Book Blog #150: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Title: We Were Liars
Author: E. Lockhart
# of Pages: 240 (hardcover)
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Mystery
Rating: ★★★★★
Synopsis: 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.
Review: If you haven't read We Are Liars,  stop reading the reviews for this book all together. Don't even read the synopsis (even though it doesn't make a lot of sense anyway).

Since this book is so popular, you have to go into reading it with an unbiased opinion. It's a bit like The Fault in Our Stars when it went mainstream; if you go in with high expectations, you won't enjoy it as much as you could (because, believe it or not, even that book has its imperfections).

When I started reading this book, all I knew was its Goodreads genres and that it was a 2014 Goodreads Choice Awards winner. I thought it was going to be some Twilight-esque romance novel...which just made this book even better.

The reason why I'm saying all of this is because this book is in no way close to perfect. The main character was annoying, and I had a hard time relating with her. I don't really enjoy reading about this "perfect family" (with high expectations of their image) on a "private island" (which is yet another difference from my family). It was very hard to keep tract of whether the chapter was describing the present (summer 17?) or the past (summer 15-ish), especially since I tend to stop reading in random places.

But there was also so much to love. The story didn't drag-on; it's short and sweet(?). I loved the poetic nature of Lockhart's writing; it caught me completely off guard. For example:

“Then he pulled out a handgun and shot me in the chest. I was standing on the lawn and I fell. The bullet hole opened wide and my heart rolled out of my rib cage and down into a flower bed. Blood gushed rhythmically from my open wound, 

then from my eyes,

my ears,

my mouth.

It tasted like salt and failure. The bright red shame of being unloved soaked the grass in front of our house, the bricks of the path, the steps of the porch. My heart spasmed among the peonies like a trout.” 

I had taken it literally at first...but when I realized what the situation was actually representing...it was just that much more beautiful.

This book deserves a reread. Please pay attention to detail when reading! I highly recommend this book!!!