I was quite taken by this book—the complexity of the character work was so well-done that I found myself underlining in the text, something I rarely do on Kindle! I also typically struggle with (mostly) unnamed protagonists, but felt it really worked here for the themes of self-deception and self-awareness. The author is very skilled at writing self-deception, which can be extremely tricky to do well. I found the pacing a bit slow at first, but after a longer reading session one day the building tension, character and plot really began to come together for me, and I've been thinking about the book since I finished. I will be returning to LIARS for a reread for sure!

Have you listened to "Labour" by Paris Paloma? Liars is the book version of that song. Jane and John get together with the agreement of putting their artistic careers as priorities. Jane was sure from an early age that she didn't want to get married, but everything changed when she met John. Soon after they get engaged and move in together, she becomes a housewife that puts aside her writing career to support John on his career that never seems to take off. She keeps house and acts like her personal assistant, even borrowing him money for his failed business endeavours and despite all this, she manages to write successful books and winning fellowships. John is infuriating, a textbook manchild, he lies, manipulates and belittles Jane repeatedly, barely appreciating everything she does for him. With all this, Jane gets pregnant and this is where I wanted to slap and hug Jane at the same time. Girl, what are you doing??? But listen, I've been there. I know what it is to be so in love that you put yourself and your dreams aside to support your partner. You think is an act of love but it's lowkey manipulation. And it's hard to get out of there. It's like a drug you are addicted to. And when you realize it, you grieve. Because you gave absolutely everything you had to give, and somehow it wasn't enough. I loved this book so much, it's a portrayal of emotional abuse that it's not talked enough of and makes it hard to recognize until you're deep into it. It's an important book, and as a reminder, don't ever abandon yourself for a man. If you already did, it's not too late to pick yourself up. You'll be alright.

This novel delves into the struggles of a woman caught in a suffocating, one-sided marriage, but it falls short in delivering its intended exploration of contradictory emotions within a relationship. The protagonist's internal conflict—claiming deep love for her husband while enduring his selfishness—never quite resonates, as the narrative relies too heavily on repetitive outbursts and vague references to emotional breakdowns. Though the book is undeniably engaging and easy to get through in one sitting, it ultimately leaves you searching for a deeper meaning or resolution that it never quite reaches.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC which I read in exchange for my honest review.

Masterfully murky meditation on marriage, identity, and the truths we tell ourselves. Creeping and insidious. Recommended!

It took me a bit to get used to the writing style in this book, but once I did it was really captivating and hard to put down. This book was also eerily similar to the movie Nightbitch, which I loved. Both the movie and this book fell apart a little at the end for me, but the book ended more in a way that I wish the movie had. I know the emotions around marriages are complicated but I didn't love how defeated Jane was when her husband left her when it felt like she had been contemplating leaving him for their entire relationship. I wish it had been more freeing for her.

This novel, while pretty well written, was just too relentless and sometimes over the top. I DNF’d around 3/4 of the way through because I got bored and couldn’t take it anymore.

Sharp, fast-paced, and deliciously infuriating. This book made me question marriage + the reliability of an autofiction narrator. The kind of book you want to talk about at dinner with friends + don't lend out for fear it won't end up back on your bookshelf.

I had a love/hate relationship with this book. There were moments where I really connected with the story and the way she and her husband interacted. Then there were the moments where she talked about her child in this almost detached way that made me not want to keep reading. I ultimately kept reading because I wanted to see what happened next and did feel slightly invested in the outcome but I am torn on if I would recommend this to anyone based on the writing style that just wasn’t a huge seller for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of Liars by Sarah Manguso!

I don’t know how to review this book without spoiling general contours of the plot. So if you’re totally averse to spoilers, I will say that LIARS features great, propulsive, furious writing in a book that ultimately failed to persuade me of the core dynamic it was attempting to depict.

LIARS is a book about Jane, a writer who falls in love with John, a fellow creative. After they marry and have a child, their relationship unravels under the pressures of childcare, John’s professional challenges, and his jealousy over Jane’s successes.

First, the positive: I could not put this book down and read it in two days. It’s angry and propulsive and I had to keep following the relationship—like rubbernecking at a car crash. I really appreciated Manguso’s writing in ONGOINGNESS, and it continued to work for me here. She captures the beauty and minutiae and intermittent rage of parenting so well. And I loved the exploration of the compatibility of motherhood and an artistic life.

Less positive: The best way I can put this is that the book reads like a first draft of the depiction of the marriage. That’s not because it’s unpolished or lacking structurally but because the entire book is so angry and so unforgiving toward the husband character that the unraveling of the relationship feels preordained. From the beginning the book feels like it was written in the raw aftermath of a messy divorce, though I believe we are supposed to be experiencing the relationship alongside Jane. John has no redeeming qualities—and not only can the reader tell that from the outset but it seems like Jane knows it too. In theory she’s “lying” to herself about him—hence the title—but the occasional moments of expressed gratitude feel tacked on and inauthentic given the overwhelming fury she otherwise expresses. Instead of following Jane’s emotional arc to her final realization about John’s true nature, the book starts with her at the emotional endpoint.

i love a good story about the trials of motherhood. this one felt a bit circular at times with the messaging. yes the patriarchy is this looming presence that invades heterosexual romantic relationships, but women do have agency in this day and age and i don’t see why these types of books can’t showcase it more and instead focus on remaining in this limbo state in a relationship with a terrible man that you know is terrible and won’t change. i think the message can get across while acknowledging that at some point the woman is making a conscious decision to stay in this terrible relationship for whatever reason and it’s not just the patriarchy.

i still enjoyed it, but that’s my one gripe.

I didnt get a chance to read and review this book before it’s publish date. However now that I have a read it I gave it 3 stars

If you're looking for an outlet for your female rage, look no further! This exploration of a toxic marriage will make your blood boil, and while it kept me turning the pages, it also left me wanting more. It's clear from early on that John is a walking red flag with no redeeming qualities that it's hard to understand why Jane is with him. I swung between cheering for Jane and wanting to shake her but it kept my interest which I guess is the point.

3.5 rounded up

Thanks to Random House for the copy to review.

🌶️ HOT TAKE: A gut-punch of a novel that’s as gripping as it is infuriating, Liars masterfully examines the cost of ambition, love, and compromise in a marriage dominated by power imbalance.

🧶 THE SUMMARY:
Jane, a young and promising writer, falls in love with John, an older and celebrated filmmaker. Their marriage begins with dreams of mutual success, but John’s artistic ambitions and relentless ego quickly take center stage. As Jane sacrifices her own career to support his, their relationship crumbles under the weight of neglect, resentment, and financial strain. For years, Jane tolerates the imbalance—until she reaches a breaking point that forces her to confront the life she has built with John.

💁🏻‍♀️ MY THOUGHTS:
🔸 This was one of those books you can’t look away from—equal parts fascinating and frustrating. Jane’s life is bleak in ways that feel almost unbearable to read at times, but you can’t help rooting for her, even though I felt she might never come to her senses. Watching her navigate John’s manipulative behavior while still clinging to her own identity felt so raw and real, particularly when she becomes a mother.

🔸 John’s character is the epitome of a midlife crisis wrapped in unchecked narcissism. His complete disregard for Jane’s well-being—both emotionally and financially—had me fuming. The author doesn’t shy away from making his flaws glaringly obvious, almost daring you to hate him.

🔸 Having read Manguso’s memoir Cold People last year, I found myself searching for connections between the two works. It’s fascinating to see how she channels her own truths and observations into her fiction, layering the story with subtle echoes of what I assume is personal, if not her own, experience.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hogarth Books for the ARC, provided in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

This book took me a loooooooooong time to read - primarily because I could feel my stress levels and blood pressure rising after each chapter. It's definitely a well-written book -- to be able to create such feelings of stress and intense anger at characters requires strong writing and talent. So while I admire the skill of the author in writing this story and have zero doubt this plays out thousands of times a year, it wasn't necessarily the most enjoyable read. I wish a little more time had been spent on the protagonist figuring out how to protect her own artistic vision and career. At times the husband seemed almost comically awful, but I know this just highlights how difficult it can be to accurately evaluate your own situation when you are living it.

Liars by Sarah Manguso

Thank you to Hogarth for the advanced copy of the book for review purposes. My thoughts are all my own.

Overview: Jane had ideas about her life. She was going to be a successful artist married to a successful artist. She would be a wife but subvert the subjugation that typically came with the title. She would do the same as a mother. But of course she couldn't. Her husband's jealousy and prioritizing of his own needs drown out her career opportunities. She was left with all the household chores and admin tasks. She was a caregiver alone even when married. Becoming the perfect wife was unfulfilling and still not enough to have the marriage she envisioned. Charting her entire relationship, we see Jane experience life from children to health scares to the COVID pandemic. Overall: 2.5

Characters: 2 Here's the thing, fiction and nonfiction are two different categories for a reason. Real life can make a fascinating story, but largely, it needs to be altered and remolded in order to make a captivating story. This book fails in being a transcription of real life without the depth or insight that makes a story compelling. Jane starts out as an artist with ideals. She falls in love with John, and they decide they'll have a different kind of marriage. But, quickly, he starts treating her like a mix of a housekeeper and a personal assistant. This isn't what she wants, but she sacrifices herself to meet his needs. She chooses to have a child with him. She stays with him as they move back and forth across the country at his every whim, making it impossible for her to maintain a teaching job or take career opportunities beyond writing her books. He hardly cares for her when she goes through cancer treatment, and he's incompetent at caring for their son. Still, Jane makes his life run and stays married to him and wants to be married to him. I'd call this unrealistic except it's a story I've seen play out over and over again. John is a cartoon villain of a character. He has zero redeeming value and only exists to belittle, demean, and bleed Jane dry while contributing nothing to the household. I would say he's a stereotypical upper middle class husband, and this is an instance of stereotypes deriving from a certain kind of truth. I want to call John an unrealistic character because there is nothing compelling about him; there is no reason Jane should stay with him. I cannot find a shred of love there. But Jane is a certain amount financially dependent and deeply entrenched in an idea of what she "should" do.

This book doesn't depict all marriages, but it is a fairly accurate reflection of a good number of them for a certain demographic of people. And because of that, they don't make very compelling characters. Jane doesn't leave John for a swirl of realistic factors and also the indescribable reason why people don't leave bad marriages every day. John is a horrible person because society allows him to be, encourages him to be. I've watched this kind of a dynamic happen, and if I'm going to read about it in a book, I want the writer to go beneath the surface. To give the husband some kind of dimension that allows me to understand why he was attractive in the first place. To get into the depths of the wife's feelings beyond being treated like less than a person makes me angry. None of these points are real revelations, and Manguso doesn't render these familiar characters in a new light or in other dimensions that offers something interesting. It's just a sad, everyday horror movie.

Plot: 2 Most of this book are mundane marital disputes and John treating Jane horribly and Jane just sucking it up. The book also violates another novel writing tenant that I now believe more firmly in. Books where characters have no agency and take no agency are harder to become invested in. Everything in this novel happens to Jane. One thing after another after another. It's a nonstop parade of doom and gloom, and it's recounted in a fashion where I just kept waiting for the story to begin. Even in a story with a protagonist who feels as restricted as Jane, her inner life could have some form of choice or resistance. But there's nothing but a plain, nearly emotionless recounting of events—barring sentences that amounted to "I was angry all the time". Without dialogue or scene, it never feels like the plot begins. It feels like a summary trying to prepare you for a story that never comes.

Writing: 2 It's the writing the truly did this book in. The entire novel is written in summary. There is no dialogue. There are no scenes. So much of the book is: (this is my summarization, not actual quotes from the book) "John said we had to move across the country for his job. I didn't want to move. We moved." There's almost no interiority despite being written in the first person, and like I said earlier, everything just happens to Jane. I don't really understand the point of a novel told entirely in summary, all telling, no showing. Especially in a narrative as familiar as this one. Manguso renders a very accurate portrait of a certain, common kind of marriage, but it makes for an extremely frustrating narrative. And the chosen style renders it entirely lifeless when there could've been a deep, thoughtful exploration of what it feels like to be in that situation. I felt as much like an outside observer reading this book as I do in situations I've witnessed in my real life. I never got inside Jane's head. Also, this is a random pet peeve, but there were a number of times that Jane announces that she "felt herself ovulate" or like felt the egg move inside her, and I had to double check that the book was actually written by a woman.

Clearly, this book is for someone that is not me. I was very hopeful based on the synopsis, but I was left feeling like I wanted to throw the book across the room for most of the reading experience.

Thank you @randomhouse #partner @hogarth and @netgalley for this advance reading copy of Liars by Sarah Manguso. Pub date: 7/23/24.

When Jane, an aspiring writer, meets filmmaker John Bridges, they both want the same things: to be in love, to live a successful, creative life, and to be happy. When they marry, Jane believes she has found everything she was looking for, including—a few years later—all the attendant joys and labors of motherhood. But it’s not long until Jane finds herself subsumed by John’s ambitions, whims, and ego; in short, she becomes a wife.

As Jane’s career flourishes, their marriage starts to falter. Throughout the upheavals of family life, Jane tries to hold it all together. That is, until John leaves her.

This novel, wow, not even sure how to say what I think. It is in part , the slow unraveling of a marriage. It is also part description of a person that is bipolar. Also partly about the people who gravitate towards a bipolar person.
The novel is told by the wife, she is bipolar, and at every change in the circumstances of her married life she excepts the new change even if it is not what she would like. She does this because “That is what women do “ and also because she questions her own choices. So she goes along to get along, although I would argue it is not a happy or content acceptance.
After many moves across the country and the birth of a child and many years raising the child. The couple divorces. The wife finds some kind of peace and it seems the husband ends up happy.
I liked this book even if I cannot articulate exactly why. It is about the slow deterioration of a marriage for sure. But also about how people change who they are in the process of being married. I recommend.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me this ARC.

LIARS by Sarah Manguso is an entertaining read with a searing voice. It was hard to buy in at times, because the protagonist was doing herself absolutely no favors, but ultimately a quick and thought provoking read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! LIARS is out now!

I DNFed this book even though it was relatively short and I was halfway through it. While I enjoy complex characters and moral dilemmas in the books I read I find it really hard to get through a novel when you're not rooting for a character or seeing a potential plot twist on the horizon.