The Book: Liar, by Justine Larbalestier
The Story: This book opens with Micah confessing that she is a pathological liar, but that she promises not to lie to us.
In the past, she has told outrageous lies to everyone in her life. She told her classmates that she was a boy… then that her dad was a small arms dealer. Her lies to her parents are numerous. She is just a flat out liar and it’s gotten her into quite a bit of trouble in the past.
Now, her pseudo-boyfriend is murdered and all eyes are looking at her. She swears up and down that she had nothing to do with it and that she didn’t even see him that night, but because of her history, no one is buying it.
Meanwhile, Micah is letting more and more of her story and her family history to seep in and we are getting a better look at just who we are dealing with here.
Because this book took a turn that I would have never in my life expected, I’m going to cut this short. I don’t want to ruin this for anyone who is planning on reading it.
What I Thought: First things first: I picked up this book solely because I saw it at the library and remembered hearing all the cover controversy that went along with this book’s release late last year. I had no real familiarity with the author and no real idea what the book was about.
I don’t really know what to say about this one. When I finished it, I felt kind of confused and caught up in this whirlwind that was the last few chapters of this book. Now, I’ve had a little bit of time to sit on it and I like it quite a bit less than I did when I first finished.
I came to terms quickly with the fact that the narrator is unlikeable and quite possibly unreliable. I don’t mind this writing technique if it is done well, and I would say that the author did a fairly decent job at making Micah unlikeable but still readable.
I think what got me (and this may be a tiny spoiler) was how the book took such an unexpected turn toward science fiction. I remember watching the movie The Forgotten with a friend (Hi Jason!) and him leaning over mid-movie and saying “this is going to be about aliens,” and I was just like, “no way, it’s a kidnapping movie! I saw the preview!”… it was an alien movie. Grr. I am not a big sci-fi fan, but I can deal with it if I go in knowing what I’m getting. The “Surprise! This is sci-fi!” thing really annoys me, and that is really what happened here. We’re looking at a (fairly) normal high school girl with some issues… then all of a sudden.. Bam! Sci-Fi! What a turn off.
Again, I don’t want to give away what happened in the last 20 pages or so, but suffice to say that I felt kind of cheated out of the few hours that I’d spent with this book.
Conclusion: Eh. I don’t know. The writing wasn’t awful and the characters were readable, but as far as having a compelling plot or keeping me caught up in the book… not so much. It really isn’t too too long, so if you are intrigued by the mystery and controversy surrounding this book, I say go for it, but don’t expect too much…