With a Twist

Life has served up an exhausting series of plot twists lately. But of course it is only a twist if the right (wrong?) person is telling the story. Even after years of reading, unreliable narrators still catch me by surprise. My most recent surprises ensue.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

“Mirren, she is sugar, curiosity, and rain,” says narrator Cadence about the cousin she sees once a year at her family’s summer enclave.  In the course of describing those hallowed summers on the Sinclair private island, Cadence reveals she is recovering from a traumatic event from summer fifteen. As pieces begin fitting back together, the reader realizes nothing is as it seems. And that description of Mirren? More apt than she knew.

Language Arts by Stephanie Kallos

Charles Marlow tells us the story of his future. When he was in elementary school, a newspaper interviewed his (at the time) newfangled Language Arts class about their thoughts on the future. When the newspaper decides to do a follow-up feature, Marlow must confront his memories of that life-changing year. Along the way, he introduces us to a cast of characters who are more closely linked than they first appear. Besides devising the clever plot twist of the books finale, Kallos’ language also makes this book a worthy read: “Why not that swallow singing or what callow rejoicing or that sorrow abating?”