A REVIEW OF EMILY LOCKHART'S WE WERE LIARS.

WE WERE LIARS BY EMILY LOCKHART

I didn’t read, “We were liars”, the novel by Emily Lockhart, because I was looking for a mystery, but because I had watched the film and like most readers, I believe books give more details of a story. I wanted to feel every ounce of the story, the parts the film couldn’t capture.

So, at first read, We Were Liars gave off perfectionism, the perfect life of a rich family, spending summers on a private island, beautiful houses, perfect family pictures, endless holidays, but underneath all of that luxury, was grief and guilt.

The story follows the life of Cadence Sinclair Eastman, a girl from a wealthy family who spent every summer on her grandfather’s private island. She grew up with her cousins Johnny and Mirren and their friend Gat and together, they called themselves “the Liars”, a group connected through friendship and love.,

On one summer, something terrible happened and after that, Cadence suffered from migraines and lost parts of her memory. Her family refused to tell her what happened, they avoided her questions, changed the subject and acted as if everything was fine.

Cadence began to remember slowly and as the memories came back, she realized how much her mind had been protecting her. She slowly recalled the events leading to the fire, the Liars had wanted to protest their family’s obsession with money and control, so they planned to burn down one of the houses, as a statement. What they didn’t plan was for anyone to get hurt, but the fire had spread too fast. Johnny, Mirren, and Gat died in the flames, leaving Cadence to survive alone and for two years, she had been carrying the weight of their deaths without even remembering them.

Each revelation showed how her mind had filled in the gaps with comforting lies. The way she laid on the beach with Mirren’s sister and talked about Mirren like she was alive, not remembering Mirren had already died. The way she imagined conversations with Gat, Mirren and Johnny and how she judged the new style of one of the houses, not remembering that the original had been destroyed in the fire they caused.

In the film, many of these moments were simplified. The confusion, the slow realization and the tiny, heartbreaking ways Cadence’s mind filled in the blanks weren’t explored as deeply, which made the ending feel less emotionally intense. The book lets you live inside Cadence’s head and feel every moment of fear, guilt and grief.

What made, “We Were Liars”, emotional wasn’t just the twist, it was realizing how carefully Cadence’s mind had been shielding her and how those protective lies could never replace the truth. It was the quiet sadness of her discovering that the people she loved most were gone and that her own memories had been a gentle illusion to protect her from that pain.

Emotional Reality

Many readers were shocked by the ending; some even re-read the book to spot the clues they missed the first time. The most powerful part was realizing that Cadence’s mind had been playing with her and that everything that happened after her accident were in fact illusions.

From the start, it was clear that We Were Liars was not a light story, it was about loss, family pressure and the weight of guilt and Lockhart lets the pain unfold slowly, memory by memory.

Writing Style

Lockhart’s writing is simple, clear and full of feeling. Each sentence feels deliberate, like she knows when to hold back and when to reveal. It’s the kind of book that doesn’t rush you, but once you start, you can’t stop.

Final Thoughts

We Were Liars is about beautiful places and broken people. It is about love, loss, memory and the lies we tell ourselves to survive. It is not an easy book and it is not a happy book, but it is deeply human. The honesty of the book creeps up on you, stays with you and makes you sit quietly after the last page.

I mean, I think I know why I prefer reading over watching films; the emotions, the thoughts and the slow reveal of the truth are far richer in the book than the movie. You feel Cadence’s confusion, her gradual understanding and the heartbreak of realizing her cousins are gone in a way that the film can’t fully show.

They had to omit a whole lot of scenes from the book and I honestly don’t blame them because, I mean, it’s a film so everything wouldn’t fit in.