Book review - Family of Liars

 

Title: Family of Liars

Author: e. lockhart

Genre: realistic fiction

Similar books: Where Secrets Lie by Eva V. Gibson

                     The Whole Thing Together by Ann Brashares

Rating:

 

not as good as it's predecessor

Summary (provided by publisher):A windswept private island off the coast of Massachusetts.
A hungry ocean, churning with secrets and sorrow.
A fiery, addicted heiress. An irresistible, unpredictable boy.
A summer of unforgivable betrayal and terrible mistakes.
Welcome back to the Sinclair family.
They were always liars.

My opinion: We Were Liars captured a lot of attention upon it's release and with good reason. Not only did it shine a stark light on privileged families and the destructive nature of inter-generational wealth, it did so with a compelling narrative and innovative structure. And it was a complete engaging book that left us thinking, left enough unanswered that we thought about it and debated it afterwards. But it didn't leave much room for further exploration, at least not in the form of a sequel. So it was not surprising when I learned that Lockhart was revisiting the Sinclair family that this was done in the form of a prequel. There are references in the first book to secrets and lies from the previous generation and this book endeavors to tell us about those secrets. But I'm not sure we really needed this. It doesn't break ground the way the first book did, ends up feeling like a rehash of the same ideas. If you're a true fan of We Were Liars this might be worth a read but I wouldn't make it a "must-read".

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley