We Were Liars

I picked this one up as the first installation in a book club between friends, suggested by a member as it is her favourite book ever. It is fairly outside of my usual wheelhouse, so reading something different was a refreshing experience. This is a young adult book following Cadence, who is missing memories of a summer two years ago due to an accident.

Every summer her family descends on their private island, and the firm hierarchy of the family becomes constricting again. I really like the glimpses of family interactions between the aunts, especially the different tactics they use to one up each other. There is a lot of passive aggression, backhanded manoeuvring and using their children as weapons. I thought this was the most realistic aspect of this story because I have seen it in real life. It really helped the book for me, because otherwise I think I would have felt like I could not relate or emphasise with the characters.

This family is unfathomably rich, and it genuinely didn't feel real to me. This was worsened because the main characters are teens, but really don't read like teens. One character constantly mentions “sexual intercourse”, and they never contract their sentences (I am versus I'm). This really added to the surreal vibe, which did intensify the atmosphere. The book also took the time to touch on important topics such as privilege and racism, but I don't feel like it really did much with it.

All in all, I think this is a well crafted book and I can't deny the quality. If you are into contemporary or literary fiction this book could do well for you. I didn't personally resonate with the book, but I can see why so many do.