It is written from our protagonist, Cadence Sinclair Eastman's point of view, detailing her family's lives and also their politics, over a series of summers spent on the outwardly perfect Sinclair family's holiday island. I don't want to give too much away - part of the magnificence of Lockhart's novel is the unravelling and up layering of the story. As far as I'm concerned, the less you know the better. Of course, all is revealed in due course, and although some may not be shocked or surprised, I think it's so perfectly executed that you will want to carry on turning each page until you discover the whole truth.
One thing that struck me the most about this book was the dark and poetic language. Often, the prose switches to stanzas, and for me, this is very powerful; it causes you to take note of the words and absorb and appreciate the gravity of every single one of them. If I'm truly involved in a book, I devour every sentence quickly; sometimes not noticing small details or deliberate choice of words because I just want to know what happens. In We Were Liars, the change punctuates the story and causes you to linger upon each short line, having a very powerful effect. The language itself is also dark, filled with angst and hurt. You can feel Cady's pain seep out of her and onto the page in vivid imagery, without the language being overly flowery or dramatic.
The story and characters parallel a dark fairy tale; Cady rewrites fairy tales to reflect her life and her feelings towards her family. These fairy tales offer a kind of stream of consciousness and reveal to us her feelings towards her perfect family and also the pressure she feels with being the eldest daughter. Throughout the story, Cady is filled with anger and disdain for her family and their pretence of perfection. We are able to relate to her and her cousins and friend, as they seem like typical teenagers growing up and starting to challenge the expectations of their parents and indeed, society.
As I said, I don't want to spoil the book but Lockhart leaves little breadcrumbs along the way to help you guess and unravel the plot. Some of the clues are very subtle and I enjoyed looking for them, but this is a complex and detailed story; some readers will prefer just to go along with it all instead of trying to figure it all out.
Other reviewers have said that this book is the perfect example of why adults enjoy reading young adult fiction, and I have to agree. It is not your usual, teenage angsty love story. It is an intelligent read, both in story and style of writing. You can feel the characters' emotions through the expressive language and written sentences; Lockhart doesn't spell everything out to you, she trusts her readers to be clever enough to understand the characters and their motives. We Were Liars is an impressive read and one that I would happily re-read and recommend to others.
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