Description: We  Are Okay, written by Nina LaCour, follows 18 year-old Marin as she navigates her new life after leaving her old one behind. As she goes off to college, winter break treds ahead. Marin’s best friend, Mabel, wants to visit as they both have not been in contact for months after Marin’s decision to leave everything behind. With Mabel’s arrival Marin will have to face the life she’s left behind and make a decision on what to do with the life she has ahead. 

       WARNING: Mid spoilers ahead!

      What Nina LaCour brings to the table 

Nina LaCour puts the reader straight into the main conflict. This outcome comes with two POVs of present and past timelines narrated by the main character, Marin. The way Marin and her conflict is presented has a tone of curiosity and loneliness that LaCour projects profoundly. LaCour has a way of depicting depression, loneliness, grief, and sexuality that shows the aspect of how one deals with such subjects.

What I love about her writing style as a whole is that it gives human emotions a time to shine unlike other books I’ve read. Many people, like myself, can relate to the feelings and actions Marin takes upon when it comes to mental health. She grieves her old life that she had with people and spirals into both depression and loneliness. It’s what makes her shut out the people she loves the most and the feelings she left behind to the only person she’s romantically loved. It just shows how imperfect she can be and how this makes her like everyone else. 

  Is this a book you should read? 

Some readers pick up books to satisfy their dying feeling of happiness to gain some. Other readers pick up books that have soul-crushing gratifications to feel something. This book happens to be both in a good and bad way. If you’re looking for a book that deals with heavy topics of grief, depression and sextuality then this is the one for you. If you love found family and relationship dynamics that will make your heart warm this book fits. It’s the book for you. It all depends on how you fit in as a reader when it comes to We Are Okay. 

Personally, I would recommend We Are Okay, as it shows aspects many people might not take into account when it comes to mental health and sextual identity. 

                  WARNING: Heavy Spoilers ahead!

My official thoughts:                                    

Going into this book I had no idea what it was about. I went to Barnes and Nobles and saw this book hiding in a little corner of the YA section. I took it home and proceeded to read it in one sitting. I have never felt so connected to a character before, until I got to read about Marin. The way that her character is presented by the essence of depression, loneliness, sextuilatity, and moving on represents me as a whole. The writing is beautiful with one of my favorite quotes being “It wasn’t the ghosts. It was the hauntings that mattered.” This quote resonates with me because the action that was rectified on you isn’t the cause of what the effect has on you.