The book We Were Liars by E. Lockhart is a very captivating book that was published May 13, 2014. We Were Liars has a theme unlike most books, as it highlights how a person’s actions can cause tragedy and consequences. The book is a psychological thriller and teaches that you should not get caught up in something you are doing before it is too late because your actions are not reversible. This tale follows a young girl named Cadence who grows up throughout the book. She lives alone with her mother because her father left them and she was born into a very greedy, selfish, and snobby extended family who believe that they, the Sinclairs, are the most superior kind of person. Her grandfather runs the show and lives on a secluded island, close to Martha’s Vineyard, where all of Cadence’s family goes every summer. They all have their own houses and it is great fun. Soon, Cadence realizes that all her family does is fight and her grandfather just controls and threatens them with money. Suddenly, Cadence wakes up in a hospital bed when she was fifteen with amnesia and her family won't tell her what happened. The circumstances around her accident were very mysterious and she was set on finding out what happened even though she was plagued with almost constant migraines and pain.
The summer after her accident, Cadence’s mother forced her to go on a trip to Europe with her dad. She did not want to and desperately wanted to be on the island with her favorite people Johnny, Mirren, and Gat. She was not actually related to Gat, but they were in love. She was in a lot of pain and would send them many emails over that summer which got no replies. The next summer her mother allowed her to go for one month. Cadence felt overprotected and like her mother was too worried about nothing. When she got to the island everything was just how she wanted it to be except that her grandfather had completely remodeled his beautiful house and her grandma had died. Her grandfather was also starting to go senile and was becoming even more terrible to the people around him. However, nothing could stop Cadence, Johnny, Mirren, and Gat from having fun all summer. And they had such a good time until Cadence started to remember things and they were awful. Her memories started to come back slowly about what had happened that summer when they were all fifteen. Small ones came first, and then she remembered what really happened that caused her accident. The horror she felt and the fear that engulfed her were so great that she was confined to her room for a whole day. She remembered what happened and it was horrible. The Gat, Johnny, and Mirren she had played with all this summer had been figments of her broken mind and Gat, Johnny, and Mirren were really dead and it was all because of her.
This book was very detailed and interesting. I liked how the chapters were very short and easy to read. They were split up nicely and I think that is good for readers. The content of the book had a nostalgic feel and was very calm until Cadence found out what happened to her. I think that this book could represent a lot of opinions that the author has such as how actions can cause consequences. I definitely agree with this message and I think that it is a useful piece of knowledge. I am glad that the author added that and I think messages like this are lacking in many other books. This book really affected me and it actually made me quite sad at times. It was a rollercoaster of emotion and definitely was an eye-opener. It also has taught me a lot of life lessons that I am thankful to know.
If you like crazy plot twists and want to read a book that you can’t put down, I definitely recommend We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. It will keep you on your toes and make you contemplate things you might not think about otherwise. But, readers beware, for this tale becomes quite a tear-jerker in the end.
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