We Were Liars by E. Lockhart: An Ode to Fake Deep Books

I was fully planning on reading this only to make fun of it. However, now I’m just sad.

STARTED READING – January 4, 2022
0% – “from what i’ve heard, 14 year old me would’ve eaten this up. we’ll see how this goes”
99% – “choosing to read all of this in one day was the worst decision of my life”
FINISHED READING – January 4, 2022

RATING: 3.5 stars

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In some ways, my initial assessment was probably right. There’s nothing particularly deep about this book, but I have a soft spot in my heart for fake deep books; 14-year-olds need something to parade around and act all superior about. It’s like their life fuel. A younger version of me would’ve totally eaten up
the sentence breaks
to make everything seem
a little more deep
and overall meaningful.

The writing style bugged me a lot in the beginning, but after putting it aside, this was a breeze of a read. Reading about square chins and rich people summers and non-problems was easy. There were a lot of motifs that would’ve bothered me if I hadn’t known that they’re meant to be recurring themes (“be normal, because you are, because you can be”, “ambition and coffee”, etc.). It did drop some absolute bangers at times (“why are you allowed to erase my father and I’m not allowed to–” “erase yourself?”). As it went on, I found my position shifting to: “hey, this really isn’t that bad!”

The characters aren’t all fleshed out but I wouldn’t consider them entirely flat. I’ve read worse, at least. I found myself appreciating them, even if they serve as archetypes somewhat (Mirren, a sweet, good-hearted person, Johnny, someone who doesn’t take anything all too seriously, Gat, just a pure soul that gets love projected onto them, even if it’s all a little vapid). As the story grew to its climax, I kind of started to adore the characters.

There was a nagging thought in the back of my mind the whole time. I knew there was a twist in this book, and I had some ideas for what it could be. When it came, I wasn’t all that surprised, just really, really bummed. If you’re looking for a twist, you may love this little bit! For me, I like fake deep books where the main character whines just enough that it makes me feel alright about whining too. There’s a fine line — I’m a walking red flag as a total sucker for Catcher in the Rye, but most YA-attempts miss the mark (though some I still embarrassingly adore).

That being said, maybe I like the alternate reality where the twist doesn’t come to be, and I can enjoy the goofy summers of privileged youth. For some people though, this book is the twist, and that alone is what makes it — and that makes sense! Different people will get something different out of it. Maybe if I weren’t acting so stone-cold, I could’ve gotten the waterworks going at the end and blissfully wallowed in it. For once, though, my tear ducts are rusty and crusty.

My one qualm is that the explanation for their being named “the Liars” never should’ve been cut from the book. My merciless tabbing at mentions of “lie”, “liars”, or “lying” didn’t really give much clarity. Fortunately, my copy explains it in a bonus section at the end, but I still can’t stand when they leave out the backstory. I adore backstory. Guess I’m just built different. (I’m begging you to note the sarcasm)

Overall, I guess I’d give it a 3.5. I’m not sure I’ve ever consumed a whole book in one day, so we’ve gotta give it that much.

What did you think of We Were Liars? Was this book locked deep in your 2014 Tumblr era mind palace? What are your thoughts on fake deep books, and do you think this is one? Share your thoughts below!