We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

I read We Were Liars a few weeks ago. It was one of those really quick reads because it’s fairly short, but mainly because it is very captivating. I finished it within two to three days. It’s a book that you should go into reading without knowing much, if anything, about the storyline. It may not seem like much, but it ends in such an amazing way, that it’s a necessary read. There are many characters in the book and in the beginning I always had to flip back to the family tree to understand the story, but after the first “Welcome” chapter, I was surprisingly familiar with the family. If you have not read this yet, I highly recommend you pick it up. I would rate We Were Liars by E. Lockhart a 5 out of 5 stars.

*****MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW*****

*****PLEASE DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU’VE READ THE BOOK*****

The ending to this book felt like it came out of absolutely no where. I couldn’t believe that Cadence’s Liars were dead! Not to mention it was her fault! I told myself I would only read until the end of the fourth section, but then I was like, “What the hell? Why not read the ending?” It left me sobbing my eyes out at midnight in my bed, while everyone else in my house was long asleep. After I’d finished the book, I was obviously still dazed, so I started scouring the internet for videos of others’ reactions. I found an especially interesting video on youtube by thebookbasement. I highly suggest you watch it!

In this video, she had just reread the book, immediately following her first read. She describes so many hints that are woven into the book that clearly lead to the ending, yet they are subtle enough for you to skip over them while first reading them. This blew my mind! I was dumbfounded at how I could’ve missed it. Sure, not many people would suspect that Johnny, Mirren, and Gat, the people Cadence talks to for the whole summer, is dead! Still, the book left me with some questions: Were they really there during the summer (in spirit)? Or was Cadence just imagining them? I’d love to hear what others thought of the ending and how you answer these questions in the comments!