On June 18, the “We Were Liars” television show premiered on Amazon Prime. Within days, it reached the No. 1 most watched show on Prime. This show was based off of the book—of the same name—written in 2014 by E. Lockhart. This bestselling book sold over three million copies, prompting the author to write and release a prequel called “Family of Liars” in 2022. Additionally, Lockhart will soon release a sequel, “We Fell Apart,” on Nov. 4 this year.
The book and show, released more than a decade apart, share many similarities in basic plot and characterization, yet they diverge in several meaningful ways.
The premise of both the book and show are the same: Cadence—Cady—Eastman Sinclair is a 17-year-old girl who, in the summertime, lives with her extended family on their private island off the coast of Massachusetts. She spends these summers with “the Liars,” also known as her three best friends: her cousins Johnny and Mirren, and her friend Gat. Cady and her family excel academically, athletically, and in anything else they try. Though seemingly perfect, the family harbors deep, dark secrets, and they bury turbulent emotions. They always maintain their facade of flawlessness, no matter how much they’re struggling internally.
The book and show begin with Cady in Summer 17 (the summer she was 17 years old), reflecting on an accident that happened to her in Summer 15, and recounting her story in a deliberately evasive and mysterious way.
In Summer 15, Cady underwent a terrible accident, leaving her washed up on the shore in the middle of the night, stranded and alone. Her accident caused amnesia, and she cannot remember what happened that night—a significant problem, because that night seemed to have changed the trajectory of her life. She experienced extreme physical and mental health issues after the encounter, and she hadn’t seen or heard from the Liars since that summer. The doctors thought she needed to remember what happened that night by herself, so none of her family would tell her exactly what happened. She finally went back to the island in Summer 17 to recall her memories and rediscover herself.
This is one of my favorite books of all time. The book incorporates themes of prejudice, love, pride, and the dangers of childhood and impetuousness, as well as the harsh realities of growing up. The writing style, diction, symbolic/figurative language, and syntax are unmatched. Throughout the story, Cady writes various fairy tales to mirror her feelings, her family, and her situation. My personal favorite depicts a princess in a kingdom who falls deeply in love with a mouse. The mouse disgusts the family, and they are repulsed by the princess for associating herself with him. The princess does not hesitate to pack up her bags, and run away with her mouse to a land of chocolates and literature. The last line of this tale is forever embedded in my mind: “If you want to live where people are not afraid of mice, you must give up living in palaces” (p. 117). In this particular fairy tale, Cady illustrates how her family disapproves of her love for Gat. She reveals that her family is corrupt and hypocritical, and she just wants to run away and live simply with those she loves.
The show comes close to matching my love for the book, though for very different reasons. The show didn’t have as many impactful literary elements, and didn’t fully include the fairy tales or all of the metaphors. Regardless, I loved the way the show enhances Johnny and Mirren’s characters. In the book, the author labels Johnny as “bounce, effort, and snark,” and Mirren as “sugar, curiosity, and rain” (p. 8). Aside from these initial representations and their dialogue throughout the book, they lacked detailed descriptions and were portrayed as static characters. Conversely, in the show they were given defining personality traits, complex relationships, and emotions. Johnny rarely mentioned any romance or relationships in the book, but in the show, he reveals that he’s gay. In the show, Mirren speaks about how art is a release for her, how she longs for companionship, and her fear that she will die without ever actually being seen and understood. In fact, all of the characters on TV were more understandable, because it depicted all of their actions and struggles in depth. The book had a mysterious tone, and the narrator didn’t reveal too much about anything, but the way the characters were portrayed in the show allowed me to perceive all of their stories, and relate to each of the characters more.
All in all, the book and show are both amazing and compelling stories, rich in their likenesses and distinctions. I’ve reread the book at least four times, and watched the show twice, each encounter providing fresh interpretation and new details. These skillfully told stories tackle many social issues. For me, the characters are the epitome of identifiable, and the events enthralling. All I can say is that Lockhart deserves multiple awards for her literary masterpiece. If it were up to me, this woman would win the Pulitzer Prize, hands down.
