30 Books in 30 Beach Days Day 26: "We Were Liars"

A few summers ago, I read with interest about We Were Liars, a much-lauded young adult book set in the most idyllic of places for a New Englander: summers on a private family island off the coast of Massachusetts, close to Martha's Vineyard.

Technically a beach read, I suppose, as much of it is set on the beach, the novel is more hurricane-like than breezy. It's the story of the titular four "Liars," a trio of waspy cousins and a darker-skinned, middle class "other," a boy named Gat Patil who spends summers with the family on their island. Despite the outward perfection of that idyllic home, it's rotting inside: the Liars' mothers, three sisters, are constantly squabbling amongst themselves, fighting over their inheritance. The Liars refuse to participate in that squabbling, and this is one of the many things that sets them apart.

The Liars are a tight-knit group, and the narrator, Cadence, tells their story with a cadence that grows faster, more heart-beating, as we learn that the story is twisted with a dark secret that not only the narrator knows.

In her 15th summer, we quickly come to learn, Cadence suffered a serious accident that left her with migraines and amnesia. Throughout the novel, Cadence provides flashbacks that offer color to the reader as they also help her try to piece together what happened to her and her family.

I wanted to like this book more than I actually did like it, truth be told. It had the bones of something really intriguing, and it did keep me turning the pages. However, I felt that E. Lockhart relied too much on telling rather than showing, even as she jealously hid a secret and a plot twist that she revealed only at the very end. While her story was methodically and masterfully plotted, her characters were not. She assigned descriptive sentences to the Liars; Cadence describes her cousin Mirren as "sugar, curiosity, and rain" and Gat as "contemplation and enthusiasm, ambition and strong coffee." These are beautiful descriptions, and I was excited when I first read them, as I expected these descriptions would come to life as I got to know the characters better. They didn't, though, and I felt that I had to take Cadence's word for it that the Liars were what she said. I wish, in the end, that I could have believed in her and in them a little more.

Rating: 3/5

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