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Judging a Book by its Cover: Liar


In my review of Liar by Justine Larbalestier, one of the things I mentioned liking was the cover. I got curious about other editions of the book. It's been out since 2009, and I knew it was published in both Australia and America, so I figured there had to be at least three or four editions (AUS release, US hardcover, US paperpack). 

First of all, kudos to people who do these posts frequently. How do you find the covers?? I spent a lot of time typing different phrases into Google, and not coming up with much. 

But I was surprised to find out that in 2009 when the book was set for release in the US, there was a huge controversy about the cover. The ARC for the US feature the middle left-hand cover. You might notice that the cover model seems pretty obviously white. In my review, I mentioned that one of the things I loved so much about the book is its diversity...because Micah is at least partially black. 

You can probably imagine the uproar that the whitewashing caused. And luckily, Bloomsbury listened and adapted the cover the current one (top left, also featured in my review).  

The Australian covers are interesting to me because they focus on text and font instead of a cover model (top right and middle middle). The original cover is the one in the middle. It's great. Larbalestier supported it enthusiastically, and I find her reasoning sound: Micah lies about everything, why should we trust a cover that may or may not accurately portray her? 

But my favorite is the bottom right: France. I'm not entirely sold on the eyes: are they the model's real beautiful eyes or are they photoshopped? It's a little hard to tell, and I get kind of uncomfortable with that style of photo art. 

The middle right and the bottom left both come from Italy. They're beautiful too, but something just draws me to the French cover.

Which cover would get you to read the book?

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