We Were Liars: Some things are better left untold

Second book of my 'back to reading' program was We Were Liars, another YA book by E. Lockhart that was recommended by a You Tuber I follow. I was intrigued by the notion of a rich, respectable family with a lot of dark secrets. Thus I began reading it.

The beginning is weak, in my opinion. The back story is told little by little, giving away nothing much for me to have a vivid image of the beautiful Sinclair family. Sinclairs and all its glory are told by Cadence Sinclair, the oldest grand daughter of the family. Cadence and her family always spend their summer in a private island owned by the Sinclairs. There, Cadence and her cousins, whom she calls the 'Liars', are always together, bonding and tightly knit. Among the group is a boy called Gat, the outsider who will later be romantically involved with Cadence. 

The Sinclair looks perfect from the outside. Each member has distinguished beauty and is blessed with prosperity and things capable to spark others' jealousy and envy. But Cadence knows better how hard it is being a Sinclair. In her fifteenth summer in the island, problems after problems keep surfacing, mainly family feuds; sisters who fight over inheritance and their father's attention. A demanding grandfather who seeks nothing but perfection, trying too hard to keep the family line spotless and noble. Throughout these complications, Cadence finds consolation through Gat and the Liars, who share the same ideals with her, who mutually fail to understand why their parents have to fight over things that don't seem to matter. 

The biggest tragedy, however, comes at the end of summer fifteenth. An accident happens and Cadence finds herself on a hospital bed, unable to retrieve her memories over what has happened before. She only knows that she fought with Gat, she swam in the beach and possibly got carried away by the storm and was later rescued. She survived, but her brain got damaged in the process. She has amnesia and frequent debilitating headache that will stick with her for the rest of her life. She doesn't see herself to fit the beautiful Sinclair family any longer. She has to keep a note of what has happened in summer fifteen from what she remembers and what other people told her so she doesn't have to keep asking her mom. She also move to another country, away from the rest of the family, away from the Liars, away from Gat.

A year passes by, then the seventeenth summer comes, when Cadence decides it's time for her to go back to the island and find out what truly happened in that fateful summer. Being in the island and meeting the Liars help Cadence regains her lost memories little by little. But the truth may not be the same as how she imagined it to be. Sometimes, the truth is ugly, and Cadence isn't prepared for what will hit her. 

As a winning prize book, We Were Liars is captivating and full of mysteries, thus able to grasp its readers' attention. I, however, wasn't quickly absorbed into the story, but still curious as to what had happened to Cadence in the summer fifteen. Though as a central character Cadence was pretty depressing most of the time, due to her self-pity and dissatisfaction with her life, she is someone I feel terribly sorry for at the end of the book. Though for the most part of the book nothing worth noting happens but whining and exaggerated proses, I followed them all still. When the naked truth was finally revealed, I was left in an utter disbelief and I needed some time to process what had happened so far which led me to that very point. I know spoiling the ending is a crime, especially with a thriller like this one. So I'm trying my best not to spill anything, except the fact that We Were Liars came to me first as a dark tunnel with seemingly no-end. Nevertheless, when I at last saw the light at the end of it, I was left with a nodding head, agreeing to the majority that the book is still worth reading. It's not easy to finish the book, but it's also not easy to close it and accept the reality. 

Was it all a lie? Was it a reality that belong solely to Cadence?

We Were Liars makes the line between the truth and reality hazy and unclear, and I'm okay with that.