Review of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This is the kind of book that, when I finish reading, I’m like FINALLY and then throw the book out of the window (in this case not applicable because of digital copy.)

But really, what a weird story and an uncomfortable and pretentious atmosphere this We Were Liars book has. It wasn’t long, thank God, but damn it was painful to read. This is my 3rd negative review/read this week and I’m seriously pissed but will try to keep it cool.

I didn’t get
the purpose of this book.
Why were they called
Liars anyway? Okay
they lied but who doesn’t?
Why are they supposed to
be so
special? Because
some of them are rich? So what?
Many people are as well and it
doesn’t make them
more
interesting/special.

(Did it annoy you? How I just wrote what I wrote? If it did, this is not the book for you.)

It’s like the author wanted to make this story ‘phenomenal’ and so damn poignant and thought that by adding some metaphorical sentences, a different writing style and a heavy recycled subject she would succeed. But she didn’t. At least, not for me. I personally thought it felt very pretentious and TOO MUCH. The pacing is uneven and the story very repetitive. The characters, except maybe for Cady, the MC, are one dimensional and I couldn’t connect with any one of them.

Again with the subject, is it mainly about…rich-wants-to-date-‘poor’-guy-aka-love-of-her-life-but-can-t-because-family? So confusing… but I guess that’s it since THAT started a lot of stuff. The love story, by the way, is so so so dull. This is all because of the hype…

Oh, the hype was there. It.IS.There. But we all know hype lies and loves doing it.

This is not the type of book I usually read because it feels, just by reading the ‘synopsis’ (really? couldn’t this book have at least a normal synopsis?) too sad/dark/eerie for me but, HEY, we all need to step out of our comfort zone from time to time. PLUS, John Green praised this book. He

Thrilling, beautiful, and blisteringly smart, We Were Liars is utterly unforgettable.
John Green, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars

praised this book. And, since I finished reading The Fault in Our Stars not so long ago and loved it, I thought I’d trust Green’s judgement.

Except, it was boring. Boring. Boring. Boring. The only parts I felt myself enjoying reading are the little ‘stories’ with the king and his 3 daughters.

I really don’t recommend this book. It’s a waste of time because it’s confusing as hell and doesn’t even have a nice/normally written ending.

I wish I could burn it.

View all my reviews on Goodreads.

32 thoughts on “Review of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

  1. Yikes! Sounds like this was a train wreck of a read for you and you didn’t enjoy it at all. I am sorry, I hate it when that happens. Here is to hoping your next read will be fantastic. 🙂

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  2. Hahaha, this is a great review Lola – I really like the way you review, it’s funny, but in a good way. 🙂 I agree with a lot of what you said, and although I gave this 3.5 stars officially, sometimes I also feel like giving it a 1. Thanks for sharing. 🙂

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  3. I didn’t enjoy this one either. The writing just plain out annoyed me. I know it was supposed to come out as really special or something, but nope, it just didn’t work for me. I prefer normal writing styles. -_-
    I also figured out what happened in the book very early on and thought it was weird that people thought the ending was shocking. The clues were all over the book.
    I’m sorry this didn’t work for you, Lola! I hope you read a better book next!

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  4. Awww…this is one of my favorite books of 2014 so far so I’m sorry to hear it was so disappointing for you Lola! 😦 I can definitely see why though…this is the type of book readers are either going to love or hate. There’s really not much in between for this one. I think whether or not you like it depends on whether you can connect to Candace and the writing style or not. It sounds like you didn’t really have that connection to either, so I guess I can’t blame you for feeling this way. Nonetheless, thanks for sharing, and, as always, BRILLIANT review! ❤ Sorry this was a bit of a let-down for you! 😦

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    • The hype is because of John Green’s praise, super sure of it. xd Bet they’re friends or something. Or maybe he and I don’t have the same taste in books…Thanks a lot, Becky! 😀 And, yeaah, annoying writing style AND atmosphere.

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  5. Aw, I’m sorry you hated it. I thought it was phenomenal, and I really enjoyed the style and everything. But hypes can be liars, right? 😉 Usually I’m okay with hype and love the book, but I’ve hit some woeful ones that I do NOT understand why they’re loved. Hope your next read is better for you. 🙂
    Thanks for stopping by @ Notebook Sisters!

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  6. Wow you really hated it lol, I personally loved it, I thought it was a very good story and I loved her writing style; but not everyone can love the book. I feel like with this book it’s either you love it or you don’t, and you obviously was in the don’t category lol (:

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  7. Oh sorry this wasn’t a good one for you!! I’m now hesitant to read it. I added it to my list awhile ago because it sounded interesting, but yours is not the first negative review I’ve seen. I think I may pass on this one! Great review though, and thanks for sharing!!

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  8. *sighs* thank you for your honest review, Lola. I’m pretty sure I would not enjoy this either, because if someone tries the pretentious route and can’t quite pull it off, it just makes me cringe. And I have nothing against doing things differently, the authors who manage to pull that off bring me an awesome experience.
    Happy reading, I hope your next read was much, much better!

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    • Yeah, exactly. Some authors do things their own way and it can be admiring if they succeed to pull it off but this author didn’t (for me.) It doesn’t even have a developped plot. Blaah, I don’t recommend it. xdd I’m glad to know you’re so open-minded, Lexxie! I like those kinds of person! Hmm, hahah, after that I read Open Road Summer and it was a little better but not great lol but thank you still. 🙂

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  9. Great review, Lola!! You basically took the words right out of my mind! The romance was lackluster and dull. And I asked the same thing, why were they called the Liars? And what idiots would do what we discovered they did in Summer 15? Lol, great end, I see what you did there 😉

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    • I thought there was going to be an unforgettable love story!! I’m telling you, it promised us too much when we didn’t even get half of those elements. -_- It’s not even realistic!! I mean, who would do that?? (Some people…) but anyway was weird and NOT GOOD. xd Thanks a lot, and hehehe yeah, but I still feel like, the need to burn the book. 😉

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  10. YES! Why were they called liars!? I suppose we’ll never know. I didn’t hate it as fiercely as you did, but it certainly wasn’t my favorite. I was expecting epic (hype rearing its ugly head I suppose) and got “meh”. I didn’t mind the way it was written, but I thought it was hilarious that you reviewed it that way. Also, I totally agree that Cady was flat. If I cared about her more, maybe I would have cared about the book more? Who knows, I am just glad I am not the only one who doesn’t “get” this one.

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    • I was expecting epic as well, sigh. Hahaha, thanks, really didn’t like the writing. It made me pause and then read carefully and ugh annoying. Surely, a MC has a grand effect on us liking the book or not so probably we both would have liked the book more if Cady were more…just more dynamic etc. I’m glad to know that as well! Thank you for stopping by and I enjoyed reading your thoughts, Shannon. 🙂

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  11. “I wish I could burn it.”
    Laughed at that one. And I didn’t get why they were liars either… 😛 But I still really enjoyed it. Love your review!

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  12. I’m always a bit tentative to read super hyped up books because I find they’re either a hit (like this one for me) or a miss (like for you) but I suppose an author can’t please everyone. ps. Your blog is super cute 🙂

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  13. Wow, I’m surprised you didn’t like this one. I haven’t read it yet, but all the reviews I’ve read so far were really positive, well, except for yours. I’ve been wanting to read this, but maybe I should lower my expectations if I do. Thanks for sharing! 🙂

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