We Were Liars

Cadence Sinclair is the firstborn and therefore the rightful heir to the Sinclair fortune. After the death of her beloved grandmother Tipper, the family returns to their private island that summer, as they always do.

As usual, the Liars – Mirren, Johnny, Gat, and Cady – spend a huge amount of time together. So much, in fact, that Cady and Gat become more than just friends.

Her grandfather, Harris Sinclair, is not exactly thrilled about their relationship. After all, the Sinclairs are supposed to consist of blonde, blue-eyed family members, and Gat being indian doesn‘t really suit his pants.

Diversity? Apparently not part of the Sinclair family brand.

But that’s not the only problem. Before arriving on the island, Gat had started a relationship with someone else and kept it from Cady. Once the secret comes out, the two grow somewhat distant from each other.

As if that weren’t enough, Harris’ three daughters – Penny, Bess, and Carrie – are constantly getting into loud arguments.

Who gets the nicest house?

Who inherits the most valuable possessions?

After several escalating arguments, the Liars decide to solve the problem themselves.

When Cady is found in the water at the end of the summer with a head injury, she remembers absolutely nothing. Her mother insists on not telling her anything about what happened, as Cady has suffered a seizure every time in the past and subsequently lost her memory again.

When she eventually returns to the island, everything initially seems normal. The Liars are there, and they spend plenty of time together.

But little by little, Cady starts noticing more and more inconsistencies.

Why was the beloved Clairmont replaced with a soulless, modern building?

Where did the family dogs go?

Why are the possessions her mother and aunts used to constantly fight over suddenly no longer an issue?

Slowly, the pieces begin to fall into place – and the truth is anything but harmless:

In the summer of ’16, a fire broke out in Clairmont, deliberately started by the Liars themselves. Not only did the two family dogs die in the fire, but so did Johnny, Mirren, and Gat.

The story focuses almost exclusively on Cady, and while I am a Cady fan and she obviously carries the story in many ways, I really wish the supporting characters had been given more room to shine.

I find this especially disappointing because I was particularly moved by Mirren’s, Johnny’s, and Gat’s stories in the series.

Gat, as a young man of Indian descent who experiences blatant racism from the family head, Harris Sinclair, more than once. He constantly tries to make the people around him understand just how wrong it is to treat someone differently because of their background.

Johnny, as the second-born Sinclair. Since he narrowly missed out on the title of heir, he goes to great lengths to draw attention to himself in other ways – which doesn’t always end particularly well.

And then there’s Mirren.

I have to say, her story probably affected me the most. She struggles with her relationship with her mother, who is played, by the way, by Candice King – aka Caroline Forbes from The Vampire Diaries – and who blames Mirren for making her unhappy in her role as a mother.

On top of that, Mirren struggles with the feeling of being unseen – neither by her family nor the boys she is interested in.

Many of these aspects are barely touched upon, or completely absent, in the book. And that is such a shame, because they could have added so much more emotional depth to the story.

Another thing I noticed is that, in the book, the Liars spend almost all of their time in Cuddledown and never interact with the other members of the family, accept for Cady.

Unfortunately, this makes the ending even more predictable.

And then there are the dogs…

Anyone who knows me knows that when animals are involved, I am done. Emotionally gone. Goodbye.

In the series, I cried like a baby when it became clear that the two Golden Retrievers, Prince Philip and Fatima, had died in the fire.

In the book?

It surprisingly didn’t affect me nearly as much.

And that is saying something.

At this point, I actually thought:

“Okay, it can’t possibly get any worse.”

Spoiler: It can!

So, warning – things are about to get sad:

If you’ve made it this far, you already know how the story ends.

In an attempt to free their family from the grip of money and wealth, the Liars come up with the brilliant idea of simply burning Clairmont to the ground.

That should put an end to the arguments between the sisters, right?

Well…

As the four of them set about starting the fire, it quickly becomes obvious that the plan is significantly less thought-out than they initially assumed.

Johnny and Mirren spread accelerant throughout the upper floors without paying attention to the escape routes and get trapped quickly.

Gat initially manages to escape the rising flames, but when he realizes that nobody is waiting for him at the agreed meeting point, he runs back into the fire.

He is then also trapped by the rapidly spreading flames.

The only one who manages to escape the fire is Cadence.

When she realizes what has happened, she collapses in the water.

Afterwards, present-day Cady is still able to speak to the Liars, and these conversations are genuinely heartbreaking.

In the adaptation, Johnny and Mirren say things like, “I don’t want to burn again,” and “I don’t think anyone ever really saw me. And now nobody will.”

And those lines absolutely shattered my heart.

The series also includes many subtle hints that suddenly make sense when you rewatch it after knowing the ending.

For example, Johnny’s comment that he no longer wears sunscreen because he doesn’t believe in it anymore.

Or the scene in which the three sisters bake cakes: two of them burn, while one is soaked in water.

Symbolism really said: “Let me make this as subtle as a brick to the face.”

One little fun fact to finish with:

If you’ve ever wondered whether the Liars are actually ghosts or simply hallucinations created by Cadence, the author points readers toward Chapter 22.

Have fun rereading it and developing approximately seventeen new theories.

To conclude, I want to emphasize that the book is by no means bad. However, it falls noticeably short of its potential.

The story could have had so much more depth and emotional impact, and this is exactly where the series comes in and fills in the gaps.

My verdict: Skip the book and watch the series.

The cast is fantastic, the emotional impact hits much harder, and the story is told in far greater detail. Plus, Season 2 is already in the works – so there’s no better time to let We Were Liars emotionally destroy you.

Enjoy the heartbreak!