We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Published: May 13, 2014 by Delacorte Press
Source: From the publisher via netgalley - thank you!

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE. [goodreads]

With the considerable hype surrounding this novel, I was very much intrigued to discover what it was all about.  I have read E. Lockhart's previous work, The Boyfriend List series, and absolutely loved it.  From those books alone this writer went on my auto-buy list.  She has a way with words, so raw and relateable, that I knew I had to get my hands on her latest novel, WE WERE LIARS.

I feel that this story is one you need to go into with as little knowledge about it as possible.  Now I know for a review sake, that's a bit hard to do.  I will not give away any specific details about the story, but I do have some opinions on the over all feel I had upon finishing the book.

Hands down, this woman can write.  This novel is a testament to that.  The voices in this story carry over with so much emotion, in just a few amount of words.  Lockhart's ability to capture a scene from the placement of a sophisticated beach cottage sitting high on top of a cliff, to the sudden awareness of the warm winds being carried over the bay, sending echos of a child's laughter while an array of fine china are clinked together during an afternoon lunch, puts you right there in the story.  Not a moment was missed.

Yes, there is a bit of a mystery with this story, as the "Liars" weave a tale of summers spent on their family's private island off the New England coast.  Its narrator has suffered memory loss, and as the reader, you are kept in the dark about what happened there one specific summer.  The details remain fuzzy, but not completely unidentifiable.  Perhaps that is why I did not walk away with such a gasping reaction as other readers have.  I might have uncovered bits of the truth before the rest of the story was laid out.

Overall I can definitely understand why this novel will capture the attention of so many readers.  E. Lockhart is a brilliant writer, one I can not give enough praise to.  Though this particular story didn't completely win me over, her beautiful writing overshadowed much of that, causing me to give it high regards.

The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart

Published: March 22, 2005 by Delacorte Books
Received: purchased from Half Price Books

Ruby Oliver is 15 and has a shrink. She knows it’s unusual, but give her a break—she’s had a rough 10 days. In the past 10 days she:

lost her boyfriend (#13 on the list),
lost her best friend (Kim),
lost all her other friends (Nora, Cricket),
did something suspicious with a boy (#10),
did something advanced with a boy (#15),
had an argument with a boy (#14),
drank her first beer (someone handed it to her),
got caught by her mom (ag!),
had a panic attack (scary),
lost a lacrosse game (she’s the goalie),
failed a math test (she’ll make it up),
hurt Meghan’s feelings (even though they aren’t really friends),
became a social outcast (no one to sit with at lunch)
and had graffiti written about her in the girls’ bathroom (who knows what was in the boys’!?!).
But don’t worry—Ruby lives to tell the tale. And make more lists. {taken from goodreads.com}

You know that book you purchase because a friend recommended it & then you happen to find it on clearance at an already marked down bookstore so you buy it insanely cheap?  But then for whatever reason, it gets lost on your shelves, pushed to the far back, and never read?  Well that is exactly what happened between The Boyfriend List and myself.  It's a horrible way to start out a relationship with any book.  After numerous affairs with other books on the shelf, I finally uncovered this little gem and decided to give it a go.  Woah.  Pass me the advil because I have developed a serious pain in my stomach from uncontrollable laughing of pure hysteria.  Yes people, this book is that funny.

Ruby Oliver is a fifteen year old girl who's got a tight nit of girl friends.  Among the four of them, they have created a go-to book when it comes to boys and dating.  Of course, this book has many revisions, seeing as though they began the book with hardly any experience to go by.  At the start of sophomore year the girls, including Ruby, find themselves in some what "serious" relationships with boys and decide to really put the book to good use.  After several months of dating, whom Ruby feels is the one, the floor gets kicked out from under her.  All in a matter of days her world is turned upside down.  She's lost not one, but all her girl friends.  And on top of that, the boy who she felt was the one, has now become the no one to her.  Ruby finds her mental health in a state of crisis, and by the demands of her parents, she seeks help from a shrink.  It is during these visits that she uncovers her past with boys and what it all means leading up to her recent disaster.

Each chapter is titled a boy's name of who meant something to her at one time or another, in Ruby's past.  It could have been her first kiss, the boy she secretly pined for but never knew she existed, or that fateful and maybe regretful relationship that brought everything to a head.  Ruby's voice is comical in more ways than one.  I was constantly laughing at her explanation of things.  I felt that the teenage voice was spot on.  All those conflicted, confused, misunderstood feelings were perfectly captured and projected from this hysterical teenage girl.  Though the laughs kept coming, it was the softer moments that really stood out to me as well.  I felt compassion for Ruby, to be that fifteen year old girl again, and never understanding why boys act the way they do - and how detrimental it can be when you lose a friendship that was once the other half of you.

When I first purchased this book, I had no idea it was a series.  Now that I have become aware of this knowledge I am plowing my way through these books.  I can't get enough of Ruby.  She makes me laugh.  She makes me cry.  The relationships she has with people are so identifiable.  I knew that boy in high school, I remember that girl as well.  It's a story that I feel any age can relate to.  If you're in need of a book to make you laugh until your stomach is full of cramps - then I HIGHLY recommend this series.  It's definitely going to be marked as one of those "why hadn't I read this sooner?" books!