One of the beauties of having multiple people at Book Nerds Across America is that we get to share a variety of opinions. I thought it might be fun to extend this out, so I found a book that Jessica and I had completely opposite opinions on and you can read both our reviews side by side. (Or back to back, as the layout is.)
So, without further ado...
We Were Liars
by E. Lockhart
Jessica's Review
I wasn't crazy about We Were Liars. At all. Which sucks, because I know so many people that said it was a great book, and I was hoping that it'd be a great book for me, too. This book, summed up in a sentence, is about a girl named Cady who comes from this rich, white, perfect American family, except for the fact that all of the mothers are divorced and everyone's racist and crazy and oh yeah, she hit her head. For the longest time I felt like I didn't feel any sort of plot evolving whatsoever. I felt like I was just following Cady and her crazy family for 227 pages of pure rich-people crazy.
One thing that really, really bothered me was the really random line breaking. All of a sudden
the book
would go like this and
it had absolutely no
rhyme or reason
And
I couldn't
take
it.
Like, what? I really didn't understand. There wasn't anything significant about those lines or the specific breaking up of them. It was cut off at random parts. For artistic affect, maybe? But I wouldn't call that artistic. More like mildly irritating.
The end of this book, however, it really screwed me up. Big time. I was left with a giant question mark above my head. I'm a logical person, so naturally I want answers. Things about that ending just didn't make any sense at all. The ending messed with my head a little bit. And totally didn't make sense to me. But like the summary said, I'm supposed to lie about the ending and not tell you anything. All in all, We Were Liars felt like a book with such a small plot to me, nothing important happening and nothing being elaborated. This book just wasn't my cup of tea, but that doesn't mean that somebody else may not enjoy it! I encourage everyone to pick up this book and give it a try. It's gotten raving reviews alongside some "meh" ones. It all depends on where you stand. I'm still glad I picked up this book and gave it a shot. I just wish I felt differently about it.
Flo's Review
It got a lot of pre-publication hype and again -- look at that summary! I knew I had to read it. I loved this book! For one thing, the writing is unique and beautiful ("He is...ambition and strong coffee." I love that description of Gat! I want to meet someone intense like him just so I can describe that person that way.)
The story struck a perfect balance between keeping you questioning and moving the plot forward. It gave you enough of a story line and enough about the characters that you were invested -- you felt you knew the Sinclairs and enjoyed reading about their summer experiences. But, at the same time, you knew -- as Cady knew -- that there was more that you didn't know. And so I wanted to keep reading to find out the more. Throughout the story, at good intervals, information is dropped in tidbits that makes you realize...whoa. Maybe you don't know the Sinclairs like you thought you did. I was thoroughly impressed because I knew going into the story that there would be a big twist -- that's all you see when you read the reviews. But I had no idea what the twist could be. And throughout the story I was reading, knowing that something was going to happen. But I had NO IDEA what it could be. And then when I got to it? I was FLOORED. I had NO IDEA. I finished this a couple of days ago and am still in book hangover mode. (The only thing I didn't get is why they're called the Liars? Did E. mention that? Or did I miss it?) Anyway, I definitely recommend this one.
The story struck a perfect balance between keeping you questioning and moving the plot forward. It gave you enough of a story line and enough about the characters that you were invested -- you felt you knew the Sinclairs and enjoyed reading about their summer experiences. But, at the same time, you knew -- as Cady knew -- that there was more that you didn't know. And so I wanted to keep reading to find out the more. Throughout the story, at good intervals, information is dropped in tidbits that makes you realize...whoa. Maybe you don't know the Sinclairs like you thought you did. I was thoroughly impressed because I knew going into the story that there would be a big twist -- that's all you see when you read the reviews. But I had no idea what the twist could be. And throughout the story I was reading, knowing that something was going to happen. But I had NO IDEA what it could be. And then when I got to it? I was FLOORED. I had NO IDEA. I finished this a couple of days ago and am still in book hangover mode. (The only thing I didn't get is why they're called the Liars? Did E. mention that? Or did I miss it?) Anyway, I definitely recommend this one.
So! What do you guys think?? Did you love it, hate it, or were you somewhere in between??
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