Liar

"Mostly it's the joy of convincing people that something that ain't so, is." ~ pg. 32

Micah freely admits she is a liar. She tells white lies, ridiculous lies and big lies. She has lied to classmates, teachers, friends and parents. But the only person she didn't make a habit of lying to was her kinda-sorta boyfriend. When he dies under mysterious brutal circumstances, of course everyone looks at Micah, the girl who is known for being a liar. The rest of the book is Micah pleading her case and supposedly finally coming clean with what happened. It is up to the reader to determine what is true.

Liar came up in my search for books to read during Black History Month. In particular, I was looking for books made popular by incidents of whitewashing. A quick Google search and Justine Larbalestier's Liar was the most popular. It was published in 2009 with an original white cover image that clearly does not match its black main character. I won't even post the original cover from Bloomsbury Publishing but just know I understand the controversial outcry. Kudos to Australian author Justine Larbalestier for standing up for her black fictional protagonist and battling her American publisher to feature a black girl on the cover.

"It's hard work keeping all those lies in the air. Imagine juggling a thousand torches that are all tied together with fine thread." ~ pg. 215

Had I known this was a science-fiction novel, I would have passed. True the first line gave an inkling but c'mon, the main character is a self-professed liar so I didn't give it much attention. The book has three sections and the science-fiction part didn't kick in until section two. At that point, I was already 171 pages in and genuinely interested in the story. So consider this a warning if you are dead set against paranormal plots. For everyone else, it was actually a good book with a twist I didn't ever expect.

Title: Liar
Author: Justine Larbalestier
Published: September 2009
Pages: 371
Edition: Hardcover
Challenge: Popsugar Science-Fiction Novel
Rating: ♥♥♥