We Were Liars – E. Lockhart

Delacourte Press | Hardcover | May 13, 2014

Electric. I've never read a grief story quite like this.

WE WERE LIARS follows Cady Sinclair: the eldest of the Sinclair grandchildren, who is unapologetically in love with a brilliant and beautiful boy whom her stuck-up family disapproves of. In the first chapter, Cady decrees that while she "suffers from migraines," she does not "suffer fools" and how she enjoys simple twists.

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

Through these three simple statements, Lockhart sets a relentless and cyclic tone for her novel that shows the extremes of grief and how it is process both individually and across multiple generations.

There are some believability issues surrounding the supporting characters. **Spoiler Alerts **Cady's cousins are extremely young and although the Sinclairs have a way of drilling decorum into someone's skulls, it is hard to believe that younger children would be able to keep what happened to Johnny, Merin, and Gat a secret from Cady. Nor can I entirely believe that there would not be any animosity toward Cady, given her role in the tragedy that has gripped the family in such in-escapable grief. Lockhart clearly has a knack for wordplay and as a result, it would have been brilliant to her have the aunts make double-edge remarks.

Regardless, the book is hands down a must-read. Lockhart has crafted an unreliable narrator that speaks with such conviction that readers will forget to question whether or not she is telling the truth. The way she uses the repetition of words and images is amazing. Readers will get swept up in Cady's quest to uncover the truth about what happened during "summer fifteen," and they will come to understand the depths of the Sinclairs' toxic privilege, the divides it breeds, and ultimately the consequences of their inability to see past their superficial needs and mottos.