We Were Liars is one of those books that keep you guessing about reality until the last chapter. Is Cadence mentally ill? Did someone attack her? Is she a drug addict? Is Cuddledown really haunted? Why is Mirren always sick, and why have Gat and Johnny stopped growing? Why are they wearing old clothes when they have money to buy new ones? So. Many. Questions.
And just when you think you know what's real and what isn't, Cadence tells you her heart is flopping around in the flowerbed, or that she's melting into her grandmother's sewing machine. She's about as unreliable as unreliable narrators get. But that's part of the fun of this book.
Questions About Versions of Reality
- Why do the adults stop going to Cuddledown after the fire?
- When Taft calls Cadence, he tells her Cuddledown is haunted. Do you think he sees the Liars' ghosts, too, or is he really just hearing the wind?
- Does Cadence trash Cuddledown by herself during summer seventeen? Does she really string Christmas decorations from the ceiling and rearrange the owl lamps?
Chew on This
Cadence hallucinates the Liars' presence on Beechwood after their deaths because of the brain injury, the drugs she's taking, or some combination of both.
Cadence has to go back to Beechwood to remember what happened—otherwise, she would have blocked the Clairmont fire and the Liars' deaths from her consciousness forever.