As a writer, it's very difficult to pick a single favorite book, but if I had to choose it would be "We Were Liars" by E. Lockhart. For a book centered around a teenage girl, Lockhart offers an intensely mature story about the lies and realities surrounding tragedy in a privileged family.
The truth in this novel wrecked me for it's relatability to my teen and childhood years and at any stage of life if you have ever found yourself having to find your own truth in the midst of deceit then this is a read that will resonate in your soul.
Without giving away anymore of the book, I'd like to share some of the truth's spoken to which many of us can relate as are collected from the four main characters in this book, who affectionally call themselves "the liars".
1. Upholding the facade of a "perfect" family
"Welcome to the beautiful Sinclair family. No one is a criminal.No one is an addict. No one is a failure.
. . .
Welcome, once again, to the beautiful Sinclair family. We believe in outdoor exercise. We believe that time heals. We believe, although we will not say so explicitly, in prescription drugs and the cocktail hour."
2. Feeling the sting of absent parents
The main character, Candace, narrates this poignant quote about the day her father left:
"Then he pulled out a handgun and shot me in the chest. I was standing on the lawn and I fell. The bullet hole opened wide and my heart rolled out of my rib cage and down into a flower bed. Blood gushed rythmically from my open wound, then from my eyes, my ears, my mouth. it tasted like salt and failure. the bright red shame of being unloved soaked the grass in front of our house, the bricks of the path, the steps of the porch, My heart spasmed among the peonies like a trout."
3. Being in love
“I am not talking about fate. I don’t believe in destiny or soul mates or the supernatural. I just mean we understood each other. All the way.”
"It was love, and it hit me so hard I leaned against the screen door that still stood between us, just to stay vertical...the universe was good because he was in it."
“Someone once wrote that a novel should deliver a series of small astonishments. I get the same thing spending an hour with you.”
“He was contemplation and enthusiasm. Ambition and strong coffee. I could have looked at him forever.”
Lockhart so accurately encompasses what it feels like to be in love.
4. Refusing to succumb to prejudice ideals
"If you want to live where people are not afraid of mice, you must give up living in palaces."
5. Being the black sheep
"My full name is Cadence Sinclair Eastman, and contrary to the expectations of the beautiful family in which I was raised, I am an arsonist.A visionary, a heroine, a rebel.
The kind of person who changes history."
“I suffer migraines. I do not suffer fools.”
What it is like to make your own way, and defy twisted expectations.
6. Finding words to live by
"Be a little kinder than you have to ."
"Do not accept an evil you can change."
"Always do what you're afraid to do."
"Be sad, be sorry, but don't shoulder it."
7. Appreciating what your friends teach you
"We are liars, we are beautiful and privileged. we are cracked and broken."
“He is so enthusiastic, so relentlessly interested in the world, that he has trouble imagining the possibility that other people will be bored by what he’s saying. Even when they tell him outright. But also, he doesn’t like to let us off easy. He wants to make us think—even when we don’t feel like thinking.”
“He was a person who couldn't fake a smile but smiled often.”
"She is sugar, curiosity and rain."
Family isn't always forever and you must cherish the gems life gives you in the form of friendships. If you have enjoyed and related to any of the words shared here, I encourage you to also enjoy the rest E. Lockhart's novel "We Were Liars" as it will leave you captivated and enlightened.
