Book Review: 'We Are Okay' by Nina LaCour

What I thought of We Are Okay can be summed up by the title itself: okay. There were several things I liked and it was very beautifully written, but I found a lot of it to be very...problematic. But we'll get into all of that.

I don't feel like I will be able to do it justice, so here is the Goodreads synopsis:
You go through life thinking there’s so much you need…

Until you leave with only your phone, your wallet, and a picture of your mother.

Marin hasn’t spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth about those final weeks. Not even her best friend, Mabel. But even thousands of miles away from the California coast, at college in New York, Marin still feels the pull of the life and tragedy she’s tried to outrun. Now, months later, alone in an emptied dorm for winter break, Marin waits. Mabel is coming to visit, and Marin will be forced to face everything that’s been left unsaid and finally confront the loneliness that has made a home in her heart.

Looking back, this synopsis makes the story seem much more dramatic than it actually was. A lot of people said that they found the story really well written, which it is (Nina LaCour shows her talent very clearly), but a lot of it is a tad...boring, for lack of a better word. It was one of those situations where two characters, in this case Marin and Mable, just don't want to talk about the elephant in the room, when really there is nothing else for them to talk about except said elephant. So, at times, the prose became frustrating and I just wanted to yell at these girls to talk about why Marin has been so avoidant and disconnected since running away from her "old life."

That's another thing...Marin's old life. For something that held such weight in the story, both in the beginning, middle and the outcome/end, the author leaves this part of the narrative severely underdeveloped. Marin lived with her grandfather because her mother had passed away and I won't say any more so to avoid spoilers, but these are two crucial details that leave a lot up to the imagination when it really shouldn't. Tell me why I'm supposed to care and why this is important. I wasn't a huge fan of the plotlines LaCour chose for this part of the narrative, but I feel like I could have liked them more if she had just expanded on them. That's the main problem with We Are Okay: it's too short! I'm all for books that are under 250 pages. Most times they're short and sweet and I don't have to spend more than a few days reading them. But this is one case where the book just should've been longer: for a story that takes a little bit to develop (I wasn't feeling any investment before 75 pages), I think it would help the book immensely if it was longer. That way, the author can elaborate and show me the importance of such things as why Marin feels the need to run away after the tragedy...because I didn't really understand what she was going for there.

But don't get me wrong, there were a few things that I liked! I like how Marin is a total introvert who wants to spend her entire winter break in an empty dorm building (although there were some themes of not having anybody and being lonely in here, which kinda brought the introvert party aspect down). I think a lot of the chapters dealing with Marin and Mable staying in the dorm are really calm, introverted situations where not a lot is happening, but what is left unsaid is just as loud as a dance club. LaCour did that really well. You could tell right away that the atmosphere was calm, because it's winter break and these girls are the only two people in a dorm room in an otherwise empty building, but you can tell there's so much tension between them and I immediately wanted to know why. I did have some problems with how all of that played out (which I won't get fully into because spoilers), but I did like the dialogue and scenes between them. What I didn't like was how mopey and whiny Marin was about being lonely when Mable was offering so much to her, but there were also some hints of unresolved depression and/or anxiety with her character, so I won't judge her too harshly for that. The book also offers some beautiful insights into anxiety and themes of embracing uncertainty, but this was another thing that I couldn't feel a strong connection to because it was cut short. We Are Okay needed to be longer! It just would have solved a lot of little problems and allowed the story to flow a bit better. I don't think the story itself felt rushed or anything and that's why I think it needs to be longer, just...underdeveloped.

The story has a nice outcome (depending on how you look at it), but in terms of the resolution concerning Marin's grandfather and her old life, so many unanswered questions. Answer these questions for me! Strengthen your narrative! Overall, not bad, not great, but also not something you should avoid if the premise intrigues you. Several of my Goodreads friends gave it 5 stars. Sometimes you just have to trust your book nerd gut and read what it tells you to read, and then you can yell at it later if it disappoints you. 3.5/5 stars.