Why was the group called the Liars?

[L]

I never actually got this. Not even in the end, I understand why the book is called "We Were Liars" referring to the whole family, but not why the group of teenagers were called that, they didn't lie particularly much through the book. Can someone explain?

[Dramapuppy]

SPOILERS

I think the author chose that name to foreshadow the fact that the group was a lie. As to the justification for that name in the context of the story, I don't know. I guess they lie occasionally. And they probably lied to themselves even then (if on a less drastic scale). Everyone had false motives. There was a lot of manipulation, which you can compare to lying. But mostly, I think the author just wanted to justify the foreshadowing.

[alyssa]

Dramapuppy wrote: "SPOILERS

I think the author chose that name to foreshadow the fact that the group was a lie. As to the justification for that name in the context of the story, I don't know. I guess they lie occas..."

that's really smart!

[Dramapuppy]

Thanks, Alyssa!

[L]

I just watched a live show about this on YouTube, and the people there had a theory about how they called themselves the Liars because their whole lives on beechwood was a lie and how they were all constantly lying to their parents about how happy they were and how they were constantly lying to their grandpa about how they loved the houses and how they wanted this and that to make him happy and earn his money. I think that's a good theory as well :)

[Dramapuppy]

That's a good way of phrasing things, Lana. I agree. It's what I was touching on, as well.

[alyssa]

Lana wrote: "I just watched a live show about this on YouTube, and the people there had a theory about how they called themselves the Liars because their whole lives on beechwood was a lie and how they were all..."

do u have the link to the video you said you watched?

[alyssa]

Dramapuppy wrote: "Thanks, Alyssa!"

Just being honest!

[L]

I don't have a link right now because I'm on my phone but you can find it on PolandBananasBOOKS Youtube channel i believe. It's a live show Christine, Jessie, Ariel and Kat did, if you know who I'm talking about :)

[Dramapuppy]

Think I found it, Alyssa. http://youtu.be/XK5ZnotZgns

[Izzy]

Dramapuppy wrote: "SPOILERS

I think the author chose that name to foreshadow the fact that the group was a lie. As to the justification for that name in the context of the story, I don't know. I guess they lie occas..."

That sounds right

[MC]

I guess it is called We Were Liars because Cadence was being in denial in the story about the fact that her cousins Mirren and Johnny and lover Gat is already dead. And the 3 characters seems to be riding her in denial state, because the fact that they dont tell Cadence that they are already dead while Cadence sees or imagines them was a Lie itself. Smart guess only. ~hyscami

[Megan]

The parents always made the children lie to the grandpa. Say how much you love him/the house. Cady's mother told her to act normal like nothing's happening. But what did the kids do?

They told the truth. When Cady's mother wanted her to back her up about keeping the house, she said it was too much room. When her mom told her to act like everything is fine when the dad left and grandma died she expressed her true feelings to the "Liars."

I think since the Liars were the only ones telling the truth they coined the name. I imagined the moms going behind their children's back to the grandpa to say "oh you know Cady lies, she actually loves the house dad." Or something like that.

[Bonny]

In the context of the story, it's not quite clear or, rather, it doesn't seem to be justified. The one reference to it is:

"The family called us four the Liars, and probably we deserve it. We are all nearly the same age, and we all have birthdays in the fall. Most years on the island, we've been trouble.
Gat started coming to Beechwood the year we were eight. Summer eight, we called that.
Before that, Mirren, Johnny and I weren't Liars. We were nothing but cousins..."

The name the Liars doesn't feel justified really. Why weren't they the Liars or trouble before Gat? Were they really that bratty, that much trouble as a group, before summer fifteen? There's not much evidence of it. They seemed to go to the family meals, follow the rules and dutifully uphold the family's delusions about Grandpa, etc. before summer fifteen. But no one in that family was acknowledging this as lies at the time. So it would be odd to give their kids that name.

The title certainly makes sense from a writerly standpoint. It sets up the theme and foreshadows an unreliable narrator, etc.