Me Thinks #4: We Were Liars

Title: We Were Liars
Author: E. Lockhart
Year / Pages: 2014 / 312
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Rating: 4 de 5 pastilhas-elásticas

WHAT THE EFF??? WHAT IS THIS? WHAT EVEN HAPPENED IN THIS BOOK? JESUS H. ROOSEVELT, SWEET MOTHER OF CHRIST....WHAT HAVE I JUST READ????

I just finished this book this mornin. It's a book that you read super fast, I did it in 3/4 days.... I know that there are people who are on their toes waiting to see what happens next but to be honest, I didn't feel that with this book and I didn't really feel excited to finish it.

I didn't know what was going to happen, even though I did imagine that nothing good was going to come out of this book but I can't exactly say that I was very surprised about this ending either! I feel that it might have been because I had a hundred theories on my mind (and none of them came true but still!) and I was more like WHAT THE FUCKKKKK.

To be honest, at the start I wasn't understand anything about this story and this family. And even now, that I have finished the book, my friend asked me what I thought of it and I can only tell her that this is one of the most weird books I've ever read! It is certainly worth for the writing but the story in itself and the characters are really strange and there are so many metaphors that I sometimes wondered if things were real or not (Well, at the end we learn about everything there is to know!).

To make a little summary of the book (NO SPOILERS), the Sinclairs are this rich class that belongs to the creme de la creme of NYC. Grandpa Harris is the head of the family, he has 3 daughters and those daughters have several childs. The most important of these children are: Mirren, Johnny and Cadence; later on (well, pretty early on in th story), one of the daughters gets together this man who has a boy, Gat. The problem is that Gat and his dad aren't caucasian and that created a lot of troubles in this typically american family. Everything about the Sinclairs is about appearances and all the rules are set by grandpa.

The Sinclairs have a private island where they spend all their summer holidays and on summer 15 there is a huge accident with the eldest granddaughter, Cadence, that leads herto lose her memory. Basically, the book is about finding what really happened on summer 15 so I think you can easily tell how nothing good can come out of here. Yup.

WHAT I LOVED [NO SPOILERS]:
- The writing: the writing of this book is sooooooo good and it's definitely what led me to give it 4 stars! SO. MUCH. WORD. PORN. I know that not a lot of people will love this writing style but I did and it was what made me read the whole thing. I feel that if this book had a normal writing style, I'd have drop it in the first pages.
- The personification of emotions: you will know when you read it, everything feels so real.
- Cadence's mum: you will also understand when you read the book. You will probably hate her at first, like I did, but at the end you'll be like *hugs* and *hearts*

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE [NO SPOILERS]:
- The title: I don't feel like it made much sense (will talk more about this one bellow the cut, with the spoilers);
- Too many characters at once: I read this article where it said that the author shouldn't introduce too many characters at once (max. 4!) and that happened here. There were so many names that I didn't learn any of them and I feel like it might have made me be lost in the story most of the time. Since I was reading in ebook it wasn't easy for me to go back to the start to check the family tree.

- The characters:  I wasn't able to connect with any of the characters, none of them had traits that were relatable. They were manipulative and awful and I honestly wasn't even able to feel sorry for them.

And that's it! My spoiler-free part ends hereeeee!!! You already know that bellow the cut there will be spoilers because I have SO MUCH to say about the final. Oh, God, I have so much to say!!!

p.s.: this book has a lot of GOOD reviews but also a lotof BAD reviews, so my advice is: pick up the book, give it a try and decide if you like it for yourself :) and do not read spoilers!!!!!!

p.s.s.: my favorite quote of the book is this oneeee (considering I have already shared my top favorite in my 'First Lines' post):

“We read all twenty-eight emails. 
When she is finished, Mirren kisses me on the cheek. "I can't even say sorry," she tells me. "There is not even a Scrabble word for how bad I feel.”

****************THERE ARE SPOILERS BELLOW THE CUT ****************

I created this section filled with spoilers because I have a ton of questions, guyssss! So, I'mma like place all my questions and the answers I have found for them and then if you have different ideas or answers leave me in the comments bellow! 

1. Has anybody else create a hundred and one theories troughout the whole book???

(I already know other people did because I watched a ton of youtube videos before writing this!)... I imagined a thousand scenarios but I confess I had never, ever, in million years imagined this finale! Some of my theories were: 

a. someone hit Cadence because she was the first born and heiress to the family so that if she became sick (not remembering things, etc), grandpa would never give her anything (I thought that the person to do something to Cady could be Johnny's mum);

b. I thought that the whole family could have been involved in something terrible, and thats why one of the aunts was wearing a Johnny's jacket (just thought it was the closest jacket. I'm so dumb!!!!), and why everyone was awake at night and the reason for New Clairmont;

c. I thought Gat could have done something to Cady! 

d. I thought Gat could have empregnated Mirren and everyone was in on it;

e. I actually pondered on Cady being dead!!!!! And that would be why no one replied to her but oh my God THIS WAS SUCH A PATHETIC THEORY!

like.... I never thought that everyone would actually be dead except Cady!!! I never even thought that the dogs could be a clue to a tragedy (I simply thought they had died of old age like grandma and me, I hate dogs, but I felt so saaaaaad when I knew they died :( ).

Seriously there were so many clues throughout the whole book and I didn't make anything of them and then when I get to the end and notice that the Liars are dead and that, in a way, it was Cady's fault, I felt soooooo dumb but at the same time.... I think that's what makes E.Lockhart a great author, because she hid the clues right under our nose and told us 'now you see me but you don't' AND I DIDN'T!!!!! urgh.

The ending was so afhaskjhaf. I can't say it was surprising because I was expecting a big tragedy and I felt that something was wrong with Mirren, Gat and Johnny but I thought of everything but this.

They were right there.... interacting with Cady! Which leads me to my second question: 

2. Were the Liars hallucinations or were they ghosts? 

I don't feel like this is a supernatural book and I also don't usually believe in this but I really want to believe that the Liars were ghosts. And the reason why I want to believe this is... it hurts less. There are some proofs of this, for example, when Thaft calls Cady and tells her Cuddledown is haunted or when the twins are interested in dead things; Cady's mum, at a certain point, treatens Cady that if she doesn't tell grandpa she wants to raise her own kids on that house, that she (the mum) will tear her and Gat apart but Gat is already dead so I wonder if Penny (mum) felt something off in that house too and that was why nobody ever went there.

It's also easier for me to believe in this because I don't want to think that everything Cady did with them on Summer 17, she actually did alone. Can you imagine? Climb to the roof and have dinner alone, go on a canoe by herself and even jump off a cliff, when she follows Johnny and Gat... if thiswas actually an hallucination this could be a way of killing herself?? I want to believe they are ghosts also because they only show up when Cady gets to the island. If they were hallucinations created by her meds, wouldn't they stay with her? Always and forever?

And how sad was the moment when everything was discovered and we think: what does a mum, who lost her kids, feel when, two years after, she receives presents for them from the only person who survived the accident? And what does a mum feels to see her daughter suffering with it?

Honestly, I suffered so much. And I didn't even like anyone that much but urghhh... the feels.

That's why I also got emotional with Cady's mum because she is always so serious and strict and then here we have her, telling Cady over and over how much she loves her as if saying 'you're nuts but you're my daughter and I love you forever'. And when Mirren, already dead, screams towards the sea: "I LOVE CADENCE, I LOVE MY COUSIN CADENCE!"... as if she was forgiving her :')

3. Did Cady really not remember anything at all? 

I believe that she did actually remember everything but she blocked it as a way to surpasse the pain. I feel like the little tales along the book, written by Cadence, are the proof of that.

4. Why is the book called We Were Liars??

At first I didn't get this title, because none of them were such big liars that they should be called that but then, talking to my mum, she made me see the light: it's a reference to when they were alive: We Were Liars. As in, they were the Liars but they are no more. I still think the title is dumb and would fit better if, as the portuguese translation went, they changed to "When we were Liars".

And now I leave you all with a little video from this channel that I found from girl who re-read the book and pieced all the clues together. Seriously.... how did I not notice any of this????

  

Annnnnd, leave me all your opinions!!!! Did you like the book? Did you hate the book? Did you guess the ending? Were you surprised? Did you cry a river???