Reading and a snack!
The book is about a young girl named Cadence Sinclair Easton
who comes from an old-money family that owns their own private island off of
Cape Cod. The extended family gathers
each summer staying at various houses on the island. Cadence has been inseparable from her cousins
Johnny and Mirren and friend of the family Gat for years. They call themselves the four “Liars”. During the fifteenth summer a mysterious
injury happened to Cadence, which keeps her off the island for one year in
Europe with her father. The book takes
you back and forth thru present day and the past of the four “Liars”. Cadence is suffering from debilitating
migraines and using a large amount of painkillers to help her, which leaves her
in a haze to figure out what happened the fifteenth summer. During the time back on the island the
reader is left to believe that Cadence is hanging out with the “Liars” at one
of the houses that seems to have been abounded by the family members.
During the book Cadence works on piecing together what
happened that summer by reflecting back on what lead to the incident. The author builds up the suspense throughout
the book by giving short side stories and leaving mystery into why the “Liars” in
present day Cadence mind aren’t really doing much.
The story also tells about Cadence falling in love with
Gat. The issues that arise from this
love story is that she is not sure if he has a girlfriend or not in the
beginning and he is also not of the same race as her. Cadence grandfather who is the patriarch of
the family does not believe in mixing races and tensions rise between
them. In my mind this also touches on
the topic of race and generation issues, as Cadence doesn’t see the big deal
while her grandfather does.
The author takes the reader through a wild journey of the
past and present that is easy to follow for the reader. Cadence begins to remember bits and pieces of
the fifteenth summer, which was the summer after her grandmother died and the aunts
where fighting constantly. The “Liars” only wanted to be together and
have the same summer that they had in previous years. The book touches on a hard topic of family
member loss, especially of a grandmother.
In this day and age the topic no one talks about much is that you never
know a person’s true colors until a larger sum of money is involved is 100%
accurate in this book. The aunts begin
fighting over every little thing in the house worth any money, which is causing
stress on several characters/family members.
The book touches on the importance of family during a traumatic
event as well. Cadence parents who were
divorced both stepped up to try and help her come to terms with what happened
during that summer. Cadence cannot
accept reality so the additional family members also help by acting as if
things are somewhat normal while she is back on the island trying to find out
what happened.
I didn’t see the ending coming while reading the book, you
could feel it leading up to a big event happening, but with the moving back and
forth between present and past it was hard to see exactly what was around the corner. This is a very fast read and a book I couldn’t
put down. I needed to know what exactly
happened that summer. I would suggest
reading this book if you need a complete brain shut down as once you start
reading it will be very difficult to concentrate on anything else.
My rating 4/5
Author website http://www.emilylockhart.com/
Publisher Delacorte Press
ISBN 9780385741262
Length 240
Format hardback
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