It’s impossible to predict how a book will change you. I’ve picked up books that I was sure without a doubt I would love, only to make it halfway through and realize that the only thing I was taking away was a sense of what I don’t like in a book. And I’ve picked up books that I thought I wouldn’t make it through only to devour them in a single breath. The beauty of life is that you can’t possibly ever know anything. For me, the best things in life are the ones that grab ahold of you and dig deep. The things that stay with you, shape you, and change the way you look at the world around you. I read a lot, so you can take my word on this: books like that don’t come along all the time. But every now and then I get lucky and I find a book that completely shatters my worldview and builds it into something new and fresh – something a bit more sensitive and a thousand times stronger than it was before.
We Were Liars is one of the most powerful books I have ever read.
But it’s one of those books where you can’t really talk about it without ruining it for anyone who hasn’t read it.
So I’m not going to talk about it much.
Instead, I’ll say this: If you have a couple of hours to spare, pick it up. It’s short – 225 pages, wide typeface, huge line spacing – and it reads like a dream. Give it a few chapters to hook you – the beginning is disorienting – and I promise that this book will take you on a journey you aren’t expecting. Rarely have I read a book that took me so far away from where I was expecting to go, or left me with so much to think about as I tried to hitchhike back to real life. If you really want to be a step ahead of the game – give yourself an hour or two after you finish reading to just absorb it all because this book… this book will crush you, lift you, and toss you around like the ocean during a hurricane.
And the strangest part?
You will thank E. Lockhart for that because even though it hurt, it also taught you something integral to life – it taught you something about who you are versus who you want to be; about living life to the fullest; about how every choice you make creates ripples in not only your life, but the lives of everyone you love.
I’d like to tell you this tale has a tragic ending.
I’d like even more to tell you that this story has a happily ever after.
But if I told you either, I’d be lying.
Rating: MINDBLOWN/5 stars
Overall Reaction: “What the heck?” Keeps reading. “No.” Tons of sobbing. “NO.” More Sobbing. “WHOA.” Silence.