We Were Liars - Book Review

We Were Liars by E.Lockhart is the story of a rich, beautiful, successful family who goes for summer vacation on their own private island. It is there that something tragic happens, though until you read finish the book, you won't know what it is.

I think to get the most out of this book you should really read it knowing as little as possible about it, as I did. By knowing the ending, there would be little enjoyment from reading the book, as most of the satisfaction comes from the suspense and the page-turning that comes from wanting to know what happens next. So if you're one of those people, go off and read it now, though the following will contain no plot spoilers, just my thoughts on the book as a whole.

I'm aware that this novel has received a lot of hype, but I have a commitment to myself to always write what I think, despite the popularity of whatever I'm reviewing. I might be in the minority with this one, but I was disappointed with this book as a whole.  I think it could be a decent beach read, but it lacked a fundamental depth of character and plot that I enjoy in the novels I read. The characters were quite shallow, almost stock characters. Especially the narrator who lacked any real personality or defining traits.

Beyond that I was mainly disappointed with the novel's execution on some of the key concepts. For a book that dealt with weighty ideas such as consumerism, materialism, and racism, the novel started the job, but never finished it. There doesn't seem to be a conclusion reached about the severity of these things in the story, they are never wholly resolved, but instead are lightly dismissed by the narrator. What I weep for in this novel is not the characters, but the potential of the novel to do justice to it's themes...

Lastly, I found the writing style was not to my taste- full of one word and choppy sentences that in a novel usually serve as emphasis. But if the whole novel is thus emphasized, then nothing is...

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