We were liars was my ticket out of a pretty long reading slump.

‘The writing style of this book is utterly exquisite and makes this book impossible to put down’ – The Guardian

Reading slumps are terrible. They are composed of guilt, anxiety and a whole lot of procrastination. Reading doesn’t come to most of us as a consistent habit. For some of us its a high. You read 4 books in a month and then the rest of the year it seems reading just one is a struggle. The only thing that can really fix that is a book that comes into your life to save you from your month long reading slump. because if it doesn’t suddenly is 5 years later and you haven’t read anything in a while.

“Never force yourself to read a book that you do not enjoy. There are so many good books in the world that it is foolish to waste time on one that does not give you pleasure.”

Atwood H

We were liars is that one book which you start reading half-halfheartedly, expecting to leave it in the middle and then you absolutely cannot put it down. Isn’t that the feeling we are all chasing? Thank god for the books that you cannot put down once you start reading them. The book gives us a picturesque Sinclair family through the eyes of Cadence, our protagonist. She introduces us to a family without flaws and failure. The 3 cousins Cadence, Johnny and Mirren and Gat, a family friend spend every summer together on their private island called Beechwood. These four characters take us through a journey of uncovering mysteries of the Sinclair family. Throughout the book we get glimpses of Cadence trying to remember something about ‘the tragedy’ from two years ago. We only learn in bits and pieces what happened and we see that the trauma of the event follows her in the form of unexplained blackouts and headaches.

The way this book is written is very unique. Its evident that there is a mystery in plain sight from the very first chapter but you don’t get to it till the very end. The author scatters themes of greed, entitlement and power in the book in the form of characters which makes it so heartfelt when you finally do uncover the mystery. The plot twist comes out of nowhere and wrecks you.

Cadence is not a character you will relate to for the most part. It is her distance and inability to piece events together to make sense of the mysterious tragic events buried in her memories that drives the story. Gat is yet another character 2 dimensional character that seems to represents realness in the story but isn’t explored that much. But it all adds up because the characters are remnants, that add gradient to the story but are not ‘the story’. Not to spoil anything, but characters that seems like hazy images of themselves is exactly the point. 

E. Lockhart is a Young Adult fiction writer based in New York. She grew up listening to Goo Goo Dolls, is a Literature Major from the University of Columbia and has penned the Lena Dunham approved ‘feminist thriller’ called Genuine Fraud which will be released in June 2020.

“We are liars. We are beautiful and privileged. We are cracked and broken.”

E. Lockhart

Do I recommend ‘We were liars’ by E. Lockhart?

Absolutely. Its quick, its thrilling and will leave you in awe. Its exactly what you need if you are struggling to get back in to the habit of reading and beat your reading slump.

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Momina Arif