I love “liar” books – was this another version of We Were Liars or its own thing? Check out my review of The Liars of Mariposa Island below!
The Liars of Mariposa Island by Jennifer Mathieu
Published on September 17, 2019 by Roaring Brook Press
Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
Synopsis adapted from Goodreads: Every year, summer begins when the Callahans arrive on Mariposa Island. That’s when Elena Finney gets to escape her unstable, controlling mother by babysitting for their two children. And the summer of 1986 promises to be extra special when she meets J.C., the new boy in town, whose kisses make Elena feel like she’s been transported to a new world. Joaquin Finney can’t imagine why anyone would want to come to Mariposa Island. He just graduated from high school and dreams about going to California to find his father and escape his mother’s manipulation.
Review: The Liars of Mariposa Island
I went into this book expecting one thing, and it took a while for me to adjust. Maybe it was the title? Usually “liars” books (and I’ll be doing a list of them later this week) are twisty thrillers with unreliable narrators and often involve murder.
This book was not that. It was historical fiction with three points of view and two timelines. Yes, there were lies, but they weren’t Huge Dramatic Lies (the kind that keep you from going to prison) but more like the kind of lies people tell each other because they don’t want to deal with reality.
Most of the story takes place in Texas in the mid 1980s and is narrated by two siblings, Joaquin and Elena. The third narrator is their mother, Caridad, whose narration starts in Havana in 1957 and goes up to the early 1960s. Caridad’s story, in brief, is that when Fidel Castro came to power, her wealthy parents smuggled her out of Cuba to live in Florida, as did many thousands of Cuban families. This was to me the most interesting part of the story, even though it wasn’t a major part. I didn’t know about Operación Pedro Pan, which smuggled over 14,000 Cuban children out over two years.
I also have mixed feelings about the book’s narrative structure. I think the reader absolutely needed Caridad’s point of view and that her story was arguably the most gripping. I didn’t love the fact that Joaquin and Elena’s POVs weren’t alternating. Elena’s POV is the first half of the book is hers and the second is his. Once Joaquin’s POV came around, I was like “eh.” I think the book could have possibly been more compelling if the three POVs had been alternating – that way Joaquin could have found out about Elena’s lie and he could have been on his quest earlier.
This was really a story about a dysfunctional family and how Caridad’s past created that dysfunction. Caridad (now “Carrie”) never really recovered from the loss of her old life (and her former social standing) and in the present-day part of the book, alternates between controlling her children and escaping through alcoholism. The kids are trapped in this oppressive situation and Elena starts down a questionable path as a way to get away from and defy her mother. Overall, to me this felt like was a pretty sad book with few glimmers of hope.
So overall, not what I was expecting at all, though there were aspects I liked. I will definitely seek out more books about the Cuban Revolution – I have my eye on this one and if you have any other recommendations, please let me know.
Weird because the cover doesn’t look at all from an era of the past. But I guess since the story flit from the 50s to the 80s, it makes a bit more sense.
Yeah, to me the cover and the title are a little misleading. I think you might like this one, Joy! It’s a little more literary feeling.
It does sound different than I would expect it to be from the blurb and the cover too. The family aspect sounds like it would be good though.
It was!
I WANT MORE LIES! lol
I would be expecting the same thing though.
Karen @ For What It’s Worth
Hahaha. I was. But I did like the book.
I also found the mother’s story the most interesting. The book was pretty sad, but it was a really compelling look at a dysfunctional family, and the way they lied to each other and themselves just to get by. I would have been happier had the ending been a bit more hopeful, but like I said, it was interesting, and I love Mathieu’s writing. Rosa Santos was great. I din’t feel like there was a ton of history in that one, but it was a beautiful story focusing on family. Chantal Cleeton’s Cuba books have a lot of history in them, and I enjoyed those books immensely.
Thanks so much for the recommendations!