Colour me surprised, I really enjoyed this! I openly admit, I did not enjoy We Were Liars all that much, so I did have concerns about whether or not I would like Genuine Fraud.
E. Lockhart's books Genuine Fraud and We Were Liars are similar in the veins that they both revolve around entitled youths who aren't necessarily the best people, and both books have narratives that engage in a chronological mix-up and employ unreliable narrators. However, I found Genuine Fraud to be more of a psychological thriller/mystery and certainly more engaging that We Were Liars ever was.
Genuine Fraud employs a much more straight-forward style of writing than We Were Liar's flowery prose, and this works well in the concept of the story. It doesn't always help in the more mundane scenes in the narrative (as it makes them rather plain), but this is just a minor thing. As the plot is developed, you do start to have inklings about what is going to happen and I even though I finally clued on about 65% in, it was still rather thrilling when the 'critical event' (for lack of better word, and because I don't want to give away anything) actually happened.
A lot of people have pointed out that Genuine Fraud is very similar to The Talented Mr. Ripley - and in retrospect, yes, I thought it was. (I haven't read the book/seen the movie, and I can only note the similarities because I read the plot summary on Wikipedia, but I will certainly be watching it in future). Genuine Fraud also had very interesting themes underlying it - I did very much enjoy the presentation of what it's like to be a woman in contemporary patriarchal society, which has actually given rise to one of my favourite quotes about the patriarchy in general: "Men still walk around like the US of A is a big cake store and all the cake is for them."
TL;DR: A book that surprised me with it's twisted, gripping plot line. It is a short read, so if you want something to fill your time, do think about picking it up! (I do feel like it would be a perfect beach read).
E. Lockhart's books Genuine Fraud and We Were Liars are similar in the veins that they both revolve around entitled youths who aren't necessarily the best people, and both books have narratives that engage in a chronological mix-up and employ unreliable narrators. However, I found Genuine Fraud to be more of a psychological thriller/mystery and certainly more engaging that We Were Liars ever was.
Genuine Fraud employs a much more straight-forward style of writing than We Were Liar's flowery prose, and this works well in the concept of the story. It doesn't always help in the more mundane scenes in the narrative (as it makes them rather plain), but this is just a minor thing. As the plot is developed, you do start to have inklings about what is going to happen and I even though I finally clued on about 65% in, it was still rather thrilling when the 'critical event' (for lack of better word, and because I don't want to give away anything) actually happened.
A lot of people have pointed out that Genuine Fraud is very similar to The Talented Mr. Ripley - and in retrospect, yes, I thought it was. (I haven't read the book/seen the movie, and I can only note the similarities because I read the plot summary on Wikipedia, but I will certainly be watching it in future). Genuine Fraud also had very interesting themes underlying it - I did very much enjoy the presentation of what it's like to be a woman in contemporary patriarchal society, which has actually given rise to one of my favourite quotes about the patriarchy in general: "Men still walk around like the US of A is a big cake store and all the cake is for them."
TL;DR: A book that surprised me with it's twisted, gripping plot line. It is a short read, so if you want something to fill your time, do think about picking it up! (I do feel like it would be a perfect beach read).