We Were Liars by E. Lockhart (Book Summary and Review) - Minute Book Report

This is a quick book summary and analysis of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart.
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This is a story about a girl named Cadence who is a member of the Sinclair family, a rich and powerful family on the East Coast. Cadence spends every summer with her family, extended family, and grandparents on their private island. However, her family is somewhat broken, as her father left her and her mother, her two aunts are divorced, and her grandmother has since passed away.
Although Cadence doesn't see her cousins throughout the year, when they return to the island each summer they seem to pick up right where they left off. She's particularly close with her cousins, Mirren and Johnny, and family friend, Gat, and calls the group "The Liars".
She develops feelings for Gat on the island when she is fifteen, but then she suffers a head injury and can't remember much from that summer. Because of her head injury, she is allowed to return to the island two years later.
When she arrives back on the island, things seem normal at first, but the Liars are acting isolated and her younger cousins, aunts, and grandfather are acting unusual.
Because she is only allowed to spend half the summer on the island and the other half will be spent with her father in Colorado, Cadence tries to better understand what happened on the island two years earlier, but the Liars are reluctant to tell her, as they want her memories to come back to her naturally.
Meanwhile, Cadence realizes that her mother and aunts are fighting over her grandfather's assets, pitting the grandchildren against each other.
Cadence and Gat become closer and express how they feel for each other. She wants to start a relationship with him, but he is reluctant because of things in his past.
Slowly, Cadence starts remembering things from the past and realizes what happened: two years earlier, the Liars set fire to the house. However, she lit the fire before the others could escape and they all died.
In the end, after realizing that she killed the Liars, their spirits disappear.
As always a lot can be said about this story, but what draws my interest and attention is the idea of "the family" and how our ideals of "the family" versus what the reality of "the family" is are pretty different.
For a long time, society has iconicized "the family" as a husband, wife, and two kids. However, that's not always what we see, at least these days. In fact, it's quite uncommon to see that portrayal of "the family".
Instead, we see single parent families, grandparents raising grandchildren, unmarried couples raising kids, and even same-sex couples raising children. The definition of "the family" is changing, and the Sinclair family demonstrates this change.
All three Sinclair daughters have split from their spouses and struggle to make ends meet, relying almost solely on their trust funds to survive. Furthermore, a constant, contentious issue among the sisters is the money and inheritance that each will receive when their father passes away.
In fact, the situation is ironic. The Sinclair family is so wealthy, yet so broken.
This brokenness is also shown through Cadence's grandfather, the patriarch of the family. He is literally losing his mind, and readers should recognize that he's failed as a parent. Yes, he succeeded in the role of a provider, as his wealth has kept their family together all these years. But he ultimately fails to raise his daughters to take care of themselves.
What did you think of the story? Let me know in the comments below.
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Through Minute Book Reports, hopefully you can get the plot and a few relevant discussion points in just a couple of minutes.
Music: "Spirit World" by Josh Woodward - www.joshwoodward.com

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[@beasthuzaifa2703]

Oh My GOD they were spirits I was so confused why they keep appearing in the chapters when she admits they r dead Oh btw best book loved it!!

[@nin06]

same omg, but when she said they were dead the whole thing fell into place, Why aunt Carrie was crying with Johnnys jacket, why the sisters got along all of a sudden, my god, Candence and Gat tho, I was hoping for that to live but I guess not, but I think it was more hallucinating because if they were spirits, this wouldn't be as heartbreaking, Gat also says he doesn't believe in God, which means he wouldn't trust God when he is a spirit, but here is something funny, Gat and Cadence kiss alot summer 17, if Gat was dead, she was kissing air, imagian how that looked lol

[@ashleighsyme7370]

@@nin06 bruh don’t forget the reason why they didn’t reply to her emails- I was heart broken when I realised that they didn’t reply... cause they were dead

[@annaoloan4071]

@@nin06 that’s why I was so confused I was like if she was talking to gat with people around did she just talk into thin air 😂

[@nin06]

@@annaoloan4071 wait didn’t Johnny make her tea a few times? And when she got off the boat she was just waving to nobody.. people never caught on to lol

[@adonissabinorio2639]

@@ashleighsyme7370 wowww, i’m currently eating and everything makes sense nowof what u said 😫

[@zoeyamandac]

Thank you so so much for this! I finished this book and needed some clarification!

[@trebattle856]

Just finished the book and I don’t know what to do with my hands

[@marie-eve8863]

I’m literally shaking because of it

[@irisocas]

@I'm done legit same here i wasn't expecting the book to end like that

[@kristiangeorgiev5915]

Maybe set a house on fire

[@reyna_mythqueen7618]

@@kristiangeorgiev5915 sheesh

[@idkidk-wy2os]

you left out a part! ypu forgot she killed dogs too💔💔💔

[@chrisf7574]

Thanks for helping me with my summer reading assessment!!!

[@avaspicer7175]

Chris F FR SAME 😭

[@kyleflaherty3397]

@@avaspicer7175 same

[@E3Wandz]

Anybody got a thesis statment for the book for me

[@E3Wandz]

I need before 12:00 btw which is 2 hours away

[@fahadfaisal6230]

Same💀

[@blairx4152]

I honestly thought mirren was pregnant and gat was the father lol

[@avaferret9822]

Wat.

[@haleyayrault2015]

SO DID I

[@tinarujira2202]

Would have made a better twist

[@varshaaravind2144]

AYO

[@Negadm]

@@tinarujira2202 exactly!! It would be shocking to cadence too..

[@danessamae6564]

I read this book a year ago and was gong back to re read it and it was confusing me how the liars were still “there”

[@theperson4yearsago565]

Lul seems like u didn't remember the plot twist the first time

[@eyadtamer7399]

The book review: 👺 The background music: 😄☀️🌅🌻

[@theperson4yearsago565]

Lul

[@ellasnara4684]

thank you so much for this report i literally am sooo grateful. my teeacher said if i read this book i will get 20 house points and i cant miss out on that!!!!!!!

[@talianaregina7844]

I finally found my book explainer. I will watch more of your videos for advices

[@KevinSmith-qr9rt]

Great book. Cried my eyes out.

[@nikolagajic4729]

It’s not thanks for watching, I thank you for this great video!

[@AlexCheesman]

Love the music. Book sounds interesting.

[@fueckingsweetas5874]

Omg you're my hero. I have to review this book tomorrow and haven't read it. I love love love you now I have my whole presentation!

[@royfr8136]

Maybe do your homework

[@marie-eve8863]

Maybe read the book

[@maxwang2562]

You might fail because he never mentioned the dogs

[@alaniaalee-smith9741]

I like it the story is going good like I’m almost done with it and now I understand it because at first I didn’t understand but thank you for explaining it makes a lot of sense now 💙💙💙

[@kiwon7709]

She accidentally killed them? Then why did Gat say “See you in a better world” before they lit the house on fire?

[@mickeyandclaire]

Better world without the house, and all the problems that came with it I’m assuming, the book was kinda confusing lol

[@_strg_626]

thanks for homework

[@vickyconstanza173]

Read the book

[@hellotherechamp6629]

Vicky Vlogs No 🖕

[@e4hxr1a91]

@@hellotherechamp6629 it’s sooo good

[@Jfsalinas88]

While it is great to see who the speaker is, I think you should do a combination of the paper app and shots of you 👍

Nice video :D

[@notgothamchess5359]

Thanks, I have a test about this books in 2 weeks and I'm only on page 32 yet. Now I have a better understanding about the concept of the book, thanks again 👍

[@saturn6563]

How did you do?

[@notgothamchess5359]

@@saturn6563 I believe i got a 5.7. 5.5 was the minimum to get. I didn't read any more than those 32 pages lol. Still got the w

[@mickeyandclaire]

I literally finished this book 5 seconds ago and I’m so confused. Lmao.

[@cyndoom21]

thank you ❤️❤️❤️

[@Anonymous-hg7id]

What is the age rating

[@RichyHere]

Really like your glasses and nose

[@royfr8136]

cut the music

[@elplaysthesims5058]

I still dont understand how she ended up in the water?

[@EmilyBekanich]

she never drowned! she ran to the water after escaping the burning house for the second time- presumably because she was burned. that’s why she was missing clothes.. because she ripped some off when she ran back in, and some burnt off I’m sure

[@swetharameshkumar8131]

Is there a sequel to this book?

[@mickeyandclaire]

There’s a prequel

[@kayacnh6153]

When life gives you mangoes is so much like this book.

[@Leanae]

*Spoiler free comment* this book was extremely unexpected. I knew there was a plot twist, but NOT THIS particular plot twist. The only thing I was not expecting. *SPOILER* *SPOILER ALERT AGAIN YALL* Like she was communicating with spirits. hell of a mess

[@nicks3731]

Next time please volume up I almost couldn’t hear the music

[@mackenziefoley4888]

I thought someone tried to kill her cuz her grandpa left the island to her in the will but holy. Was I wrong

[@zxtek4975]

I wanted a spoiler-free summary.

[@SM-be5dh]

Thats not how summaries work

[@nope9392]

…that doesn’t exist

[@jisootaehyung30]

thats called a review

[@What-was-he-cooking]

Could Barely hear you but thanks

[@cotswoldfarmer8448]

I am so confused. Are they dead??

[@enhancer8333]

Who? The liars?

[@Lape2210]

The liars were dead spirits after the fifteenth summer

[@saniaahmed8588]

Warning NOT SPOILER FREE I repeat NOT SPOILER FREE!!

[@julianruano11]

you dumb im here for spoilers so i can do summer reading project

[@dakotagilland848]

Julian Ruano Same lol

[@maudireal8945]

Sqme

[@ashnayawrr]

@@julianruano11 I am laughing my ass off rn😂

[@sohanaakhtar7340]

The book has literally no plot 4/10

[@spiritoftherain5852]

Yeah

[@anna-katedelaney6873]

It’s not meant to be interesting in that sense it’s more about making you think about family values self acceptance and how 1 decision can impact the rest of your life

[@LeoSunder-Plassmann]

True

[@Ashten3]

Book is pretty bad, had to read it for high school. Why couldn’t they have picked an at least more interesting book 😂

[@stardustaldc455]

I hate this book

[@goodusername5558]

Why?

[@stardustaldc455]

@@goodusername5558 it's so annoying and dumb

[@mayayung8301]

@@stardustaldc455 like you

[@stardustaldc455]

@@mayayung8301 ?

[@mayayung8301]

@Paris Jade thank you