I avoided the show, We Were Liars, though it looked tempting. I got some spoilers (by accident on TikTok) and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to stomach watching it. SO, when I stumbled across the paperback in the library, I thought to myself, “Well, I might not be able to watch it but surely I can read it!”. Boy, was I wrong. I cried, and cried, and cried.
It’s easy to get caught up in the, “Well why the hell would you go and do such a stupid thing.” But, the more I saw how these teenagers parents were acting the more it all made sense to me.
Money and greed is a nasty topic, one I have never been a fan of. You could ask my bestie, when we have cocktails I almost always vent about how much I hate the billionaires, the elites, the mega-rich.
This novel heart wrenchingly touches themes of greed, division, power and racism. I couldn’t put the novel down.
As always, I recommend reading the novel before watching the TV/film adaptions. But it’s never to late to pick up a good book. I knew the spoilers the whole time and still couldn’t put it down. It was phenomenally written and left me shattered.
**Spoiler Alert**
Guys can we be so for real! How fricken awful were those greedy, malicious, self-centered mothers. Every single one of them (Bess was the least worst one but also sucked). And their spiny, d-bag grandad! Ugh! I hate that they died in that fire but I am glad they burnt it down to the ground. I am half-tempted to get the other novels and see if it shows any remorse the aunts should be feeling. Was it worth it? Huh gran-dad? Huh, “mummy”? Was the division, the fighting, the utilizing your children as tools to get more stuff worth the tragedy? I want six more novels of G-Dad, Carrie, Bess, and Penny living in an empty house that lacked all the finer things they were obsessed with.
Here is what sparked me up the most:
- The Adults were the worst people ever.
- I wish they had a better plan and the fire was a success.
- Dogs should never die in books or movies. Ever. I would rather gouge my eyes out then read page 190-192 ever again. It literally snapped my heart in half!
- I hate that the parents live on and the liars don’t.
- I hate the money because it really is like that. That too-good, materialistic, ivory buying, racist grandparents that make up the finer parts of New England.
- It also really pissed me off that Cady’s dad took the Europe trip from Penny’s dad but then threatened her with lawyers when she was finally ready to allow Cady to return to the Island and figure out the truth. Like sit down cheating, dead-beat, I think your daughter finding clarity and truth is more important then her spending a couple weeks at your place. Like a supportive father would not have acted that way over her FIRST TIME BACK to the Island after such a tragedy. I also don’t blame him for not wanting to be a Sinclair, I wouldn’t want to be either.
- Carrie not getting married to Gat’s uncle because she doesn’t want to lose her money from her racist dad made no sense to me. Them still being together despite it also made know sense. Why bring his nephew knowing your dad hates him because of his skin color, why allow him to be shunned from dinner because it “upset your dad” that he was there? Like have a damn back bone.
- Penny saying her daughter couldn’t be with the person she loved because it effected their future inheritance pissed me right off too. I wish they could have run away instead, wahhhh.
- The liars deserved so much better. They were loving people who cared about the world and each other, nothing like their awful caretakers. I hate even calling them parents they were all such a disappointment.
If you are interested in purchasing, We Were Liars, by E. Lockhart, then you can do so here through my affiliation link with Amazon!