A Girl Who Reads: We Were Liars

Title: We Were Liars

Author: E. Lockhart

Publication: 2013

I usually go on and on about a book, whether I liked it or not simply because I am, admittedly, long-winded. This will be different. There's no "main plot" or "main characters" listed above. That's because it's best to go into this novel with as little of all the normal descriptions as possible. No expectations equals no regrets.

In the interest of giving some sort of synopsis, I've typed what's on the back cover below:

We are Sinclairs.
No one is needy.
No one is wrong.
We live, at least in the summertime, on a private island off the coast of Massachusetts.
Perhaps that is all you need to know.
Except that some of us are liars. 

I read this book back in May as it was hyped beyond all belief. Everyone on BookTube was talking about it as if it was going to blow my mind. And so I needed to read it - I wanted my mind metaphorically blown too, duh. Was it? Blown? No. I wasn't blown away by this novel. But I was very much entertained. A big entertaining factor had nothing to do with what everyone was raving about. Part of what made the novel so enjoyable was E. Lockhart's writing style. The novel is only 225 pages, but it feels like a much longer novel and not in a bad, "when's this gonna end" kind of way. Lockhart's prose is short and clipped, much like the speech of a teenager from whose point of view the story is told. This writing style jam packs so much story into only a few sentences, and after reading only a few pages, you feel as though you've read a few chapters. It was an adjustment for me, as I usually prefer the descriptive prose of classic novels, and it took a few pages to get into, but it made it an addicting read. Also, Lockhart's descriptions were vivid even without the description that I'm use to, as she splices her clipped prose with more dramatic visuals. For instance, five pages in we learn that our narrator has a flair for the dramatic: "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 [...] My heart spasmed among the peonies like a trout." It's a jarring passage as are many in the novel. I think it was the writing style that really made this book for me. Pick this novel up. I don't think you'll regret it.

Also, in other bookish news, I have a new tab up there in my navigation bar and I've finally added a list of my recent reads. I'm thinking of eventually adding my ratings next to each title, but for now, check it out if you're interested in finding a new read.

Have you read We Were Liars? Without spoiling anything, tell me what you thought of it in the comments below.