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A review by mbenzz
We Are Okay by Nina LaCour
4.0
This is absolutely a 5-Star story. For me personally, it's more like 3.5 Stars, but that's only because I wasn't expecting it to be so heavy and crushingly sad.
I mean, this is a saaaaaaad story, and I was woefully unprepared for it.
I recently read Ms. LaCour's 'Hold Still'. I knew what I was getting into when I picked that up, and it was brilliant and tragic, and while I don't know that the word 'enjoy' is appropriate for such a book, I really felt that book and loved it.
'We Are Ok' is equally tragic, just in a completely different way. Marin, all alone in that college dorm over Christmas break, broke my heart. I couldn't understand what the hell her problem was in the beginning, why she was being so morose and closed off; until I started to recognize her debilitating anxiety for what it was...then I started to cut her some slack.
Marin's whole life is just sad. The loss of her mother, then her Grandfather, and the life she thought she had with him, losing her best friend to college, and having to start all over completely alone, 3,000 miles away from everything she knew and loved.
It was all so depressing, and even though it was incredibly well written, I struggled to continue on with the story.
In the end, though, I'm glad I did. The ending was one of love and the beginning of Marin's healing. I cried and cried, but it was worth it. The ending doesn't minimize any of Marin's pain, but it was beautiful, and she deserved it every minute of it.
This is my second Nina LaCour book, and I absolutely recommend her to anyone who may be interested. I don't know if all her books are this heavy, but the two I've read certainly are. Because of that, I need to take a wee little break until I pick up another one of her books. For now, I'm off to read about rainbows and unicorns.
I mean, this is a saaaaaaad story, and I was woefully unprepared for it.
I recently read Ms. LaCour's 'Hold Still'. I knew what I was getting into when I picked that up, and it was brilliant and tragic, and while I don't know that the word 'enjoy' is appropriate for such a book, I really felt that book and loved it.
'We Are Ok' is equally tragic, just in a completely different way. Marin, all alone in that college dorm over Christmas break, broke my heart. I couldn't understand what the hell her problem was in the beginning, why she was being so morose and closed off; until I started to recognize her debilitating anxiety for what it was...then I started to cut her some slack.
Marin's whole life is just sad. The loss of her mother, then her Grandfather, and the life she thought she had with him, losing her best friend to college, and having to start all over completely alone, 3,000 miles away from everything she knew and loved.
It was all so depressing, and even though it was incredibly well written, I struggled to continue on with the story.
In the end, though, I'm glad I did. The ending was one of love and the beginning of Marin's healing. I cried and cried, but it was worth it. The ending doesn't minimize any of Marin's pain, but it was beautiful, and she deserved it every minute of it.
This is my second Nina LaCour book, and I absolutely recommend her to anyone who may be interested. I don't know if all her books are this heavy, but the two I've read certainly are. Because of that, I need to take a wee little break until I pick up another one of her books. For now, I'm off to read about rainbows and unicorns.