Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

12 reviews

josie1999's review against another edition

mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

Based on the fact that all the characters are liars, I found myself questioning whether the author was lying to the reader and whether the information we were given about the accident and what happened was true. In some ways that is accurate, but for the most part the author is not intentionally lying to the readers. The story focuses on the Cadence recovering her memories surrounding the accident during the Summer Fifteen. The jumping back and forth between Summers Fifteen and Seventeen were a little hard to follow. Over the course of the story I found myself jumping ahead and trying to anticipate what had happened. Several of my hypotheses of what led to Cadence's accident were proven false.

I did not expect the twist at the end. After reading the truth, I had to stop for a minute to process whether I actually believed it or not. (I was still in denial and joked that maybe the author was trying to misdirect the reader or that Cadence did not actually remember.) Thinking back, once the twist settled and the accident was explained, I was able to piece together parts of the story that pointed to the twist being what it was. Even after reflecting, the few details were easy to miss and hidden enough in the story that a reader would really need to pay attention to anticipated the ending.

The way the story is laid out with little pieces at a time and uncovering the truth along with Cadence is an enticing way to the keep the reader engaged.

 

Spoiler

One question I have that is still unresolved is whether Penny told Cadence the real truth or the truth that Cadence believed (i.e., she hit her head on a rock while swimming). I assume that is what Penny told her, otherwise it seems she would have known the truth the entire story and was looking for confirmation.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Ableism, and Racism

Minor: Animal death and Fire/Fire injury

a_wren_that_reads's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Drug use, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, Ableism, and Addiction

Minor: Drug abuse

x_miss_mcrae_x's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Death, Ableism, and Racism

readingwithkaitlyn's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Death, Grief, Self harm, Sexism, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Animal death, Blood, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Medical content, Racism, and Ableism

Moderate: Alcohol, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Dementia, and Hate crime

Minor: Colonisation, Vomit, Cancer, Death of parent, and Rape

g slur, homelessness, poaching.

andrear's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

I was fully prepared to give this two stars, maybe even one. Then I got to the end, and now I’m crying. It gets three.

/ 

I did not like the writing style at all. I did not like the weirdly sad tone. I did not like the main character. The love story was not fleshed out enough for my liking. I did not like reading about rich pretentious white people (WHO WERE RACIST and immature. and i know that was kind of the point but it was not rectified or discussed enough, just kind of a, that’s just how they are oh well.

Spoiler

THEN THE POC DIES

). The twist was almost entirely unbelievable but it still got me and made me cry so I let it slide. 

Don’t get me wrong, I did not enjoy this book. But still I have to give it three because it made me feel all the feelings at the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Animal death, Racism, Mental illness, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

Minor: Ableism

bugzandthingz's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Ableism, Alcohol, Medical content, Death, Emotional abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

becca_w_'s review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Cursing, Death, Dementia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, and Toxic relationship

floraforlora's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Very white

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, and Body shaming

sarah984's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

1.0

This book is hyped up so much everywhere and I didn't like it at all. The writing style is so over the top (every time the main character meets even a minor setback she's like "then he turned into a bear and shot me in the face"), the characters have one trait each, and the way the author can't seem to decide whether these characters’ obscene wealth is embarrassing or aspirational and kind of tries to do both drove me nuts. (The dismissive comments in the afterward about Cady’s "marxism" do suggest a few things though...)

I thought this was a thriller from the blurb but nothing happens and the twist is beyond stupid. (Also I have no idea how the character got out of the situation revealed in the twist without any injuries that would be noticeable months later even if she did have amnesia.) I don't think this book had any redeeming qualities.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Death, Dementia, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, and Racism

Minor: Abandonment, Death of parent, Self harm, Sexual content, and Vomit

corvidprince's review

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

OH. MY. GOD.

There aren't words to quantify my reaction to that twist. My jaw physically dropped. 

This book? A masterpiece. I can't wait to reread it knowing what I know now because it was there the whole time under my nose. I'll admit, I had to reread the twist a couple times before it clicked. It didn't make sense--and then it did. Few books I've read have earned more of a 5 star rating than this one has. The writing is masterful in every way, the work of Lockhart is truly brilliant.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Chronic illness

Moderate: Ableism, Racism, and Alcoholism