Review: We Were Liars

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

So this is a book that you either love or hate apparently if you read previous reviews there appears to be very little middle room. Myself, I'm on the "not liking it so much" side of the aisle. I guess listening to an angst-ridden teenager isn't my cup of tea, of course, most angst-ridden teens I have dealt with in my life also aren't as shallow or pathetic as young Cadence is. By that I mean they (the angst-ridden teens) seem to have multiple facets to their lives other than poor Cadence. Granted, she should be feeling this way, for reasons you'll have to read to find out more about. I shall not indulge you with that information here.

That being said, there is something to be said of coming of age novels written by people that have already been there and done that... I don't like them. There I said it. I have suffered through this kind of narcissistic nonsense before, thank you very much, Holden!

So let me give you what I did like about the novel - I like Ariadne Meyers performance on the unabridged audiobook I listen to, she did a great job reading, enunciating and performing the various aspects of the characters. I applaud her for that.

I also will applaud the writing skill of E. Lockhart, she knows her craft well, although I think if I had to actually read the words, I probably would have quit by the quarter mark. The book is boring to be quite honest, yes there is a twist, or two, or seven (whatever) but it really was a long hard road to get there. I mean when the best part of the story are the little parables about a king and his three daughters...

I will also state here for you the audience reading this (who's narcissistic now?) that I was going to give this bad boy only one star right up until the final few chapters, that bumped it up a star for me. No, it wasn't any twist that did it (by the way, is it a twist if you figure out what is going to happen before the twist gets there?) but the words that Cadence uttered once she realized the truth. That was what saved this from one-star infamy.

To me anyway.

Do I recommend you read it? Yes, I think you should read anything and everything and you will probably feel completely different about it that I do. That being said, I wouldn't rush out to the store to get it, pick it up at your library and save some money.

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