We Were Liars

“Here I am frozen, when I deserve to burn.”

I find myself at a crossroads when it comes to my feelings about this book. While I wouldn't rank it among my favorites, I also can't say it's one of the worst I've read. From the very beginning, I felt a sense of curiosity as the direction of the story remained a mystery. However, after having read 35% of the book, I still felt somewhat lost, struggling to grasp the plot’s trajectory.

My engagement deepened only in the final chapters when the long-awaited plot twist finally emerged. This surprise truly caught me off guard and brought a spark of excitement to my otherwise lukewarm reading experience. It's important to note that I hadn't been sufficiently drawn in to try to piece together the narrative's secrets before that moment. Looking back, I can see how the twist was a natural culmination of everything that had come before, making the overall journey feel more cohesive in retrospect.

In summary, I would describe the book as thought-provoking, especially in its exploration of profound themes like grief, memory loss, and the nature of loss itself. Although the writing was competent, I found it to be rather average overall. Would I recommend it to others? Probably not. While the book tackled significant subjects and presented them with care, it ultimately didn’t leave a strong impression on me. In the end, I found it to be a bit forgettable, but I appreciate the effort that went into exploring such meaningful themes.

i would say read it in August :)

Wow didn’t expect how this book turn out!

Good and depressing!

I am an optimistic. I rarely rate books low because I'm always trying to find the good even when you're so deep into the bad the good is barely visible. With this book I felt that way. I was constantly trying to understand why the words were there, why the events were happening, but I never could. And so when I reached the acknowledgments I rolled my eyes at all the authors mentioned, all the hype, and everyone who says this is a master piece-because to me, it is not. Not even close.
Yes, the writing -only at the beginning and at the end-is beautiful, which made me think that maybe the author was thinking about a ccouple "cool" idea that basically were:
1. A rich white family in a private island
2. Family drama
3. Let's kill some people... and dogs as a fantastic (not really) plot twist
Whatever is written in the middle doesn't matter.
And then we have the annoying first-person narrator: Cadence. I get this was a personal issue, but I really disliked her. How she couldn't stop mentioning her oh so many flaws that made her a horrible human being-which she was, but if she was looking for some sort of redemption, I completely missed the point.
I want to mention one particular scene that will explain how I feel by itself: Cadence and Gat are having a conversation about her grandfather and how he is the embodiment of patriarchy and unconscious (not really) racism, and out of NOWHERE she kisses him, and he kisses her back. End of chapter.
And don't even let me get started with how unrealistic the teenage voices were. Really don't let me.
I'm done and out.

nice

Throughout the read, the way Cady narrated the story bored me, yet I kept on reading because people kept telling me the brilliant twist that followed. I agree that the premise and twists are brilliant, but the non-engaging storytelling messed things up.

To be honest, We Were Liars didn't meet my expectation. That was good, but not good enough.