(This review contains spoilers throughout.)
I like to think that books can transport a person, not just into a different world, but into a different person. Books are their strongest when you can feel yourself become the protagonist, become the narrator and essentially adopt every facet of their life. That is exactly what We Were Liars did. E. Lockhart shapes an extraordinary novel amalgamated from pure mystery and frustration as Cadence Sinclair, our narrator , attempts to finally unearth the secrets of the forgotten summer when she was fifteen years old. Spending year after year on the private Beechwood Island with the extended Sinclair family, Cadence is now seventeen and has forgotten all the details of that summer. She knows something important, something crucial, is missing. And yet her entire family refuse to tell her the truth. This novel excels at showing her journey of self-discovery as she speculates, realises and is forced to survive with the stark horror of that truth.
We Were Liars at its simplest, is about family. In this case, it is the abundant, wealthy and beautiful Sinclairs who are established as significant right from page one, where an ornate family tree outlines three generations of them. Immediately the book installs the themes of aristocracy and lineage. Chapter One is dedicated entirely to describing this family, seeming to be of nothing bad, a family bred out of perfection and success. The unadulterated nature of this family is too sinister and slowly, the imperfections leak out at turbulent speeds. One of my favourite aspects of this novel was Lockhart's effortless way of portraying family dynamics. It is complicated, it is hopelessly frustrating and it is undeniably realistic. A family of that stature would have constant idealisations of inheritance and appearances which seep through every pore of the Sinclairs. It was so interesting to read the three main sisters argue endlessly over seemingly pointless paradoxes of who would inherit the biggest house on their private island, and who would get to keep the ivory ornaments once their parents died. It was so dark and so materialistic to read. Another interesting element of the family dynamic were how the mothers would scheme and perform constant passive aggressive acts of declaring their worth by using their children. The children became puppets to goad and beg to their grandfather for money without knowing why they were doing it. Even from personal experience, parents can mould you into something that looks shiny and kind just so other parents and other people can be jealous of your obedience. But with the Sinclairs, this was amplified to the maximum. Family became so much more powerful.
"We are liars. We are beautiful and privileged. We are cracked and broken."
Related to this, I also liked reading about the Sinclair's obsession with stoicism and appearances. Whenever Cadence so much as struggled with an emotion, her mother would be right there to chant "Be normal, now... Right now... Because you are, because you can be". This interacted with Lockhart's brilliant metaphors for emotions and pain to show how uncontrollable they actually are. Most notably was when Cadence's father left her and the pain of abandonment literally like a handgun to the chest. Lockhart then goes on to describe Cadence's pain as "bleeding" as well as having her recurring migraines, also described in such fantastic ways of statues being slammed into her brain, or pieces of matter splattering everywhere. These incredibly vivid descriptions are very stylised and yet effective in portraying real pain.
The characters, and most notably the four Liars, are also described in such an unconventional way. "Ambition and strong coffee" for Gat, a description that resurfaces many times without advancements. Instead of being limiting, I find that by doing this, the characters become more archetypical and more applicable to our own interpretations. Considering the outcome of the novel and the fabricated nature of the Liars post-fifteen, it makes sense for Lockhart to use this technique. Cadence only remembers certain shades of her friends so this is what they become. It is easier to remember them in these calculated and positive traits because with complexity comes reality which is the very thing Cadence refuses to face.
I also believe that in a way, Johnny, Mirren and Gat were created by Cadence in Summer Seventeen as facets of herself, facets of people she wanted to become. During that summer, Cadence envies the untainted and passionate personalities of each liar, for example, Mirren's yellow kindness and Gat's determination. At the end of the novel in Part Four, Cadence eulogises each liar and what their futures could have been. They have become distant versions of themselves fated to be that way for eternity. Therefore, the uncomplicated innocence of these false teenagers seems so appealing to Cadence who struggles with the aftermath of her forgotten actions. And so she continues to revel in this fantasy that is so much easier to understand. Like the simple fairytales she creates, her fabricated friends eventually help her understand her real life. In fact, at the beginning of the book, Cadence hints at the friends being hallucinations and constructed by her: "Once upon a time, there were three. Three of something... Since I got back from Europe, I have been writing some of my own. Variations." And she does "write" these variations with the same three friends she has always known.
"Everyone has duplicates of themselves in these other worlds. Different selves with different lives, different luck. Variations. It seems more than likely these variations exist."
I have to address the beauty that is E. Lockhart's writing. It is uniquely hers - with an equal mixture of poetry and prose and a blunt simplicity that echoes the mentality and loss of memory Cadence experiences perfectly. Those anaphoric line breaks were simultaneously powerful and beautiful to read and wasn't something I had seen much of before. The emotions and plot were so well crafted into this short book with every line and every word holding so much meaning. There was no empty space or non eventful action. Everything made me think carefully and question closely, adding to the mystery of the novel. It was as if I was becoming an iteration of Cadence, asking questions left right and centre, trying to grapple with anything and everything because how were we to know what was real? This was another reason why I loved that Lockhart included those intertexual references to Magical Realism and King Lear. The fine line between fictitious and real was so thin on an already unreliable narrative voice which again, made the entire experience more mysterious.
After finishing the book and knowing the ending, I started remembering these tiny details throughout the book that hinted at the Liars' deaths. For instance, something as simple as Cadence's grandfather coming to visit her and plucking not one but three flowers for her despite Cadence's complaints. He then says "You should have three". A nonsensical side effect of his dementia at first, but with the knowledge of the truth, a heart-breaking attempt for solace. One flower for each that had died. Lockhart's use of foreshadowing was so natural that I would have never noticed anything was out of place until after the plot twist occurred.
My favourite use of foreshadowing is when Cadence suddenly realises that her grandparents' golden retrievers were trapped inside that burning house. Her reaction is harrowing, desperate and full of guilt. It is the reaction for her friends before she remembers they were there too. Throughout the book, E. Lockhart uses the dogs as transferred epithets of the humans. They are intrinsically linked: blond, loyal and as much of the family as the humans (shown in the descriptions of house residents on the map). It shouldn't have been that surprising that we soon discover the deaths of her friends also trapped in that fire, helpless like those pets, together and the same.
Quite a lot of other reviewers I had read didn't like the title but if you think about it, it is really clever. We Were Liars is collective and retrospective. Cadence, Gat, Johnny and Mirren exist in the book as a group only, an eternal "we" even when they aren't, a group that can only exist in the past since the accident. The 'Liars' is so fluid, it could refer to the constant lying the Sinclairs all do to keep up their façade. It could be lie the four teenagers keep for the entire book, that the fire wasn't an accident but an act of defiance. Or of course, the "liars" could refer to the lie Cadence is telling herself every day after Summer Fifteen - that her friends are still alive. Except it is not just her telling the lie to herself, but the false "we", the entire group Cadence has created.
We Were Liars is a compelling and beautifully written book which I'll definitely be rereading with hindsight of the plot twist.
(All photographs taken by me with editing.)
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