A Psychological Thriller Told With the Gift Of Poetry

When we think about works of fiction we imagine characters and a storyline that we can fall into, losing ourselves for a brief while. Rarely does a book come along that offers tantalizing poetry as its description, and language that paints pictures so vividly the reader feels like they have slipped in-between the pages, landing inside the author's imagination. E. Lockhart has done this and more in the stunning novel ‘We Were Liars’.

“My head and shoulders melted first, followed by my hips and knees. Before long I was a puddle, soaking into the pretty cotton prints. I drenched the quilt she never finished, rusted the metal parts of her sewing machine. I was pure liquid loss.”

It is easy to understand why this book remains a bestseller eight years after hitting the number one spot on the New York Times bestseller list back in 2014. It is also obvious after the first three pages by E. Lockhart has been nominated for so many awards. Once you open this book’s cover you’ll be lost until you gasp over the final words and in the silence afterward as you digest the magnitude of it and wonder to yourself do you have time to start it all over again straight away.

So, what is it about? I could tell you it is a story of young love. I could tell you it is a story of three sisters and their families, or possibly of a wealthy white family who have no idea of their own privileged lifestyle but the young Indian boy who summers with them sees it all. I could also tell you that it’s a story of coming of age, of the long summers of youth when everything feels possible. We Were Liars is all of these narratives and so much more. It is the story of all of us.

“We are Sinclairs. Beautiful. Privileged. Damaged. Liars. We live, least in the summertime, on a private island off the coast of Massachusetts. Perhaps that is all you need to know.”

Yet these narratives are seen time and time again in fiction, perhaps so frequently that our eyes skim over the page adding our own details, backstory and context. What makes this book stand out is the evocative language. In using the rhythm of poetry and a more lyrical style the reader is not simply passively watching the story go by, they are pulled in completely by each of their senses.

Psychological thrillers are books of the mind, focused on the reader’s analytical thoughts and desire to delve into the motivations and mental processes of the characters. Rarely does it drop down into a physical experience of heartache, the softer side of relationships, and the daily sensations of life that all of us relate to. E.Lockhart combines these tools of more drama-based genres with the plot twists and changing pace of narrative seen in psychological thrillers to create something new and enthralling.

All of this is then couched by the Young Adult category rendering it dismissable by many. For some reason we imagine that the reading age is younger, the writing skill lessened but in truth neither is the case. Hidden in the genre of YA fiction, this book is a psychological thriller for all ages with twists you won’t see coming, delivered with language that will have you rethinking both the thriller genre and poetry itself. Making this a book that not only offers a moment of blissful escapism but prompts us to question the assumptions we make about specific genres and styles of writing.

(All quotes contained in this article are taken from ‘We Were Liars’ by E. Lockhart.)