We Were Liars

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In the book, We Were Liars by E. Lockhart many themes are explored such as privilege, racial divide, difficult family dynamics, and moral struggle. The book is written for a young adult audience. The book tells the story of four adolescents that go by the name "liars." The story is centered and written in Cadence narrative as she navigates her relationship with her mother and her close "liar" friends: Johnny, Mirren, and Gat. She tells her story about falling in love and how it is sometimes to feel repressed by her "ungrateful family." Her relationship with Gat opens her eyes to the world, she repeats several times "he was contemplation and enthusiasm. Ambition and strong coffee. I could have looked at him forever." Her view of the world and the people around her were sometimes very melodramatic and deep. Adolescents can probably relate a lot to Cadence's struggle between her family and self-identity throughout the book.

I didn't like this book very much for many reasons. The characters felt very superficial, which is probably done on purpose, but there was so much suspense created around them that when it came time for the big twist I did not feel all that bad, because I didn't feel like I got to know them that well as the reader. The author doesn't write in chronological order and it felt as if it was a little try hard at times. There were many instances when the writing felt a little too dramatic. The scene when her father leaves them and Cadence speaks as if she had been shot by a gun was very well written, but It remained a theme in the book to write so dramatically. I wish the author had spent more time developing the characters so that there would have been a bigger universal theme in the book adolescents can relate to other than the drama that comes with having a selfish rich privileged family, which not many can say they do.

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