence survived the fire. I had sympathized with her throughout the novel; and believing it was a cliff/rock/water accident I was waiting for a natural outcome to unfold. Learning about the fire and how it actually happened made me furious at Cadence's stupidity. It was her huge loss too - all the Liars dead and she alive alone, to live with her foolishness. Burning down the house might have seemed a good idea, it did to me too: get rid of materialistic shallow problems buy burning down the prized materials themselves, the house, the papers, the ornate objects - nothing left to quarrel about, start fresh, make a change. Freshness became a wreckage. Change did come but in the most tragic and devastating of ways; and the unlucky Cadence lived to witness it. Hence, I did feel that the 'fairytale' story likening Cady to the witch that destroys the other three children with lighting matches, was most fitting. I ended the book unhappy, disliking Cadence for what she had caused.

Yet come to think of it - the book was real, very real. The author made a deliberate effort to make the story and writing pop out and scream deep messages of life and world today. I saw it as even a black caricature with suspense. She doesn't use satire or any common obvious ways to bring attention to absurdities in the world we live in, the mindsets we carry and breed. Rather she deftly handles her words to make meaningful impact in the most unique of ways. One might find the island, the Sinclairs, the possessiveness over material objects, the useless and failed sisters, the execution of the fire and the serious of horribly wrong missteps that Cady 'stupidly' does - all as absurd or illogical or plain stupid: (Cady should've been the Last to light a match, she should've started from the other end of the house not the exit door, she shouldn't have doused the books so much etc etc). However, I feel Lockhart puts it this way on purpose. She wants readers to be caught off guard with the true story and to feel like they could have saved the tragedy with some simple common sense. It is to drive home the essence of the story. This may seem obvious, but the way I see it is Lockhart is telling another story beneath the layers, one that relates to each of us. She is telling us, alerting us, opening our eyes to the facts of the world we live in - of racial discrimination, of puritan mindsets in race and class and society and money and possessions, of how wrong decisions and stupid mistakes can cost lives, cause tragedies, and thus of how wrecking such actions, events, consequences are in actuality. She tells us of injustice and social disparities, of greed and idleness, and of incineration of it all in the perhaps the easier but less wiser of ways. Burning our fears and frustations, hurdles in life and thought is not the solution. Lockhart sends messages to teenagers, to young adults who are often prone to impulsive acts and invincibility, who think they can do it right their way. Instead, facing our obstacles, confronting injustices and chopping down wrongs gradually, sensibly. Clairmont burned down, yet New Clairmont was built upon its ashes, summers resumed to similar events, food and cooks remained, birthday parties remained, the sisters though devastated by their loss still didn't change much if at all, talk of the island's heir remained. New Clairmont was built up with more material glamour than before - it was all material now, even lost of memories and warmth from Gran Tipper's time, void of warmth and homeliness. Grandad Harris lost his mind yet continued to uphold the Sinclair mentality of superiority and beauty. Things had changed, and three of the Liars were dead (plus the dogs), but things had not changed the way the were intended to change, they had remained the same inside a now damaged, burnt carcass, had become worse in other aspects. Perhaps subtle improvements happened, perhaps more are yet to come in the Sinclairs' world, beyond what we can see within the pages of the book. Even this tragedy became a story of mystique and glamour of the grand, famous Sinclair clan.

I wished so hard that the cliff story had actually happened. When Mirren had said they had done it before, when she cried at the statement "Always do what you are afraid to do!", when she had alluded to regret and remorse -- I was looking forward to a 'nicer' tragedy, a 'nicer' explanation of how Cady hurt her head and where the three liars disappeared the days after her accident.
I was also shaken by the whole ghost factor, all those pages of Summer Seventeen were actually haunted, Gat, Johnny, Mirren had been long dead, reappearing as apparitions to give Cady answers, to help her heal. Yes the plan went wrong, yes it was a series of unrealised mistakes, yes they should have thought it out better and with less haste, but why should the other sacrifice and suffer so much and still help Cady heal and not let her blame herself. It is not to say I hated Cady, I was just struck by the tragic turn of it all - I wished Cady had died in the fire as well, unable to escape through the bolted back door and blocked by a firewall on the other side. I felt disturbed that Cadence would now face the remorse of this tragedy all her remaining life. Perhaps Lockhart was trying to alert one to the severity of dire consequences, to the think before you act or speak rule, think thoroughly and still be careful. She educates the persona of her reader, her adult reader, her young adult reader. She warns teenagers of magnitudes, of widespread effects, of dire consequences. I even saw similarities of politicians in Cady's role, of decisions and irrational steps, of burning wars and mass murders under 'clean' political sheets. I saw Cadence needing direction in life and of innocent youth having simple values of love and unity. Many a family drama runs the same, children build sandcastles and break them down for the waves to wash away, yet adults harbor generations of grudges, animosities, motives - only poisoning the family, hurting themselves. In the Sinclairs' story the adults needed to learn and the youth the Liars needed to learn, in their own ways. We can doctor society's evils and rigid ideologies or traditions, but not with arson, rather with pink summer roses and peonies, grown smartly, with skill and wisdom. We can bridge generation gaps or ideological gaps, only by gathering wood and building a bridge to cross, not by swinging over with a frail rope. ...more

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