One of Us is Lying and the Unspoken Social Media Ambiguity

Petition to make this a Netflix series!

'Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars.' That's it. That's the plot.

"Things'll get worse before they get better."

One of Us is Lying is one of those books that'll keep you hooked right from the beginning till the very end of it. Be prepared for sleepless nights and long, pensive hours of contemplation and going through the 5 stages after reading any mystery thriller:

1. Denial: Inability to accept the fact that the particular character could've done something so gruesome after the grand reveal of the big 'who'.
2. Anger: This feeling is mostly directed towards the antagonist for all the pain they've caused to the other characters because you've come to love their flawed yet repentant selves.
3. Bargaining: Scrutinizing the reasons that drove the culprit to take such adverse measures and apprehending his morality and conscience
4.  Depression: The most unsparing stage of all symptoms of which include feeling aloof and detached, like a huge void in your heart that cannot be filled coupled with getting brutally smacked by the fact that you cannot unknow the book and read it for the first time ever again. (*sobs internally*)
5. Acceptance: Feeling a sense of satisfaction and triumph on having checked yet another remarkable fic-lit from your TBR (to be read) list and moving on to a new one with a bittersweet feeling.

Anyway coming back to our story,it majorly revolves around the lives of five students of Bayview High:

Bronwyn Rojas: The genius who refers to live under the radar,

Nate Macauley: The misfortunate and neglected child turned drug dealer,

Cooper Clay: The golden boy of the school,

Addy Prentiss: The glamourous girlfriend of a jock,

Simon Kelleher: The outcast wannabe who runs a scandalous gossip app called 'About That'.

When all of them end up in detention one day under suspicious circumstances, Simon is killed. Followed by Tumblr posts which make the other four students the prime suspects.

"Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them."

The Glorified Virtuality:

All that glitters...

All of these characters have a seemingly lucid image. But underneath the false charade, each of them conceals deep, unspoken secrets or battles that they fight alone. This create a delusion to the outsiders who fall for the seeming perfection and when the truth is out, it leaves then flabbergasted. The secret keepers feel exposed and vulnerable as the destructive tides of social media wreck everything they protected and concealed. 

Everyone has their flaws and imperfection but we fail to realize that due to the blinding glitz and glams of the virtual world. One shouldn't succumb to the deception of appearances and not lose control. 

Remember, you control these apps, not the other way round. Curate your feed such that it inspires you to be a better person, not make you look down on yourself. (Yes, there is a significant difference between the two.)

The Good 'Ol Feminism Issue:

"Sexism is alive and well in true crime coverage, because Bronwyn and I aren't nearly as popular with the general public as Cooper and Nate. Especially Nate. They couldn't care less that he is a convicted drug dealer, because he's got dreamy eyes. Bronwyn and I are pariahs- other than her friends, her sister and Janae, hardly anyone talks to us."

In the words of Taylor Swift- "A man does something, it's 'strategic'; a woman does the same thing, it's ' ​calculated.' A man is allowed to 'react'; a woman can only 'overreact."

This book subtly shows how the media and the world in general perceives accused women. It is always the women who need to be extra careful and precautious and yet the first ones to be deemed erroneous.  

Addy has been so dominated by her boyfriend during the course of her relationship that she finds it difficult to identify her own interests and preferences. In a way, the liberation from her boyfriend shows her the truth about her 'friends' and gives her the independence she deserves in making her own life choices.

The Social Strata and Groupism:

Everyone of the five characters struggles to fit in in one way or another. Addy finds it difficult to have a new life and start alone after her jock friends abandon her after her breakup. Nate has always been labelled as the financially struggling guy abandoned by his mother and living with his addict father, who resorts to selling drugs to make ends meet. Cooper is the jock who is dissatisfied even though he's positioned among the elite. Bronwyn is the untouchable, straight A's, goal-oriented girl who is unambitious to climb the social ladder unlike Simon. 

Simon is the outsider, the invader of the elitists when his former jock best friend starts to cut ties with him. He is deeply disturbed by the shifting attention which drives him to seek it in nefarious ways like the gossip app. He felt abandoned and struggled with depression due to this social pyramid. Even after his death, he was remembered as the 'castaway'.

Groupism is a very common problem that has to be tackled by everyone at least once at some point in their lives. Being more communicative, accepting and acknowledging the people who are there with you rather than fixating on people who aren't are the different ways of dealing with it.

This is a must read for everyone, especially teenagers as it highlights very relatable, coming-of-age problems. What are some other problems that Gen-Z teens have to deal with. Do let me know in the comments.

Hope you liked today's post. Stay tuned for the next one!