Comments on: Read Between the Lines

By: Sarah Rees Brennan

Sarah Rees Brennan — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 05:54:49 +0000

Thank you so much for this post. It’s driven me up the wall to see people saying Justine ‘loved’ the cover when it seems so clear to me that she was just being a *professional* and not bagging on her publisher in public while doing everything she could both to be honest with her audience and get things changed behind the scenes.

By: Diana Peterfreund

Diana Peterfreund — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:31:12 +0000

Justine’s my critique partner. I’ve read LIAR (a book with a pathologically lying, unreliable narrator is a real bear to crit, let me tell you) and it’s amazing! One of the best books I’ve read all year. What is most appalling about this cover, to me, is the way it calls into question the conclusions drawn by the text. Instead of focusing on what the words saying, it makes this whole other level of “lying” — which the author did NOT intend. I’ve been so disappointed to see, as a result of this cover, reviews of the book that focus not on the actual text, but on suppositions based ONLY on what they see on the cover. It’s just not what was intended with the story.

I’ve also been amazed that anyone is calling her a hypocrite, merely because PW characterized her reaction as “excited.” As the text quoted in Courtney’s post shows, that’s far from the case. The Aussie cover she loves.

By: Tris

Tris — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:22:21 +0000

Very interesting. I would’ve never noticed the way the comments were so carefully worded.

I took a look at her covers and I think both are fine. However, since I haven’t read the actual book, maybe if I had read the book than I would think differently.

By: Rob Charron

Rob Charron — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:07:41 +0000

Hi
What an excellent blog post!
The two pieces on the cover of Liar demonstrate the differences dramatically.
Thanks for sharing.
Love from Northern Ontario
twitter.com/RKCharron
xoxo

By: Courtney Milan

Courtney Milan — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 21:49:49 +0000

I prefer the Australian cover as well, especially since this is supposed to be a psychological thriller of a book. The Aussie cover really conveys that, almost perfectly.

By: katiebabs

katiebabs — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 21:46:24 +0000

Even with out the whole issue with the girl’s face on the American cover, I prefer the Australian cover. The Aussie one is more spooky for me. I like spooky covers. You are so right about authors being careful with how they word things where another can read.

Thank you for a very insightful post.