Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Family of Liars

I didn’t know this was coming until I saw it on the shelf one day. What an exciting day that was!

We Were Liars became one of my favorite books from the moment I picked it up & to get this story years later has been a gift.

I loved going back to the island, yet getting to know it in a different form.

I loved diving back into the E.L. writing style that felt unique to WWL.

Content Warnings

jojo_fiction_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

4.25

I recommend reading We Were Liars first, as this book has major spoilers for it.

“I have been a liar all my life, you see.

It is not uncommon in my family.”

The life of the rich and privileged, who have nothing to worry about, and can do no wrong (and if they do, no one will ever know).

I was so excited to stumble upon this book in a bookstore, I had no idea it even existed so I kinda lost my mind when I saw it on the shelf. I read We Were Liars years ago and it was one of those books with characters, a setting and plot twists that stay with you. So of course I had to read the prequel.

In Family of Liars, we follow Johnny’s mother, Carrie Sinclair, as she describes: “the worst thing she ever did”. The book shows the way different people handle grief, the complexity of family and what even makes people be considered as family, sisterhood, and how far people are willing to go to protect them.

“We show our love not with honesty or affection, but with loyalty”

I won't explain the details of the plot in case there are any potential readers who don't want to get spoiled, so this will be more like my thoughts about the characters and overarching themes.

I love stories about rich, old money families. Maybe because I like the aesthetic, or more likely because I like examining the inner workings and psychological issues that a lot of these families have. We get insight into all three of the sisters, Carrie more than the others, and despite them not being good people I think they were good characters.The sisters in Family Of Liars, are not supposed to be likeable. They are spoiled, pretty, privileged, and filthy rich. But I think it's easy to forget that despite their privileges they are still just children when this story takes place (17,16 and 14). The events that happen (

like the death of their youngest sister.

) follow them throughout their lives and they are shown to have no healthy grieving processes in order to “protect” the family and their reputation. Instead they bury it inside themselves and the pain leaks out in other ways. Carrie through her drug addiction, Penny through her need for attention, and Bess through her people pleasing nature and need for order and control.

Throughout the story we are introduced to themes that shape the plot and the characters. Grief, and it’s all consuming nature. Family loyalty, no matter what. The dark origins of old money wealth. Appearance vs reality. The book handles these themes not by just telling you they are there, but by having the characters actions governed by them.

I liked how Lockhart used choppy writing and line structure at points throughout the book to show the disordered thought process of Carrie. Both due to grief and the heavy drugs she was on. As well as her back tracking near the end to tell the real story and not what happened in her head. Just like in We Were Liars, we were left wondering how reliable this narrator is, and how much we could actually believe the story we were being told.

“I did say at the start of this story that I am a liar”

One thing I didn't love, or at least don't know how to feel about is, the way ghosts were shown as being real. One thing I loved about We Were Liars was the ambiguity due to the unreliable narrator. Were the other liars ghosts? Or were they a figment of the imagination of a broken and traumatized girl? Family of Liars takes away from that as it seems that ghosts are the answer. Not that it's a bad interpretation, I just liked the open ended idea We Were Liars left us with.

Overall , E.Lockhart did an amazing job handling difficult topics while keeping the same feelings from We Were Liars. Such an outwardly perfect family, perfect island, perfect summer. But something in the back of your mind telling you something is terribly, terribly wrong.

Content Warnings

sigreads_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

elianahanstater's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.0

i want to start by saying that i absolutely love how the author writes. her language is absolutely beautiful and you really feel as if you are inside the lines of the story. however personally i found this book underwhelming compared to the first. i was expecting to be hit as hard as the first book but this never came which was disappointing. regardless the story was very nicely written and portrayed.

Content Warnings

luananki's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-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

4.0

i had a lot more fun with family of liars than i expected to have.
i was so wrapped up in the story and am glad i decided to give the sequel a chance

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