Liar, Liar

“Another observation is that I’ve never gotten in trouble for lying. Because I’m that good. I have a knack for knowing what needs to be said and done. And if a little is good, then a lot is better, right? I used to think like that. Before my life went from zero to crap in a week.”

The final lines of the foreword act as a narrative hook designed to intrigue readers by hinting at the conflict to come. Kevin foreshadows the lessons he’ll learn about lying and the dramatic personal struggles he’ll have to endure first. These lines also offer a good example of the informal, intimate voice that characterizes the author’s style in this book.

“‘Of course’—she pushed her glasses a little higher on her nose—‘because that kind of organization and attention to detail will enable us to make the best possible choice among our options. Besides, I’m sure I can put the seemingly superfluous work to good use in the form of extra-credit projects later in the year.’”

Liar, Liar relies more on character and voice than plot in developing its themes and keeping the reader engaged in the story. This statement, which Katie makes to Kevin, effectively develops her character without direct authorial interpretation. In other words, an example of something Katie says depicts her attitudes and motivations more effectively than telling the reader directly that Katie is an ambitious student.

“Tina Zabinski was standing by the drinking fountain with some of her friends, laughing. I heard her laugh and my heart gave this crazy lurch, and my breathing did a stop-start thing, and I got sweaty, and did other stuff we learned about in Family Life, stuff that marks the moment a male’s physical maturation begins.”

Kevin’s reaction to seeing Tina in a new light introduces the concept of puberty—and, more generally, the conventional experiences of adolescence—as a relevant aspect of the story. In addition to physical changes, the teenage years are also a time when adolescents begin developing their own sense of moral integrity. Kevin’s transformation in the novel centers his Personal Growth and the Development of Integrity.

“Obviously, the best approach to landing Tina as my girlfriend would be to study the way generals plan military maneuvers. I would utilize foresight, bravery, skill, careful timing, reconnaissance missions and the support of staunch allies to show her that I was the best possible boyfriend for her.”

Kevin’s fascination with military history and strategy is a detail that helps flesh him out as a round character. His plan to use military tactics in his efforts to impress a girl also shows his natural inclination to be goal-oriented and practical. It also suggests he’s not thinking of her as a fully realized person who deserves more dignity and agency than a thing to be conquered. This attitude is part of the reason he’s so comfortable with lying to people.

“All I’d have to do was make sure Tina knew how amazing I was—without being conceited. Piece of cake, because I’m funny (I’ve always cracked myself up) and smart (I’ve never made a big deal about my 3.769 GPA) and popular (I wasn’t sure she particularly liked my friends, but I had a ton of good buddies and figured that had to be a strong recommendation to a girl). […] It’s not that I thought highly of myself, it’s that I really am a great guy.”

With these lines, Gary Paulsen encapsulates both Kevin’s motivation and his vanity. Kevin’s desire to impress someone he has a crush on reflects a universal experience of adolescence. The way he goes about it is more unique, however, and prone to creating more problems than it solves. Kevin’s level of self-confidence may be less common in teenagers, but it makes him an active, compelling character and gives him significant flaws to overcome.

“In a week they’d get their keys back, but they’d have a better sense of my point of view, and maybe they’d remember to give me a ride now and then.”

Kevin’s perspective on causing his siblings to lose their driving privileges is an early example of how he rationalizes his lies and manipulative behavior. Paulsen positions his desire for a more equitable system for sharing the car as understandable, but his method—causing animosity between Sarah and Daniel—as a hurtful way to go about it.

“‘Can I miss a few days of class to paint scrims?!’ I was glad I’d seen a rerun of High School Musical recently; I had my drama department terminology nailed. ‘Kev! That’s wonderful!’ Mrs. Steck looked at me with admiration. ‘I always give extra credit to my students who paint flats and build sets!’”

Paulsen’s characterization implies that Kevin’s keen observation of the world around him is in part what makes him such a capable liar. Kevin remembers what he learns and uses it to make his lies sound more authentic. This ability suggests he’s intelligent and capable of directing his powers of observation to achieve personal goals. Kevin’s lack of guilt that Mrs. Steck wants to reward him with extra credit, in addition to letting him skip class, substantiates his under-developed sense of integrity.

“All that prettiness and blond hair and soft voice and she’s civic-minded, too. How could I have missed how perfect she was all these years? And what was the fastest way to get her to feel the same about me?”

By looking for the fastest way to get Tina to like him, Kevin shows he prioritizes instant gratification over patience. He’s willing to take moral shortcuts rather than communicate with honesty and respect. His sudden attraction to Tina points to the powerful influence of emotions during adolescence, which, Paulsen’s narrative suggests, contributes to his rash decisions during the rest of the week.

“He washes his own equipment and uniforms after every practice and game, though, and he takes showers that seem like the kind that workers get after there’s a chemical leak at a nuclear power plant. I heard his mother tell my mother that she has to buy industrial-sized bottles of bleach and boxes of detergent in bulk at the buying club.”

This description introduces JonPaul’s character as both an athlete and a teen suffering from germophobia. It also reveals how much his phobias and compulsions impact his daily life. Paulsen’s portrayal of JonPaul helps normalize mental health challenges that may otherwise make high schoolers feel isolated and stigmatized.

“You ate that peanut butter sandwich and twitched and your eyes rolled back in your head and, although it was only for a few seconds and I’m not one hundred percent sure, I coulda sworn you stopped breathing.”

In Chapter 6, titled “A Good Lie Has Humor and Style,” Kevin frames his lie as “a bit” in which he can amuse himself and show off his acting talent, in addition to venting his frustration at his friend, underscoring the novel’s thematic interest in The Selfish Motives and Rationalizations of Lying. This explanation keeps him from taking responsibility for the cruelty of the lie.

“That kind of behavior made me more certain than ever that, once he was pushed to batcrap-crazy extremes, he’d be forced to see the depth of his obsessions, and then he’d start to develop a more realistic perspective on the whole health nut thing.”

Kevin continues to rationalize his lies, even as he witnesses their harmful effects on his friend. He acknowledges that he’s pushed his friend to “batcrap-crazy extremes,” yet he still convinces himself his deception is helping JonPaul. Paulsen’s narrative indicates that these rationalizations allow Kevin to avoid unpleasant feelings like guilt and shame.

“Because if anyone knows about relationships, it’s Buzz. She’s been married three and a half times. The half comes from a spring-break marriage in Cancún when she was in college. ‘It probably wasn’t even legal in the first place, so it only counts as a halfsie,’ she told me once.”

Paulsen uses Auntie Buzz’s antics, charismatic personality, and entertaining history create a humorous tone for the story. Kevin’s description of her reveals his affection for her and his view of her as adventurous and complex. Kevin’s clear affection for Buzz nuances his later decision to involve himself in her personal finances without her consent, allowing Paulsen to depict him as both well-intentioned and misguided.

“Kevin. Was. Not. At. All. Happy. About. What. Just. Happened.”

The author uses several distinct techniques and literary devices to evoke the voice of a teenage boy in his narrator. One such device is his mimicry of trends in contemporary young adult vernacular in the text itself—for example, inserting a period between each word to add emphasis the message. In this example, Kevin emphasizes his displeasure with periods rather than strong adverbs or exclamation points.

“I was tired of getting the short end of the stick in this family just because I was the youngest. The ends justified the means.”

Kevin has justified his prior lies by viewing them as helpful to the other person. In this example, he rationalizes his dishonesty by seeing it as a way to balance a perceived injustice against himself. Like many adolescents, Kevin’s social consciousness isn’t yet fully developed, so he’s likely to see his own needs and desires as more important than those of others.

“‘Dutchdeefuddy, I want to be just like you when I grow up.’ ‘Why?’ ‘’Cause when I asked everyone else about the ’vorce, they didn’t tell me the truth. But you did.’ ‘And that’s a good thing?’ ‘Uh-huh, ’cause now I know.’”

Kevin and Markie’s honest conversation about divorce marks a turning point for Kevin. Markie’s simple explanation for why he loves and admires Kevin leads to Kevin’s epiphany about The Consequences of Lying and the Importance of Honesty.

“Maybe the truth, in small, preschool-sized doses, wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all.”

After Kevin learns the value of honesty from Markie, he initially believes that he only needs to make small adjustments to his behavior. A seed of a lesson has been planted, but he has yet to encounter the more devastating effects of his lies. Once his half-hearted attempts to atone for his lies fail, he’ll be able to truly transform.

“When I got home, I avoided my family. Or they avoided me. Every door in the house was closed, with someone behind it. Alone. Even the door to the basement was shut, which meant that either Mom or Dad had camped out downstairs rather than share their room with each other.”

In this scene, Paulsen uses closed doors to symbolize the Spencer family’s disconnection. They haven’t made an effort to spend time together for some time and each of them has become more isolated as a result, making Kevin fear the permanent dissolution of the family.

“That was not how this scene had played out in my head as I walked to school—she was supposed to be happy I’d confessed and secretly pleased that she could rely on me in the last few tense days of finishing up. Not to mention relieved that I wasn’t sick. Then we’d share a good laugh over what a rascally sense of humor I had and would bond over the experience.”

Kevin’s idea that “preschool-sized” doses of the truth can be good prompts him to make minimal efforts to fix the problems he’s caused by lying. His expectation of how the conversation with Katie will go emphasizes that he still doesn’t understand how harmful his lies are. Since his arc is still in progress, he’s still thinking of his own needs and not about how Katie feels.

“There was only one solution. I was going to have to admit to everyone what I’d done, take responsibility for my actions, express regret for the pain I’d caused, accept the consequences of my behavior, make sure they knew I was serious about making it up to them and then never act like that again. The perfect apology.”

Kevin finally comes to a crossroads—a moment in which an epiphany leads the protagonist to make a drastic change and seek redemption. Paulsen positions the list of steps in this quote as a blueprint for how to make sincere amends for hurting someone. The earnest and pragmatic tone in which Kevin describes “the perfect apology” portrays it as a recipe for Personal Growth and the Development of Integrity.

“Mister, am I FURIOUS!! WHO do U think U R 2 MEDDLE w/ my financial affairs + VIOLATE my PRIVACY that way and does UR MOTHER kno she’s raised such a SNEAKY person?!”

For Auntie Buzz’s angry texts, Paulsen mimics what is often referred to as textspeak—the jargon and widely recognized abbreviations common in text communications. This literary device makes her characterization more specific to her character. Incorporating modern communication trends also positions the story in time and evokes the worldview of a teenage narrator interacting with his aunt.

“It was difficult to write the apologies. But the hardest part was going to be waiting to see if they’d be accepted. A person can’t hurry forgiveness.”

The maturity of Kevin’s tone demonstrates that he’s finally practicing humility and truly accepting the consequences of his actions. Prior to this moment, Kevin has tried to control everything and everyone around him for his own ends. By acknowledging that he can’t hurry forgiveness, he’s accepting that he can’t always be in control.

“Daniel and I sat with our father’s arms around us for a very long time, listening to Mom read to us.”

The scene in which Kevin’s family confronts him about his dishonesty over the past week forms an important part of the novel’s resolution. It ends with both Kevin and other family members admitting their mistakes and committing to treating each other with more love and respect. This quote about Kevin and his brother sitting with their father’s arms around them evokes a harmonious and optimistic mood for the story’s conclusion.

“I also forgot what I learned in science class: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

Kevin thinks about what he’s been through over the past week and draws conclusions about what he’s learned. In this observation, he contextualizes lying in terms of a simple law of physics. Like any other action, behavior, or choice a person makes, lying has consequences. He’s learned that they’re often unexpected and harmful—an epiphany that catalyzes Personal Growth and the Development of Integrity.