We Were Liars

This is not a self-published book by and indie author

We Were Liars is a young adult novel that I would consider literary fiction. And it is amazing.

THE BLURB:

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 National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

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

MY THOUGHTS:

The Sinclairs are a privileged family who spend every summer on their own private island. Cadence's summers growing up are magical, creating a special bond between her and the others there her age - her cousins Johnny and Mirren, and family friend Gat.

But being a Sinclair comes with responsibilities. You are not allowed to be anything but beautiful and strong. You are not allowed to break, no matter what. And if you feel yourself starting to crack around the edges, LIE, and pretend you are just fine.

Then, the summer the friends are fifteen, something happens. There is an accident. Cadence has no memory of what happened, but she knows it must have been something too terrible to remember. Even after she recovers from the initial trauma, she is plagued by debilitating migraines. Her new best friend is Percocet.

I'll be fine, they tell me. I won't die. It'll just hurt a lot.

Each time Cadence asks what happened, her mother cries and says she told her everything before and she never remembers. The doctors say it might be best for Cadence to remember it on her own.

The summer she is seventeen, Cadence returns to the family island to confront the past, and to try to remember. Her cousins and Gat welcome her back with open arms, but the family knows she is damaged, know that they have to treat her gently. Her mother has warned them that she needs to remember the events of summer 15 on her own.

I absolutely love how this book is written. Cadence is a very sympathetic character. Some very powerful topics are touched on. And when the author wishes to emphasize a heart-wrenching point, she writes it like this:

Now, he was free to go forth and make a name for himself in the wide, wide world.
And maybe,
just maybe,
he'd come back one day,
and burn that
fucking
palace
to the ground

We Were Liars left me ruined for any other book for a while after I finished it. I experienced total book hangover. I loved it, and it crushed me.

MY RATING:

5 enthusiastic booksies

Author's website