We Were Liars - e. Lockhart

We are liars
We are beautiful and privileged
We are cracked and broken 
A tale of love and romance
A tale of tragedy  

Which are lies?                  
Which is truth?
You decide. 

★★★★

When I first approached this novella I had no clue as to what it was about and whether in fact I would enjoy it at all because of the meager amount of information written in the blurb. Lockhart is not a familiar author for me and this is the first book of hers I have ever read. Not only is it full of secrecy and mystery, it creates a sense of curiosity which for me personally, drew me in. 

The novella starts quite confusing with a map of the island (the key feature throughout the story) and leads us no clues as to what could/might happen. Straight away we are introduced to Cadence, the protagonist and who's point of view the 1st person is perceived from. In my opinion, she is a strong character who has been through so much distraught and sadness, she doesn't quite know what/who she wants from life. Cadence is completely in love with a colored boy named Gat whom we never truly find out his true meaning, although Gat is such a key character, I struggled trying to understand his morals and personality. Cadence's family (the Sinclairs) do not approve of Gat, and their element of disapproval isn't shown until at least half way through the book, because of this, a strong sense of racism occurs which is a key feature of the narrative itself. 

It wasn't until I was at least halfway through the novella when I started really enjoying it, to the point where I didn't want to put it down (which for me is a sign of a really good book) however even towards the end I was still extremely confused as to what was really going on. There were so many twists and turns in the tale which made it quite hard to understand and connect to the characters within the story. At the end, there is a complete and utter twist which is terrifyingly well thought out, beautiful and mind-blowing. I remember feeling so shocked I re-read the page over 5 times, purely to somehow get my mind to re-focus and carry on reading. The impact of this huge surprise sends the whole story spiraling out of control and it almost made me feel disappointed as the ending I had hoped would now never happen.

Even now I am still trying to get my head round why the book is called 'We were Liars' as to me, it has no relevance to the story. Maybe my metaphorical mind isn't quite working and it will come to me when i'm not thinking about it however I can think of many different titles which would of suited the novella also. 

Overall, I would rate 'We were Liars' 4/5 stars purely for the fact of how much e. Lockhart captivated me with thrilling and gripping words which quite frankly, are words of beauty and talent. I look forward to reading more of her books in the future.