By E. Lockhart
Genre YA Contemporary
Pages 242
Synopsis
A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth. (from Goodreads)
First Sentence Welcome to the beautiful Sinclair family.
What it has going for it
Since I loved Lockhart's Ruby Oliver series I knew I had to try some of her other books. I started with this one because of all the buzz it got. Lockhart's writing is beautiful. It flows along and grips you in its grasp, evoking all sorts of emotions in you.
What's lacking
Sadly, the emotion this books evoked in me was sadness. What a sad, sad, SAD story! Why did I read that? What redeeming lesson was to be learned? Why? Why?! Argh!
Yea or Nay?
I can't recommend such a sad story. One without a reason for all the sadness.
This is one of the first reviews I've seen not recommending this book! But while I haven't read it, the ending was spoiled for me, and I'm inclined to agree with you. I don't mind sad books on occasion but the amount of sadness in this one does seem needless! I don't think I'll be reading it. If you want to read more E. Lockhart though, I recommend The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. Really liked that one! Fly on the Wall was pretty good too. Nothing beats Ruby Oliver for me though.
ReplyDeleteI definitely plan on reading her other books. She's an amazing writer. This one was just too sad and hopeless.
DeleteI've had mixed feelings about picking this one up. I loved the Ruby Oliver series, too, so I'm curious about her other books. I agree with Liz ^ about Fly on the Wall--that was great. :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, the Ruby Oliver books are definitely the best. I plan on checking all her books out, though.
DeleteI've heard such good things about this one. I didn't realize it was so sad, though. It's definitely not a book I need in my life right now ... or possibly ever.
ReplyDeleteYeah, just avoid this one. It's way too sad and I'd never recommend it.
DeleteBeautiful writing often does that to you regardless of whether it's a happy story. There's always a sad quality to it. Maybe I'll pick this one up when I'm in the mood for something a little less action packed.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's such beautiful writing but so so sad!
DeleteWhat I'm thinking is that I need to read these Ruby Oliver books...
ReplyDeleteYou so so so need too!
DeleteInteresting. I don't mind a sad book here and there, but too many of them just makes me ... sad. I'll probably read this one at some point, just not now.
ReplyDeleteYeah, you would have to be in the mood and prepared for it.
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