From the Bookshelf of Nothing But Reading Challenges…

We Were Liars

E. Lockhart

Start date: September 9, 2014

Finish date: September 30, 2014

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What Members Thought

Aug 05, 2014 Sarenna rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, 2014-wheel-a-thon

Would have been higher, except I figured out the "plot twist" about halfway through the book. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 17, 2015 Hailee rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fav-teen, literary-fiction

I loved this book, not just the ending but everything about it! I still can't stop thinking about it.... ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Oct 09, 2015 Chris rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: united-states, youth, audiobook, fiction, young-adult, 2015owned, 2016owned

I think what I felt the most after finishing this book was mad. The first part of the book bored me - another story about a wealthy family with hidden problems. Yawn. But just as I was about to give up, things started to get interesting. There was something going on here, but I wasn't sure what. I kept listening. And I was hooked right up to the very end. So I have to give the author props for being able to string her audience along so well. I can certainly see where more than a few young adult I think what I felt the most after finishing this book was mad. The first part of the book bored me - another story about a wealthy family with hidden problems. Yawn. But just as I was about to give up, things started to get interesting. There was something going on here, but I wasn't sure what. I kept listening. And I was hooked right up to the very end. So I have to give the author props for being able to string her audience along so well. I can certainly see where more than a few young adult readers would love this. But when you think about it, there's no there there.
Cadence Sinclair Eastman is the oldest grandchild of a super-wealthy Boston family. Granddad owns his very own island near Martha's Vineyard. And it is here that Cady and her family spend every summer. She and the two cousins nearest her in age, Mirren and Johnny, form their own group, which becomes known as the Liars - for reasons that are somewhat obscure. They are joined by Gat, the nephew of the boyfriend of one of the aunts. Gat is a dark-complected teenager of Indian ancestry. And there is the point on which everything spins - the stranger in town who can either solve everything or destroy it.
At some point there is an "accident" and the last two thirds of the book is spent trying to figure out just what the accident was. And, as I said, you will want to know badly enough to spend the time getting to the end--it is, fortunately, a relatively short book.
The problem is that when all is said and done, the story doesn't hold together, even with some magical realism thrown in. For starters, the adults are all pretty horrible people, with the grandfather being worst of all. The Liars are very one-dimensional, and worst of all, even in their mid-teens they talk and act like 10-year-olds. I would wonder if E. Lockhart had never spent time with modern teenagers, except that I loved The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. And finally, there are things in the final summer on the island that just don't add up. Given all that we know about the characters up to that point, there is just know way they could possibly act like they do.
So I guess what this book really made me feel was manipulated, but not in a good way. ...more

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May 17, 2014 Marcy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: aleja-don-t-read

I really wish I liked this book more; I guess by the end I did, but it just took a while to get there. It probably warrants a 3.5 or 3.75 stars; the first two-thirds is at the 3-3.5, while the last third is 3.5-4. I'll probably have to re-read it at some point, knowing what's coming, just to see what I catch the second time around. ...more

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