When I finished this book last night, I was a ball of internalized emotions. While reading, I was taking mental notes of some faults of the book, some things I filed away to mention later, but all that mattered in the end was that I felt weird inside, and needed to process it all.

Those are a few strange statements, but that's how it goes when you are a bibliophile firmly part of
Thankfully, for me, that was not the case. I was actually reading it, receiving the first few bits of mystery revealed, thinking, "none of this warrants all the big time secrecy built up around this book." At the same time, I was plowing through the book, just trying to get through the end. I think I'm generally decent at predicting twists and turns, but I didn't even allow myself the time to do that here. I just read.

I was dying to know what the heck was going on by 60% and a ball of absolute nerves around 80%. A friend was reading more or less along with me and at around8 89%, we were just texting each other expletives and caps lock statements.

To me, the best part of the book was the not knowing. The secrets, the unreliable narration, the lies-- that's what propelled the book forward and left me thinking and reevaluating at the end. If you are spoiled on the end, no offense to E. Lockhart who did a great job, the book would lose a chunk of entertainment value.

That is not to say that this written badly. Not by any means. The choppy phrases, the strange descriptions, the mooony language and almost melodramatic atmosphere all fit perfectly with what the story ends up being. That said, I had moments of thinking it could've done without so much purple prose, especially in the beginning when I was trying to find my footing with the story. The beginning also threw out a handful of names, places and relationships so quickly, it was a bit difficult to keep track of. I caught on, however, shortly after I thought to complain about it.

That is also not to say that the characters weren't good. They were. The entire construction of the (beautiful) Sinclair family was intriguing, as was the relationship between the Liars. Because of the construction of the prose, however, it never felt like we got to know Cady. The narration didn't really seem like a voice, if that makes sense. In the end it was more about events and the characters took a back seat to the story. It worked for me overall, but if you are the sort who lives and breathes characters, this might leave you underwhelmed.

I would recommend it. I read it over the course of a few hours, but it will definitely be one of the more memorable things I read this year.