Staff Writer Book Club
Publisher: Ember
Genre: YA Fiction, Psychological Thriller
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback
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Staff Rating: 4.5/5
This semester, we opted for safety and continued to hold our social event over Zoom. Last month, we all read E. Lockhart’s novel We Were Liars and then got together to share our reactions! We discussed the novel at length and wanted to share our thoughts with you.
Summary
Despite being published seven years ago, We Were Liars has been sweeping the internet these last few months. From the point of view of the protagonist, Cadence Sinclair Eastman, we are whisked into her world of summers on her grandfather’s private island. There, she joins her cousins, Johnny and Mirren, and family friend, Gat for the perfect summer. But with the aunts fighting and kids being stuck in the middle, it is anything but the idyllic summer they were hoping for. Without giving too much away, we can tell you that everything is not as it seems on this island in paradise.
Thoughts
This novel was full of surprises and we couldn’t wait to go through all of them. While, for some of us, it wasn’t the first time reading it, we all found ourselves shocked at the turn of events. Those of us who had read it before pieced together the clues until our memory was jogged, and for those of us who didn’t know what was coming, it was mind-blowing. Our Staff Writer, Lauren said that while she was reading it for the second time, she “really appreciated how much the narration influenced the story and how events are revealed.” Personally, I hadn’t read the novel before and it was one of those moments where you have to stop reading and close the book because you can’t believe it.
Aside from the gripping storyline, the way Lockhart describes people and scenes is mesmerizing—her word choice truly carries you through the novel. We discussed some of her attention to detail in depth and something we pinpointed was that she very thinly walks the line of literal and metaphorical, so much so that there are spaces where the events feel real but with further context turn out to be metaphorical. Our Managing Editor, Jade, explained that she “loves the way that Lockhart explains the characters with the same symbols every time and how the repetition plays so heavily into the plot.” Lockhart truly has a way with words which couples beautifully with unfolding of the plot.
It’s hard to say specifics without giving away the plot, but know that you’re in for a treat if you pick this novel up.
The Spellbinding Shelf 