We Are Okay

Much as I liked two of this author's previous titles, "We are Okay" absolutely blew me away. At first I thought it was an odd way to present the story-isolating the main character as she did-but within a chapter, I was hooked and wanted to know the backstory. The main character does a lot of introspection and is painfully secretive, (her love-interest, Mabel, has the patience of a saint) but the narrative and flashbacks broke things up beautifully. I've always liked LaCour's writing and had to stop to reread several paragraphs, just to relish the structure and craft. Same thing happened to me when I read "Everything Leads to You". Ms LaCour's prose has a way of sneaking up on you; one minute it's just a story about a lonely girl, then it's breaking your heart and teaching you about life. Hope there are more titles like this coming soon!

This was a great read and made me think a lot about grief. It was very real. An honest look at experiences with grief and friendship and how that evolves over time.

Excellent story only the ending disappointed me. I feel Ana was very manipulating. Javier to a lesser degree, and Mabel almost a bad as her mother! I think any psychologist would have call it that too. There hearts were in the right place, but since the story ended we have no idea of how things worked out for Marin!

I gave this book 4.5 Stars but rounded up to 5 as it was closer to 5 than 4. This book seriously hit me with the feelings. It feels like it has been a LONG time since anything that I have read brought me tears. I liked the idea of this book and it was so beautifully crafted that it ended up being much more than I expected. I really FELT the Emerson quote that the author chose to use and feel like it is an important message for everyone (I am including the full quote here even though it was shortened a bit for the book): “Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson I was surprised by the turn of events, though I did see a few small details coming. The ending was so lovely, it has left me feeling uplifted and satisfied with the future for these characters when I am typically left wanting so much more.

Came in great quality, book feels nice and good quality.

I started this book with very high expectations. I heard great things about it: "it's so relatable" "the story is beautiful" "the characters are very realistic" "it'll change your life" etc.... I also heard the book isn't plot driven, but rather character driven, which I'm completely fine with. I read this book in a few days, and when I finished it I didn't really know how to feel. Usually I think about books a lot after I read them, but I had nothing to think about after reading this book. Sometimes I see it on my shelf and forget that I even read it, because it's just so forgettable. Things I like about the book: A lot of the writing is beautiful and poetic! Nina LaCour's illustration with words are so so beautiful. Her exploration of grief is a great example of this. Subtle and realistic LGBTQ+ character. Marin, the main character of the book, is queer but Nina LaCour doesn't make it her whole persona like some authors do! Favorite part of the book: The Frida Kahlo painting discussion, and the end. Things I don't like about the book: The plot, or lack of plot. Yes the book is character driven, but we still need a somewhat decent plot. It books seem very slow at times (and yes I understand it is shifting back and forth between different time periods) and there where so many opportunities for LaCour to give us something more in terms of plot. Also, I didn't understand the purpose of some characters and their placements in the book, some of them were unrealistic. All in all, this book is okay! Read it if you're interested, but you're not missing out on much if you decide not to.

First, 2 things: This cover is absolutely stunning. & second, this is my first Nina LaCour novel and I have to say that I was blown away by this short, powerful novel. This story starts with Marin who, we know, is suffering from some kind of grief and afraid of being alone. But it's Christmas break at her university and since she has nowhere else to be she is staying at the dorms all by herself for a month or so. She half wants to/is half afraid of snuggling up in her bed and never getting up again. But her old friend Mabel is coming to visit for 3 days so she can't do that just yet. Mabel is a reminder of Marin's past. Marin hasn't returned any of Mabel's messages for months but now Mabel will be in the same room with her and she will have to deal with that past and with her lingering feelings for Mabel, whatever those may be. This is a short novel and not a lot happens because this is not a plot-driven book. But it packs a powerful punch emotionally. It's about grief, it's about dealing with finding out someone is not completely who thought you were, it's about dealing with loneliness, and love. And this book spoke to me. Gripped me. Such beautiful prose and such strong emotion. I will say that the reason I would not give this a full 5 stars is because there were some bits that struck as being somewhat unrealistic. Not that they could never happen, just that they probably don't often happen. But maybe I'm jaded. Who knows?

Initially confusing, but it becomes captivatingly sad. Hard cover is currently affordable, so it's worth buying!

“The truth was unconfined, unadorned. There was no poetic language to it, no yellow butterflies, no epic floods. There wasn't a town trapped underwater or generations of men with the same name destined to make the same mistakes. The truth was vast enough to drown in.” I’m struggling to decide how to describe what this book is about, in fear of not doing it justice. I suppose it is a book about grief, loneliness and relationships. I think that’s all you really need to know going in as too much would be too much. For me, this book resembles a fine wine, it deserves to be sipped and savoured, not rushed or disturbed. So enjoy the taste without too many preconceptions or distractions. My review will not linger on any specifics, but I hope to convey why I loved reading it the best I can without going in to too much detail. Firstly, I just wanted to address how beautiful the cover art for this book is. For some reason, the artwork really speaks to me, I notice different details each time I look at it and I think it captures the whole story so perfectly. I love the illustrated cover artworks the most so this is most likely why I am drawn to it. I would honestly frame this on my wall if I had a print of this. I appreciate the cover art has little to do with the writing inside so I will swiftly move on, I just wanted to address it for anyone who cares about pretty-looking books! I have never read any of Nina LaCour’s books before but found myself instantly clicking with her writing style. I cannot describe exactly what it is that made it feel right because the writing is mostly very simple and there wasn’t anything particularly unusual about it. But she told the story so beautifully. I liked that it was less than 300 pages because nothing felt too dragged out or unnecessary. Everything that was included felt crucial to the story and this was so nice to read. I liked how the story flicked between past and present, I thought this was handled really well. I’m often sceptical when writers do this as it is often unnecessary or just plain confusing. But I loved how LaCour created two distinctive tones between the two time periods and two places. The transition between the two felt very effortless but the contrast was very effective. In particular, I felt a real sense of warmness reading the chapters set in the past and a sense of coldness whilst reading the chapters set in the present. I thought this set up the contrasting tones perfectly. In the acknowledgements, LaCour addresses how this story emerged from her own grandfather’s death. This experience with grief felt very clear whilst reading the novel. I’m sure anyone whose ever lost a loved one can relate to Marin’s thoughts, emotions and actions. LaCour describes grief so beautifully and organically and I loved reading every word. Not only this, but I felt a really genuine representation of what it is to feel lonely and isolated. Somehow the snowy setting amplified all these feelings with a real sense of emptiness. And yet, despite all these themes, it never felt overly dark or depressing at all. All the way through you can feel a glimmer of hope and the chapters set in the past help to balance out darkness with splashes of sunlight. I also really appreciated the literary and art references. They felt careful and deliberate at opposed to thrown into the mix. The liked how the artworks mentioned tied in with the themes in the story. This seems like a pretty obvious thing to say, but this isn’t always managed so well in every novel. It actually made me want to look up the artworks and literature mentioned as I’m sure those who are familiar with these pieces can probably take away something deeper beneath the surface-level. Although, as someone who wasn’t familiar with many of these references, I still appreciated why they were there and what they were portraying. They certainly made the writing feel more literary and deepened the themes that were already established. I loved how LaCour represented all sorts of relationships throughout the book. The story is focused on grandparents, parents and young adults. I think for this reason, it’s a novel that would appeal to many ages, especially as the themes are so universal to every stage of life. I liked the dynamic relationships between the characters and found this was more important than the plot—which I loved. I’ve always preferred character-driven novels over plot-driven novels and this one is certainly character-focused. Having said this, the plot was structured really well with a surprising climax. There’s usually something that niggles me about a book, but I really can’t fault anything in this one. The whole book felt so perfectly crafted, from the cover design to the final sentence. Overall, I thought this book was just so beautiful. Although this is technically a young adult novel, I’m somewhat glad I didn’t read this as a teenager. I’m sure I would have still enjoyed it, but the themes feel a lot more mature. There’s nothing particularly adult in the content that would be inappropriate for younger readers, I just think it’s one of those books you could return to throughout your life and appreciate different things each time. For this reason, it’s definitely one I want to reread in the future.

La novela me encantó, muestra lo compleja que puede ser la amistad, el amor, el duelo y las relaciones familiares. El libro llegó a tiempo y en excelente estado.

It is a book of grief, loneliness, friendship, teen queers, and above all Love. Story of a girl who leaves her past life behind, to each single person and thing, and move on. Only waiting for someone from the past to connect her back, love her back, make her know that she is loved and needed, and not everyone betrays. From the beginning to the end, Marina is grieving, but she gets a closure by the end and she goes back to where she comes from. The entire book looks like one interpretation of the painting - the two Fridas and what the two girls, Marina and Mabel were interpreting of it.

Beautiful story. I like Marin very much. She put words into things I never thought it was possible. I don’t feel connected to her but she is more like me than any other characters of books I’ve read before. She wonders about things I thought I was the only one. It’s short but beautiful.