Monday, August 12, 2013

Liar

Larbalestier, J. (2009). Liar. New York: Bloomsbury Children’s Books. 
Liar is a well written and disturbing novel, that starts off as a mystery, but swiftly turns into either a psychological thriller or an urban science fiction/fantasy novel. I can’t tell you which, because I don’t know which is the truth. Our narrator, a seventeen year old girl called Micah, is a compulsive liar and entirely unreliable, so we can’t tell if the stories are getting wilder, or the truth is slowly emerging.
There a couple of violent scenes, but it’s quite suitable for young adults. Micah suffers from excessive pain and bleeding during her periods (which is either the basis for some of her lies, or an excuse to hide what’s really going on, but either way, is a significant part of the story). This is unusual in young adult characters, and would be both worthy of discussion and help raise awareness of similar conditions, as well as being topical because of her use of birth control.

Liar is very easy to read, and includes a wide range of issues that teens will identify with, and are worth analysing. It acts as a good starting point for discussions on racism, unusual medical disorders, bullying and high school cliques, transgenderism (being in the wrong body was a strong theme throughout the book), bisexuality, science and mythology, and of course, unreliable narration.

It can't be easily categorised into any particular label, partly because most of the GLBTQIA aspects are metaphorical or unreliably narrated, but it is very easy to find these issues within the story.


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