This had all my favorite things: family disfunction, intense interior monologues from the lead female character, an infuriating man, and an adorable kid for some levity. The book covers many years at a quick pace, but Manguso is precise with her language. You are still pulled in and invested in the story, without feeling rushed.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hogarth for the opportunity to read and review.

This book is packed with drama between two lovers. She truly loves him, but…she sees what she wants to see.

It’s for readers that can sympathize with a woman who is going through difficult times with the man she believes is right for her. When Jane moves in with John, she is now working hard to pay the bills and help support his career. She is cleaning the house and cooking dinners. And then they get married. The reader never gets to hear what John thinks as it’s one-sided. Yet we know she has a history of being suicidal. When she decides she wants to have a child, I literally drop the book.

Jane is the one with a lot of talent as a writer although she doesn’t talk about her work in detail. It’s mostly about their marriage and she repeats herself which can be annoying. John, on the other hand, is an artist, film producer and photographer. It seems like they are not far from couples who struggle with a lot of issues. It is distressing from the start as one tries to decide: who is the liar? The wife, the husband or both? It makes you want to get to the end.

My thanks to Hogarth and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of July 23, 2024.

Wow, this story was morbidly entertaining. So relentless, so full of venom, it made me question the reliability of the narrator.
The stream of consciousness writing made me think she was skilled and highly intelligent, but a little damaged beforehand....or did she become hinged by marriage??
The husband was a compilation of everything a spouse does to make you hate them - the careless disregard for anyone or anything, except themself and what they currently want. The stupid, oblivious way he tries to manipulate her, their child, and the situation insults the intelligence.
I was compelled to read this book every chance I had. It has a kind of obsessive atmosphere that I could not get away from until I finished it.

Manual paints a viral picture of a relationship that is all too depressingly and commonly found in today's society. They marry, thinking they have forever to fully discover their potential as a couple.
Jane and John form this bond and believe it will last forever; she is a successful artist and he is a filmmaker. However, as her career begins to bound his doesn't and neither does the marriage, as he begins an affair. Throw a child in to the mixed up jumble of a life and it all goes sideways.
The story is complicated and veers into a rambling diatribe against accepted norms and both marriage and relationship cliches at times. Too many to follow.
Redemption and finding oneself amid the ruins is not always the best plot line.

Okay for me but not great.

I was so so excited to get this one, but it just started out slow and I couldn’t really get into it. It was definitely a me thing though!

"Liars" is a whole new reading experience for me. Written as a journal (or even a diary), it leads the reader through the 14 year relationship, marriage, and divorce of a couple. It touches the emotions of an author trying to maintain her independence despite being tugged back in to the family life of a wife, homemaker, and mother. Important issues are raised, dealt with, and dismissed.

I liked the novel enough to request earlier Sarah Manguso novels from my local library. This is a fun read, even though it bares the emotions of a frustrating marriage. I'd recommend it.

This book follows a Jane, a woman who begins to see herself as solely a wife and mother after marrying John. John is maybe the most frustrating character I have ever read and the reason I DNF. He is horrible and awful and I can’t stand him. I also was thrown off by the format of this book and wasn’t a huge fan. Though I didn’t like it I think others will which is why I am giving 2 stars.

I had high hopes for this book and was looking forward to reading it…..But ! What a disappointment! I could not warm to either of the lead characters and could not understand why they remained in a miserable marriage. I got so irritated with both of them and had to force myself to continue reading to the end.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC.

Oh man, this book was draining. The writing was different and engaging, but the story was bleak. From the very first page I found myself completely frustrated with the main character, who is clearly sabotaging herself in every way possible, yet seems to get off on it? And is then blind sided when things fall apart. But, thank God they did, because this story of a marriage was a nightmare from the very day they met, and years before it was even a marriage. I hated every single life choice, and subsequent rationalization, that this woman made. Sadly, this is something that hundreds of women do every single day, to ultimately reap the same results. It was sad, disheartening, frustrating, and dark. Ugh.

This was a very interesting read. I had a little bit of difficulty getting into the way this was written in the beginning. Its a first person narrative, but it's done very much stream of consciousness style and a lot of it feels unimportant. It's almost as if someone just sat down and started bullet point their day every day. I feel like a lot of people might give up before really getting into the meat of the book and realizing what an important narrative is being told about most women's lives in general and how much they give up and sacrifice as mothers and wives. I did really enjoy this overall and hope that people will read it and think about what they're reading and reflect on it and think about what we as Americans have done to women in our society.

Recovering from a relationship with a narcissist is one of the toughest battles one can face, and Sarah Manguso's novel gives hope to anyone who's ever found themselves obsessing over the minutia leading up to the breaking point. At first I thought the writing style was little choppy and cold, but then I realized it was driving the whole point of the novel home - how one can slowly lose themselves and their career trying to please an inconsistent, unworthy man (while taking care of his child in ways he cannot)... and all that remains is a bitter, obsessive need to catalogue the events and trace it all backwards until you find yourself again. Highly recommended.

This author is a very talented writer but this book just wasn’t for me. I didn’t enjoy the distinctive style of writing. I also found it to be unnecessarily crude.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an early release in exchange for a fair and honest review.

"I wrote down the story again: I was proud of our family and of John’s career, so when he played video games all night, spent weekends painting, or stayed out bodysurfing in deep water while the child and I waited, shivering, on the beach, I didn’t push back. I multitasked and made my own needs as small as possible because, I thought, I was just more capable than he was. I assumed that made me valuable."

Jane and John's marriage is one that seemed, on all accounts, destined to flourish. She an aspiring writer and he an aspiring filmmaker, art fills all domains of their lives, leaving just enough room for each other. As time passes and Jane and John experience the ebb and flow of their own individual successes, their marriage begins to shift.

And from that shift comes a transformation that leaves Jane wondering who she married, and what they've done to each other. Their marriage is nothing like she imagined; she hardly recognize her reflection anymore. But if you tell yourself something often enough, surely that makes it true.

So here it goes: Jane loves her husband, and her husband loves her. Jane can't imagine life any other way. Jane is happy. Jane is safe.

"Liars" is a short, sobering novel whose impact lingers long after the final page. With a well-paced but undeniable urgency, it paints a portrait of a marriage cast into shadows by manipulation, deceit, and abuse. Across its pages, "Liars" depicts Jane's descent into denial as she comes to terms with what her marriage is and isn't, and how little lies become her life raft in an ocean of doubt. Perhaps more than anything, this masterful novel begs the question: what are we willing to tell ourselves to survive reality?

When I saw all the great reviews given to this book is very anxious to read it. Although I was able to finish, it, just really never seem to get off the ground. I was so sick of the main character. It’s constant, whining, other than John the characters very poorly developed, and the plot was just all over the place. I kept losing track of whether we were in California or New York. It was very unrealistic that a woman would stay with such a horrible abusive person in this day and age. .

This is a very important book. An unflinching portrait of what it’s like to lose yourself and your agency while married to a narcissist. Several times I would read a line that was so raw, so real about what it means to be a woman artist who is also a wife and mother. I felt her pain, I hated her husband right along with her, and wept for the fact that society still has a long way to go when it comes to recognizing the invisible labor of wives and mothers.

I was initially pretty put off by the writing style -- extremely unique, not quite stream of consciousness, but close. By the end, though, I think I adapted and it made more sense. I was sad reading this whole book. It felt depressing, like nothing good was going to happen, and yet I was engaged with the action and feelings of the characters. I think the author is amazingly talented - this book was an accomplishment, and massively different than anything else I've read this year.

I think many will be put off by the style -- my suggestion is to hang in there a little while and give it a chance. It might grow on you.

I received a complimentary copy of the novel from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being given freely.

Overall Grade: D+
Plot: C
Characters: B
Pacing: D
Setting: F
Writing: D
Best Aspect: The feelings of the main character.
Worst Aspect: The writing style was more like a personal journal than a novel. Lack of setting, chapters, dialogue. This just seemed uplike it could be called a novel.
Recommend: No.

At first, I wasn't sure about the writing style and format, which resembles train of thought diary entries. Once I got into it, however, I rather enjoyed the voyeuristic look into a wife's marriage, its slow breakdown, and the anger and the pain. Maybe "enjoyed" isn't the right word -- "empathized with"? ... "horrified by"? I wonder how many of us recognize the manipulative, controlling husband who comes across as a puppy dog at first, not without issues, but cute. Then the wife appears to miss all the signs of his growing disdain (or does she?).

The story of this marriage definitely packs a punch, although I was often left wondering what she meant by something, because she doesn't elaborate, and often sentences are fragmented thoughts -- like glimpses into her mind, most likely. Recommended.

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the advanced reader's copy.

I finished reading "Liars" in one weekend. It is a propulsive, immersive book that drops the reader right into the mind, and the life of the narrator, Jane, who is navigating a tumultuous relationship, then marriage, then divorce from John. Jane's voice is clear and rings true to life. Her struggles, fears and even hopes for the marriage are human — nothing is ever black and white, even when all signs seem to be pointing to one outcome. I appreciated that the author didn't sugar coat or dilute Jane's anger at the situation. The reader connects with Jane and her stresses, which sometimes make for a very stressful book, but one worth reading.

A brilliant, honest and stylistically beautiful portrayal of the steady compounding damage a marriage woman artist's life. It is about art and about life, and about how difficult it is to keep perspective and protect both as a woman in a less than ideal marriage. Manguso's brilliant concise work gets the large span of time covered in this novel perfectly (how time can be both painfully slow and painfully fast). She also really makes us feel and understand the contradictory feelings of the impossibility of staying with the perceived impossibility of leaving. I loved how this book didn't seem to be holding back on the main character's experience in this marriage: angst and exhaustion and boredom, and (very understandable) complaining about living with a man-child of a husband. Yet I devoured this book (I started reading and didn't want to stop). This is a very smart novel which takes your heart from beginning to end.

I will sit and revist this one and may writer a longer review.