We Were Liars Deluxe Edition

I'm not gonna spoil the book, but the problem with this book, is that knowing everything is a spoiler makes it easy to spoil yourself, by say, looking at a blurb on the cover while you turn to the first page.

First blurb said something along the lines of "read nothing about this book"

Then the second blurb, this time an accidental sighting, gave away the twist now that I knew there was one.

To be clear, this is my second time reading the book. It's a fine book whether or not you know what's going to happen. I honestly think it's better on a reread.

But if you are a stickler for spoilers, don't read anything about the book except for the actual story. Not the summary, not anything on certain social media sites, and definitely not the blurbs.

But if you are spoiled: It's okay. You'll still like the book.

Cadence Sinclaire comes from old money. She spends her summers with family and friends on a private island off The Cape. Then one summer something terrible happens. She can't remember it and nobody wants to talk about it; even her youngest cousins are instructed to politely change the subject.

I picked this up for a breezy airport read, and it was perfect for that. E. Lockhart writes well, the mystery is intriguing, and the prose is often surprisingly lyrical for YA. Layers of summer romance, a family that doesn't understand, and coming-of-age narratives weave seamlessly into the mystery. Much of the intricacy of the family's power dynamics are conveyed through allegorical fairytales

"Once upon a time there was a king who had three beautiful daughters"

which become increasingly more heavy-handed and literal as the book resolves. While others have cited this heavy-handedness and the similarly unnuanced treatment of race, class, wealth, and privilege as failings of the book, I can excuse these as YA elements peeking through what is otherwise a well-developed and intriguing mystery. Themes of narrative crafting, perception vs reality, and the rewriting of history serve as interesting balances to the heavy treatment of class and race.

That said, I found the end of the book inexcusable. The excellent pacing and development for most of the book is destroyed by a twist in the last 20 pages that is both overdone and incompatible with the world that Lockhart has built for us. The climax feels too abrupt, like too hostile of a "gotcha", and the denouement does little to smooth how jarringly the twist is executed.

Overall, We Were Liars is a charming experience rooted as much in power fantasy, lyricism, and romance as it is in mystery, that I loved up until the mystery was unsatisfyingly resolved.