Questionable Writing Style and a Disappointing Read - my review of We Were Liars

Jul 29, 2021
4 min read

Hello friends, and happy Thursday!

Can you believe that July is almost over already? It still feels like it barely started. I'm coming back to you today with another review, for a book that is well-loved in the book community... and that I absolutely hated: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart.

Now I feel like I might get some hate for saying that, especially since so many people have been praising it for years, but I have so much to say about it.

Since reading it, I have looked at so many reviews, some written by other booktubers that I love and who usually have similar tastes to mine.

A few disclaimers:

I have absolutely nothing against the author, and while I am stating my opinion on this book, it is still a book that meant a lot to many people and this review is in no way an attack against the book or its author.
If you liked this book and disagree with me, I'd love to know! Just be respectful. It would be great to hear what you thought about it and to talk about the book even if we disagree, as long as it's a civilized conversation.
While I have strong opinions on this book, I am well aware that writng a book is a great achievement and especially a book that became so popular. My review does not undermine the author's work in any way.

Now that we clear that up, here is my review of We Were Liars.

A Questionable Writing Style

I think that the first thing that threw me off when I read this book was the writing style. It is sort of an in-between, both prose and poetry, with line breaks here and there. But I think that it is what bothered me. Fo rthe most part, I felt like the line breaks were put there randomly to give the sense of a 'smart' and 'original' book. The use of both prose and poetry in a book is not a revolutionary type of narrative. I have read a few books that did the same thing, and sometimes it works very well. I'm thinking for example of The Invisible Life of Addie Larue which uses the same type f narrative, but in this case, the narrative style helps the overall story, and adds to the artistic theme of the novel. Here, it feels more like an attempt to sound smart and be innovative, but it does not add anything to the book. If anything, it takes the reader away from the story.

Because of the narrative style, it was incredibly hard to actually care about the characters, or even be able to differentiate them from one another. The aunts all felt like the same person, as for the other cousins. In a sense, I did not see the point of having so many one-dimensional under-developped characters. As for the liars, they also felt like they did not really have a personality - though it might be a deliberate attempt on the author's part to foreshadow the big twist at the end.

As a result, I did not care about the characters, who did not feel real, nor the story since it was so hard to actually get into because of the way it was written.

I think that what made me keep reading was simply the fact that I am a curious person, and since the book was short, it did not feel like a big waste of time to try and see what the big twist was. Nevertheless, finishing the book left me feeling a bit empty, and to be completely honest, a bit angry at the book.

Poorly Handled Themes

The main theme of the story is the way rich priviledged people behave. It deals with the way they treat others, each other, their relationship to money, their social appearance... Or, as one of my favourite booktubers, DrinkingByMyShelf, likes to say, 'champagne problems'.

Usually, these stories can be infuriating, but also incredibly well written. When the characters are well-written, I love to dive deep into these stories with filthy rich characters who, ultimately, fight each other for status and money.

I think that this was what this book was aiming at. We Were Liars is supposed to be a criticism of priviledge and money. But it fell short. It felt like those works you read where the author is trying to say something, and you get what they're trying to do, but it just fails and the point doesn't get across the way the author wants it to.

It also heavily relied on a big twist that did not feel right to me. Yes it is haunting. Yes it is terrible. But it feels forced, and felt like it was here to shock the reader rather than a thought through, well-crafted ending.

I ended up giving We Were Liars two stars. I think it might be my lowest review of the year so far (since I do not count books I read for uni that I didn't like). I wa so disappointed because I so badly wanted to like it. As I have said before, so many people have enjoyed it, and it is one of the most recomended books online. In a way, I do not regret reading it, and since it was short it was worth it to read it and form my own opinion!

Have you read it? What did you think? Let me know in the comments or on Instagram!