The Power of the Truth

I just finished E. Lockhart's We Were Liars--and I now know why it seems like everyone is raving about this book.

The entire time reading this novel, I couldn't make sense of the title. I don't want to spoil it for you, but when you get it to the end, it all makes sense. Well, as much sense as it could to Cadence, the main character. What seems like just a group of wealthy teenagers and one outsider all comes together to explore some pretty deep issues about life, friendships, relationships, and family. I found myself rooting for Cadence's, the first-born grandchild and heir to the family's wealth, and Gat's, viewed as an outsider by Cadence's grandfather, relationship and hoping that things would just work out.

When reading this, I began making connections to The Great Gatsby, King Lear, Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres, and every other novel that I remembered exploring patriarchy and wealth. But this novel is so much more than that.

Lockhart's book gets to issues of truths. 

It makes me think of Stephen Colbert's "truthiness," questioning who or what we take for granted. And Cadence explores this idea as she tries to recover her memory of a night that changed her life and her family's lives forever.

This book will make you question what's in front of you, and it will make you question your memories and the memories of others. Because of that, I can't wait to add it to my classroom library in September.