Reviewing We Were Liars and Good as Gone

                I read Good As Gone by Amy Gentry and it has taken me some time to finally write a review of this book. I wasn't sure how I felt about it. I'm still not really sure how I feel about this book. I liked it, okay. It wasn't a favorite. My review of this book: Good as Gone by Amy Gentry
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I love a good suspense. In this story Julie is believed to be kidnapped at knife point by an unknown stranger. The only witness her younger sister, Jane, hidden in a closet. Eight years later she returns with a story about being imprisoned by the leader of a drug cartel and there are lots of questions about what happened to her and of course, is the girl that really returned Julie? This book was clearly filled with suspense and intrigue, but the actions of the characters, particularly the parents (and especially the mother) of the child that was missing for eight years left me feeling perplexed and uncomfortable.

Maybe it was the slightly disjointed writing style that left me feeling uncomfortable? That being said, and knowing this is a critique of the book, I’d like to add that the disjointed writing style was a nice parallel to the disjointed emotions of the book: a mother happy her daughter is home (Or is she? Is it her?) and knowing that whatever awful things her daughter had to endure, if she did endure the things she said she did, has brought back a young, broken woman home to her and not her daughter. Then there is the viewpoint of Julie. She clearly is damaged. She is clearly uncomfortable being Julie after all these years.

There is a lot of emotional material in this book. It was not my favorite, but it certainly wasn’t bad. I’m not sure what to make of it. Maybe I should give it more stars for leaving me feeling so…I don’t know?


I also recently read We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. When I finished the book, I immediately turned around and handed it to my teen son to read. Want to know what I thought about this book? We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At first this story annoyed me. The main character grated me: a rich white girl from a perfect family that is somehow part of a group of relatives/friends that are for some unknown reason called Liars. But then half-way into the book I was mesmerized. I couldn't piece the plot together (in a good way). I was completely intrigued. The fragmented sentences and all other oddities in the book suddenly seemed a beautiful complement to the wild and wonderfully sophisticated plot.

The plot, in my opinion, a fictionalized story of the proverb, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions," in a modern setting with thoughtful imagery and accompanying fairy-tales that brings to perfection an already amazing plot.

Then, the final 25 pages left me crying, uncontrollably at what was to me an unexpected ending. After I finished the book, I immediately handed it to my teenage son and told him to read it.

I recommend reading this book. Just dive in and enjoy the ride!

View all my reviews