Liar Paperback – December 21, 2010

Liar tells the story of Micah, a socially invisible girl who excels at lying more than at anything else. When her boyfriend Zach - or is he her boyfriend? - disappears and days later the police finds his body, Micah's whole school is in uproar. How'd he die? Who killed him? Was it his girlfriend? Did he have other girlfriends? Is Micah one of them? Is everything Micah says a lie? Yes? No? And from then on you're thrown headfirst into one of the best rides you'll ever go for.To say Micah is an unreliable narrator would be an understatement. Micah twists the facts, changes them just so she can decide to go back and make them what they were before; she lies to her parents, lies to her "friends", lies to you, and then she apologizes for lying just so she can lie some more.And you know what? You'll love it. You'll be anxious to see what she's lied to you next. You'll feel this drive to keep reading on, to swallow the book whole just to see what was a figment of Micah's imagination, what was a figment of yours and how the hell did she convince you, the people around her and even herself that such an absurd thing had come to pass.By its end, Micah may have confessed to thousands of things that she may or may not have done, but it's not conclusive. You can't possibly know for sure that what she says is real is indeed and you can't trust your own judgement because the person telling you the whole story is about as reliable as a psychopath. Which, actually, Micah may as well be one. Or maybe she'll convince you that you're one yourself.The beauty of it is that lying or telling the truth, you'll want to believe Micah because just like everybody else, you want it to be the truth.And who's to say it isn't?

What can I possibly say about this book to do it justice and not give anything away? I have no idea. I'm going to try, though. I didn't read any reviews or spoilers for this book before hand so all of Micah's secrets were shocking big surprises for me and that was what made the book so awesome. I'm going to keep her secrets too...so don't worry.Micah is the protagonist in this story. She is also a admitted pathological liar. You never know if what she is telling you is the full truth or even a tiny bit true. When you think you might have things figured out she throws you a curve ball. But I couldn't help but like Micah. She's charismatic and strange. She's even intense to the point of being scary. She's not a main character for everyone. She's describes herself as ugly and looking like a boy. She thinks things that would never be appropriate in polite conversation. I wanted to add that she is a little crazy, but I don't really know if that's true. That's another one of Micah's secrets. I can guarantee that you have never read about a main character like her and you probably never will again.Liar is a rollar coaster in book form. You never know if the things you are reading are true or if anything in the whole book is true. You will be left with lots of things to think about and from reading other reviews after I finished you might be left unsatisfied, but I wasn't, not at all. This book was like nothing I have ever read before and I enjoyed every second of it. The twists and turns came out of no where and I was just along for the ride.Justine Larbalestier has created a thrilling work of art with this book. Whatever you do, don't miss out on it!

I have to admit first off that I'm a sucker for unreliable narrators. I love it when a book makes me work to unravel the puzzle, and Liar certainly did that. I'm guessing the ambiguity didn't work for a lot of readers, thus my rating being higher than average. If you need a firm ending, this probably isn't for you.I loved it, though. The main character is flawed and terrified of telling the truth, and it can be hard to tell what's true and what isn't. Hard, but not impossible. Also not cut and dried - there's a lot of wiggle room in this book.The secret for me is that when I was younger, I had a lot of Micah's bad habits. I told people what I thought they wanted to hear in the hope that they'd like me. As a result, it was easier for me to see where the lies might be hiding. I alternated with wanting to hug Micah and needing to shake her til her teeth rattled.I liked the journal-like structure of the novel as a literary device. It kept the novel to one viewpoint to create mystery, but added a confessional aspect that made the story plausible. You just don't know what to believe. I got the feeling that not even Micah really knew for sure what the truth was, at the end.I very much recommend this book to anyone who enjoys teasing a mystery apart and doesn't mind the unclear ending. It made me think, and I'd call that a success for any book.

Liar by Justine Larbalestier is an unusual novel. Told in first person, Larbalestier's creative approach includes short chapters that move forward and backward through time. In addition, these short chapters provide a backstory about the main character's family. Micah is a high school student who admits to being a compulsive liar. As the story unfolds, Micah changes the facts (or are they lies?) claiming that she's telling the true. Soon the reader isn't sure what to believe. The mystery shifts from an strange school story to an engaging supernatural thriller.The short chapters, easy-to-read text, and first person approach easily drew me into the story. With section headings such as "Telling the True Truth" and "The Actual Real Truth," I kept wondering what would happen next. I was surprised and hooked by the shift mid-book into the supernatural realm. The ending was remarkably satisfying considering the constantly shifting reality.The layers of lies, issues related to the death of a friend, and tension among students would be great for YA book discussions. While I'm unlikely to remember other books that deal with school situations or teen wolves, I'll remember this one.

This is really a book for teenagers – I’d guess 13 to 17 years of age. It concerns Micah who begins by wanting to pass as a boy, because she likes sports and manages the trick for a while, helped by her ambiguous first name. But she can’t pass for long and eventually is revealed by her girlish laugh. She’s a loner, a talented runner and she meets with Zach, who is also a runner. They are strictly unofficial, however, since Zach has a girlfriend, Sarah.Then Zach is murdered and for a while the whole school is rife with rumours – and the children are questioned by the police. The narrator is Micah and the book is complicated by her inability to tell the truth. It is cleverly done, as first she promises in her journal that she is telling the truth, and then she admits something she said was a lie. Did she really used to have a brother who died? Ambiguously – she hints that his death was her fault but we get no details about this which suggests it’s true to me. Or perhaps it’s just another way to make her feel powerful?The book then suddenly becomes full of hints of paranormality – specifically, that her family is tainted by a werewolf strain. I was tempted to dismiss this as just another lie, but could the truth be hiding within the lies? Could it be that this young woman is suffering from a psychological condition and has written up her own version of what she is going through? Is Peter, another runner who seems to have no family whatsoever just an invention? Or is he real?Larbalestier, cleverly weaves the daily life of a compulsive liar in with the events of the novel. The death of Zach, the mordant mourning period of a whole school, the strange relations who live off in the boondocks with a host of peculiar children, the overheated adolescent imaginings of high school. It’s a heady mix and a fascinating read. I liked it, without coming to any real conclusions about how much was fantasy and how much fact. Its ambiguity is what kept me reading. Good stuff.

Micah is a liar. A compulsive and believable liar. She has her hair cropped short and doesn't care about acting feminine. She can also run, really fast - breaking world records set by champions. Micah prefers to remain as invisible as she can wherever she goes. However, when her boyfriend, Zach, goes missing and his body is found, she suddenly becomes the centre of attention. Why? Because she was Zach's 'Out Of Hours' girlfriend, whilst Sarah, a pretty and very popular girl was his 'official' girlfriend. It's revealed to the school when Zach's body turns up dead. Accusations fly around the school, rumours that Zach's best friend killed him, or Sarah or even Micah herself. Micah has a secret of her own though, and throughout the book she promises to tell the truth, and nothing but the truth. But how can you suddenly come clean about everything when lying comes as easy as breathing?Micah's character is strange, and I'm still not 100% sure whether I liked her or not. I think she shut off her emotions, so as not to get hurt by anyone, but accidental lets Zach in without even knowing it. Although she denies it, it's clear from the beginning that she's very much in love with Zach and his death affected her more than she let on. I also thought that Micah was a little closed minded and generally quite rude, but I suppose growing up the way she did could of contributed to that. Micah has her own inner fears, doubts about everything and the feeling of loneliness - that no one is there for her.With the storyline being told by a liar, I was constantly wondering whether she was telling the truth about certain aspects, even though she promised she'd tell the truth. I noticed whilst reading this book, that a lot of the sentences were quite short and simple - which I thought was probably to do with Micah's personality and bluntness. (When she told the truth.) I also noticed that Micah was constantly comparing and commenting on the black and white people throughout the book, like she was a little racist herself, even though her mother is white and her father black.The book goes back and forth to various stages in Micah's life. Before Zach's death, after his death, short glimpses into Micah's childhood and her family history so It can get a little confusing at times. Even with all this wealth of information, at the end of the book, I still didn't think I knew Micah's character very well at all. This book had so many different twists and turns but was also a little predictable at times. One major twist, where suddenly the book shifts from dark contemporary to paranormal surprised me and I'm still not sure what I thought about the change - which is why I only marked it 4/5 stars. Overall I actually really enjoyed this book and can't wait to read more from Justine Larbalestier.

I've been looking forward to reading Liar for a long, long time. I think I first heard about it shortly after I started book blogging, and it's been on my wishlist since I learnt it was about a compulsive liar - something that really intrigues me.Now, while I haven't given this book the best rating, I can still honestly say that I liked it and I enjoyed it. I just didn't find it to be anything outstanding!What I really loved was the fact that the main protagonist kept going back on her word, and after she gives a few examples of her previous lies you're not sure whether or not you can trust her. The whole book could have been a lie, you really don't know! And that is something that I really enjoyed. It really makes you think and question the narrator and your own thoughts.Micah was bloody annoying, but she was meant to be! I didn't get THAT frustrated with her. I mean, I didn't want to pull her out of the page and tear her eyes out, if that's what you're thinking.I have my own thoughts on what really happened in this book, and it's nothing like what Micah tells you. But everyone can make up their own minds, and I think that's awesome!For those of you who have read the book, do you think Micah was lying about her "interesting" family history, or do you think that stuff's true? Do you believe any of the stuff she said she did?In short, it's a great book if you're looking for something that messes with you in a less creepy way than some psychological thrillers!

So so so so so very very very good! It twists and turns and keeps you wanting to find out more.

*pseudo spoiler*Ci ho messo una vita a finire di leggere questo libro, principalmente perché, raggiunto il climax del momento della rivelazione che aspettavo tanto, ne sono rimasta talmente delusa da metterlo in pausa per mesi.Insomma, senza fare grossi spoiler a nessuno, il libro è lento e confusionario nella prima parte; l'autrice sottolinea almeno una volta a pagina che Micah sta mantenendo questo gigantesco, enorme segreto, che non può smettere di prendere la pillola anticoncezionale, pena l'accadimento di qualcosa di terribile che però non ci è dato sapere, ecc. ecc.Ora, se passi 150 pagine buone a creare aspettative per questo grande segreto, quantomeno dovrebbe valerne la pena. E invece no! Da novel concentrata su un narratore inaffidabile, l'omicidio del fidanzato e sul segreto di Micah, di colpo, ecco emergere i soliti cliché da romanzo adolescenziale.Non consiglio.