DISCUSSION- One Of Us Is Lying

[Chelsea]

Have you finished the book? Great! All final thoughts/reviews go here! Please note that spoilers are free game in this thread, so only read through and join in after finishing the book.

[Malia]

I'm very curious to see what people thought of this book! I thought this was an interesting read, and though there were a few issues I had with some of the reveals, I thought it was overall a satisfying mystery. Here's my review - One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


3.5 stars
I thought One of Us is Lying was a very readable, engaging YA mystery/thriller, which isn't a genre I read very much. I did have some issues with the ending, which I felt was a bit of a cop-out, though not necessarily unbelievable. Simon's suicide frustrated me, because his depression was treated treated like something that turned him into a villain.
Added to that, the characters were all sort of liars, so the title is misleading, which may well be the intention. I also felt the characters were not well enough developed for this story to ultimately make it very memorable for me. Still, I can see the author tried to make them a little more diverse, though I felt some aspects of this seemed a little forced. In any case, I thought it was a pretty good read with a few flaws. I would be interested in seeing what the author comes up with next.

Find more reviews and bookish fun at http://www.princessandpen.com




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[Ingstje]

It was even fun re-reading my own review haha. I gave it 5 stars and here it is if you want to read it too:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Ariel]

The author has said that this book is based on the Breakfast Club. Five students: a jock, criminal, princess, and the brain, along with the basket case Simon find themselves in detention. The students claim they were all set up but before they can figure it out Simon dies and they all become suspects.

The Breakfast Club is a cultural touchstone. I thought the premise of taking the categories students are pigeonholed into and updating the idea for 2017 was an intriguing one. The students in this book face issues like sexual orientation, partner abuse, and depression that weren't explored openly by teens thirty years ago. In the end though the story fell flat for me. Parts of the story dragged while other parts didn't seem believable. I am probably in the minority and I see a lot of other glowing reviews. Also I am not a teen, only the mother of one so I am not the target audience. My daughter loves the Breakfast Club as I once did. Something about that coming of age film is able to transcend time. I don't think the same will be said of this book.

[TR]

I hadn't made the connection before but now that you mention it, it does have a very Breakfast Club feel to it.

[Stephanie]

I read this book recently and was pleasantly surprised. The mystery aspect is not one of the strongest as I was able to figure most of it fairly early. Having said that, I really did like this book. It was not a highschool cliche. It was entertaining and thought provoking and even funny in spots. The link to my review is below if anyone is intterested in reading it. I am curious as to what other thought of this book.
ttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2184349...

[Daniela]

I just finished this book. I’m confused why the title is One of us is Lying, when clearly no one from the 4 involved was the killer, and no one was thereforw lying. That said, I enjoyed this book and its a 5 star for me.

[Stephanie]

Daniela wrote: "I just finished this book. I’m confused why the title is One of us is Lying, when clearly no one from the 4 involved was the killer, and no one was thereforw lying. That said, I enjoyed this book a..."

I see your point Daniela. They were all lying just not about the murder. No one in the room was who they claimed to be or how they got to be that way. I think the title was a clever way of luring in the reader.

[Candice]

Just finished the book last night. Was a quick read and I did enjoy it which was surprising because I'm not much of a YA reader. I had accidentally read this thread instead of the BANTER thread and found out that Simon committed suicide. Even though I read that I still continued to read it and still was intrigued by everyone's secret. At first I felt the same way about why the title said one of us is lying but it's true two of the kids (although) they weren't in the room were lying and it was Janae and Jake. It was interesting to hear all of their secrets and what they were hiding. I will say I felt like I was looking at the movie Mean Girls mixed in with a little Friday Night Lights and Breakfast club. Just the dynamic of the school and characters and the About That site reminded me of the slam book in the movie Mean Girls. I gave it 4 stars because I started to figure out who was lying and especially what Cooper's sneakiness was all about too.

[Nancy]

I am going to have to bail on this one. I have read YA books which I have loved. Probably because the main characters are not typical teens or the situations are not typical teen ones - ie, high school setting. I was listening to this on audio from Libro.fm. Perhaps if I had been reading I could have skimmed and maybe finished it. As it is I just couldn't listen to any more teen angst and teen introspection - should I wear this, did he smile at me, etc, etc, The set up of a death in a locked room was intriguing but not enough to keep me listening.

[[deleted user]]

So I absolutely loved this! I started it today at work and just finished. I have to say though, at about page 50 I had a feeling Simon calculated this all out, although I was thinking more that he didn’t mean to kill himself. He was hoping the ambulance would get there sooner.

I loved the dynamic between the 4 kids, but there were some serious, 13 Reasons Why, Breakfast Club and even And Then There were None vibes. I did love the story and I would definitely read more from McManus, but I’m just a tad disappointed that I saw the ending right away.

[Carmen]

I loved it!!!

I feel like I became one of them as I was reading it, once I started reading it I didn’t want to put it down (I had to, though, exams!) and I didn’t expect the ending. So good. 4 stars from me. 😊

[Diane S ☔]

I liked it too. Loved how the four of them changed as a result of what happened. Kind of had strange vibes about Simon too, so I was pretty sure what happened, but didn't guess the reasons why.

[[deleted user]]

I thought this was just so entertaining and wound up giving this four stars! The link to my review is below to see my full thoughts.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1844724946?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

[Chelsea]

I actually read this one awhile back as an arc; here's the link to my review below!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Dana]

Finished this one last night... wasn't too sure at the beginning, but I ended up really getting into it and enjoying it. Definitely gave me PLL/Gossip Girl vibes, I would have loved this one when I was younger! Very entertaining. Also agree with the 13 Reasons Why (I only saw the show and have strong feelings on it lol)

I never thought of that Daniela, but good point! I didn't really think any of them did it either, but I didn't think of suicide until later on. Glad I didn't get it spoiled

[[deleted user]]

Nancy wrote: "I am going to have to bail on this one. I have read YA books which I have loved. Probably because the main characters are not typical teens or the situations are not typical teen ones - ie, high sc..."

I'm with you Nancy, I really wanted to enjoy this book so very much due to all reviews. Just as you mentioned, there are some YA books I have not been able to put down, absolutely moving! This is one of the few books I have ever given one star. I also listened to it on audio, for which I gave it 4 stars, I thought the narrators did an awesome job. As I mentioned in my review, I am 54, I believe this book is truly geared for a much younger generation.

[Stephanie]

Finished! Surprised about how much I enjoyed it.

[Amanda Rose]

I really enjoyed the characters and how they interacted with one another and their families. I wish one of them was actually lying though. The title and cover makes it seem like you have to figure out which one is responsible. That is very misleading in my opinion. In the beginning I felt like I was reading a good ol' whodunit similar to Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" (or any of her stories really). I accidentally read a spoiler that said it wasn't one of the 4, so it lost a certain charm after that. Oh well, it's still a pretty good book either way!

[Tracy]

I just finished this last night and really enjoyed it. The only downside was that I saw the suicide coming very quickly and I wish they set up Simon a little more as a character.

[Tracy]

Amanda wrote: "I really enjoyed the characters and how they interacted with one another and their families. I wish one of them was actually lying though. The title and cover makes it seem like you have to figure ..." I agree with you and was looking for a huge twist at the end and was hoping my theories about Simon was wrong. But in the end I really liked the 4 and didn't want any of them to be the real villain either.

[L Y N N]

I typically enjoy YA lit and this proved to be no exception to that rule! I was enthralled by this book. Really could not put it down, except to sleep and work! I think one reason I usually enjoy YA is that you get inside characters' heads. At least that's how I felt about this book. Although I am in my 60's, I still get it! :) It was just all so sad. I despise the fact that another human being feels so "left out"/marginalized that they would be better off dead than to remain among the living. And what a sense of revenge poor Simon had! I felt this was a good reminder that we never know just how much we may be hurting someone else by our actions...

[Shannon]

still on wating list at my library for this one

[Jen]

Ariel wrote: "The author has said that this book is based on the Breakfast Club. Five students: a jock, criminal, princess, and the brain, along with the basket case Simon find themselves in detention. The stude..."
You say "The students in this book face issues like sexual orientation, partner abuse, and depression that weren't explored openly by teens thirty years ago."
As someone who was a teen thirty years ago I can categorically say this was not the case in any of the 3 high schools I attended. Our friendship groups also discussed child abuse (sexual and physical) because it was required. Perhaps your school peers didn't but at least 3 schools did.

[Stephanie]

Ingstje wrote: "It was even fun re-reading my own review haha. I gave it 5 stars and here it is if you want to read it too:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

Haha, Inge, I thought the same thing! I read the book and reviewed it back in June, but it was fun to reread my review :) I gave it 4 Stars, and it was definitely one of my favorite books of 2017!

[Liza]

I loved this book a lot. It was one of the best books I've read in 2017. ^_^