It’s time, it’s time!! It’s the last Monday of the month and that means I link up with Rachel and Amber for Collaboreads. I struggled with what book to read all month long and only after seeing that Amber picked this one up (and seeing that it was quite popular and talked about) did I decided to read it.
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From Amazon:
A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution.
An accident.
A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.
We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from E. Lockhart.
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.
RIVETING. I must confess, but it seems like I might be the ONLY person in the universe who didn’t love this book. It was a quick read and I didn’t hate it, necessarily, but I didn’t want to finish it. I wanted to put it down and walk away. I did like the way the book was structured – short chapters that moved forward and backward in time, interspersed with dreams or stories written in a sort of fairy-tale prose. Because the book is pretty twisty, I don’t want to give too much away, but I did like that there were hints and clues along the way pointing towards the truth.
ELEMENTS. While I liked the voice of the narrator and the way she shared her story, I pretty much cannot relate to anything in this story at all. The wealth and privilege, the ignorance and bitterness, the hatred and selfishness within one’s own family. I hated every single character in this book – even the one character who I think we’re supposed to like. The grandfather seems to pit every character against one another. The siblings use their children as weapons and leverage. The liars think they have it all figured out and can put an end to the family drama, but their methods are even more devious than their parents. Mostly, I just felt sorry for them all.
ASSOCIATE. I have a hard time with this association part and this book was even harder than most. I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book with such selfish characters and the only thing I could think to compare it with is Gossip Girl. The biggest difference, though, is that I actually loved that show! I re-watched the entire series a few years ago and despite the wealth and self-absorbed behavior, those characters were somehow beautiful. There were a few things about Cady, Mirren, Johnny & Gat that I liked. Tolerable qualities that I thought made them seem redeemable. Unfortunately, by the time I reached the end of the story and all of the loose ends had been tied up, none of those qualities seemed the least bit tolerable anymore.
DESIGN. Like most other books in recent history, I read the Kindle version, so I’m not sure the design of the book plays as big of a role. I do think the cover was well done and related to the content just enough without giving away any unnecessary details.
STARS. Two little dull stars.
It’s pretty rare that I read a book and don’t like it at all. I guess I could be a little disappointed, but I honestly never mind reading a new story, even when it doesn’t work out the way I want it to! Be sure to visit Amber & Rachel today and see all of the other fabulous bloggers linking up. Maybe, just maybe, you’ll find your next favorite book!
