Review: Liar

Title: Liar
Author: Justine Larbalestier
Rating: ★★★ (3/5 Stars)
Hardcover, 376 Pages
Published September 2009

Alright, I was planning on giving this book two stars, but I was sort of swayed because on this blog, three stars means "It was okay," and that's exactly what I felt about this book. It was hard to keep up and it was super-duper frustrating. Well written, but super-duper frustrating.

Micah is a senior in high school. And her after-hours boyfriend (who has another girlfriend named Sarah during school hours--which Micah knows and is totally okay with, which is just plain wrong!) is named Zach and he was found murdered. At first, nobody knows how he was killed. Later in the book, however, *teensy spoiler alert* they find out how he was killed, by whom, and where.

The story is told in the point of view of Micah, who is a compulsive liar. It's really bad. I thought it would be a few white lies here and there, and then some major ones. But no, it was frustrating and much worse. But more on that in a second. So, immediately, a boy at school named Brandon lets it slip that Micah was Zach's after-hours girlfriend. So the mocking and taunting begins--not to mention the obvious hurt radiating from Sarah, who as I mentioned earlier was Zach's public girlfriend.

So who do you think everyone assumes killed Zach?

That's right. Micah. But (or so she claims) she didn't kill Zach.

This book is so confusing and frustrating. I honestly had to force myself to finish it. I know that Micah is a liar, but this is too much. You'd read a chapter, and then a hundred pages later she'd say "Remember that? Oh yeah, that was a lie. This is what really happened." And then even LATER, she'd mention "Remember when I told you that part was a lie? Well, that's a lie, too. It really went like this." For all I know, the entire book could be one giant lie. 

And I'm not the only one who feels this way, apparently. Here are what some Goodreads members had to say about the book:

"I picked this up thinking it was going to be some great physiological thing, and all I got was a sloppy supernatural teen novel." -Zoe Russo

"Once I finished the book, I was left with questions that will never get answered. The lack of answers is disappointing and left me dissatisfied."
-Sarai

"I have such conflicted feelings about this book. It's an interesting premise. It's about a compulsive narrator and in the first person, so you never know what to believe." -Katie

I don't want to spoil the plot for you, so it's hard to explain my frustration without ruining the book for you guys. But hopefully you can get a gist of what I'm trying to say.


Just so frustrating.

And the book was so weird in general. Some scenes were just gross and/or weird. I reaaallly want to explain it further and not be so vague, but like I said a million times already, I don't want to ruin the plot for you.

However, I wouldn't even advise taking this book out of the library. The actual writing skill of Larbalestier isn't poor at all. But the plot is just a jumbled up mess. With all of these lies, it became so hard to keep track. But since I never ever give up on a book unless I really have to, I forced myself to stomach it and just tough it out. I was counting down the pages until it was over.

Ugh. Now that my blood pressure is raised from the frustration of writing this review, I'm going to sit outside in the sun and tan while reading Scarlet by Marissa Meyer.

Talk to you all soon!

*Note: I normally don't like writing negative reviews. So to anyone who reads this part: It's just my honest opinion of the book. I didn't want to lie and say it was fantabulous when that's not what I really felt. Hope you all understand! :-)