We Were Liars

Cady begins with her family, and it seems as if her life experience is defined by the Sinclair family. Why and how do the Sinclairs play such an important role in her life? What makes them so distinct and so overwhelming?

From the outset, Cady speaks in a way that’s ironic. She says things that have more than one meaning, and the meanings double back and twist together in interesting ways. She does not suffer fools, yet she suffers pain. She says she likes such twists of meaning. Relate her ironic attitude to her tragic experience. How is irony an appropriate way of dealing with the huge losses that the tragic events of her life have forced on her? Irony allows one to talk about things in a very indirect way. How might such indirection be crucial for someone recovering from a traumatic experience that is too painful to recall?

Cady loves metaphors. Rather than say "my father left the family and hurt my feelings," she says, "he pulled out a handgun and shot me in the chest." Locate three metaphors that she uses and explain how they work as ways of communicating her experience of the world.

Write an essay on the irony of calling the Liars liars. Are they really liars? Why might they more appropriately be called "the Truth-Tellers"? 

Johnny, Mirren, and Gat are very distinct characters. How are they different from one another? Why does the author choose these three "types" to tell her story? Is there something about each one that is especially useful in illuminating Cady's character?

Focus on Bess, Penny, and Carrie. In some ways, they are simplistic characters used to embody simple ideas, such as greed. But in other respects, they are complicated figures who are not easily blamed for either their greed or their failures as parents. How can we understand these characters in a forgiving way? 

Read Shakespeare's King Lear (or watch the excellent BBC version with Ian Holm in the role of Lear) and say how and why We Were Liars is a version of the play. How is Granddad like Lear, and how is Cady like Cordelia?

Re-read the fairy tales that Cady tells. How do they change as the novel progresses? How does each version of the fairy tale correlate with events in the novel?