Reviews with content warning for Grief - We Were Liars

Devastating. Honestly, I don't know if I can put into words the feelings this book stirred up within me.
I suppose I should start by saying that I don't read sad books. Like, ever. And when I do, it is by accident and begrudgingly. And NEVER in the "hurt-no-comfort" category. Because I don't like being sad on purpose. Period.
However, a friend of mine gifted me this book when she moved, and after all the hype surrounding it when it came out, and of course the intriguing premise, I knew I was going to have to just power through and give it a chance.
Even though I knew it would be devastating.
And even when I reached the halfway mark and guessed at the truth hidden underneath the lies -- at which point, I knew for certain that I was going to be, you guessed it: devastated -- I wanted to finish it. To feel it and live it with Cady.
Oh, my poor, sweet Cady. How I wish I could just wrap you up in the biggest of hugs.

All in all, this is an excellent book. Devastating, yes. But exquisitely told. Grief is explored in every aspect. And as much as we would all rather avoid this kind of heartache, it comes for each of us. And this book does an amazing job of taking the reader through the process of pain, acceptance, healing, denial, and hope that surfaces even as the wounds turn to scars and the phantom pains set in. I can't say that I loved this book, because it's still so fresh and raw and, well, painful. But I needed it. My soul needed it.

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kimmmhere's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This book and its writing style gave me a feeling of nostalgia, like the Dutch writing styles. The story didn’t really catch me until close to the end. I liked the unexpected twist in the end. Overall pretty good.

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ameliabiblio's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I first read this book 9 years ago and I just reread it for the first time. It’s still a really interesting book, but I definitely approached it from a different perspective since I know the twist. Also, basically the only thing I remembered about the book was the twist, so I also rediscovered a lot of things.
This is a deeply YA book. And I don’t mean that in a negative way. I just mean that our main characters are all deeply teenagers. They feel things deeply. They think they know so much when they actually know so little. They’re not perfect people or even nice people the whole time, but they’re so human you can’t help but feel for them.
I think this book struggles a little bit with a lack of direction beyond the main mystery: what exactly happened to Cady? There’s a lot of ideas about privilege and wealth and abuse of power, but some of it is heavy-handed and some of it is barely noticeable. This lack of a clear idea beyond the mystery means that the reread value of this book isn’t high, at least to me. Rereading it 9 years later was definitely an interesting experience and I don’t feel like it was a waste of time, but I don’t think I’d gain much from rereading it again 9 years from now.
I can’t really write anymore of this review without revealing the twist, so into spoiler land I go.

I do feel like this book doesn’t hit as hard when you know what happens at the end. I won’t lie, though. Even knowing Johnny, Mirren, and Gat were dead didn’t stop me from tearing up at the goodbye scene. I just felt overly invested in all of the foreshadowing and like I was just chugging through the rest of the book to get to the big reveal.

I do still think this book is really well-written and 100% worth reading. The twist will certainly get you.

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