This is another phenomenal book with such an amazing narrative that I was hooked as soon as I got into this book. Some people might be able to read this in one session but to be honest I found I couldn’t do that – not because I wasn’t enjoying the book but because at times it became slightly confusing.
Don’t get me wrong, the story was pretty much straightforward – the story is told by Cadence, who comes from a family of traditionalist Americans with a lot of money and spends each summer with her cousins on the island owned by her grandfather. They’ve grown up together, but one summer everything changes after a tragic event. This is where the story becomes a bit complex; you know something’s wrong with Cady but you never can be quite sure what.
We Were Liars, in my opinion, opens Cady’s world to us through her eyes. We have an insight into her coping mechanism for the accident, an accident which we never fully understand until the later stages of the novel. I think Lockhart was very clever when writing this book, because if she had told us the truth of the accident from the beginning readers wouldn’t identify with Cady as much as they could. I love the confusing nature of this book although at first it did almost stop me reading it.
I think this book taught me not to look at someone and judge them because you can never understand what’s going on in their personal life. Yes, the message may be kind of clichéd and age–old, but it still exists because it matters. We should never just assume everything’s fine just because someone’s life seems picture perfect on the surface. Society today is so obsessed with the media and we are all so wrapped up in our own lives that we are generally too busy to think or acknowledge the feelings of those around us. I’d like to think that if I had an inkling that something was upsetting someone I would at least try to make them feel better. It shouldn’t matter who it is – at the end of the day wouldn’t we all want to know someone cared about us in our times of need?
This book is so fantastic although it’s very hard to explain without giving it away! Let’s just say shocking would be an understatement. Even if it sounds mysteriously confusing, I can say it’s well worth reading because if you do you’ll be running round saying, ‘oh my gosh, you have to read this book!’ to anyone you can.
- Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop
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