A. BIBLIOGRAPHY
LaCour, N. (2020). We are okay. Waterville, ME: Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, a Cengage Company.
B. PLOT SUMMARY
We are Okay is the story of a girl named Marin who, after her grandfather passes away, leaves her home in California to attend college in New York. The novel begins with Marin awaiting the arrival of her friend, Mabel, whom she hasn't spoken with since she abruptly left town at the end of the summer. Marin is staying at her college dorm alone, since all of the other students have families to spend the holidays with. Marin does not know her father, and her mother drowned in a surfing accident when she was very young.
The story goes back and forth between present day, where Marin is anxious and depressed about the events of the past 6 months, and the previous school year, where Marin found herself in love with Mabel, and things were going well with her grandfather. But after noticing some blood in her grandfather's handkerchief, Marin noticed his health begin to decline. Her grandfather had been writing letters back and forth with a woman named Birdie. He was very secretive about the letters, and he often spent hours in a closet built off of his room. After coming home and not finding her grandfather one day, Marin calls the police, who inform her that they believe he was washed away by the waves. Marin believes this to mean that her grandfather has committed suicide. Once Marin finally gets inside her grandfather's room, she discovers several secrets that he had been keeping, including the fact that Birdie did not exist - he was writing the letters to himself.
Back in New York, Mabel arrives, but things are awkward with Marin. They had not spoken in months, and it takes the girls some time to get used to one another again. A snowstorm causes the power to go out, and the girls go and spend the night at the home of the groundskeeper. While laying together in the darkness, the two girls begin sharing how they have been feeling over the past few months. Eventually things start looking better for Marin and Mabel, until Mabel asks Marin to come back home with her to live with her family. Marin is hesitant to return, too ashamed and embarrassed about what happened with her grandfather and how she left town.
The two girls continue talking and rehashing everything that took place between them. Eventually, Mabel has to head back to California, and Marin reluctantly sees her off without leaving with her. Alone and depressed again, Marin starts doubting her decision, until she hears a cab pull back up to her building. When she opens the door of the dorms, she sees Mabel and her parents have come to spend Christmas with her. They prepare food together, and Marin eventually agrees to move in with them.
C. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
We are Okay dealt with characters that identify as LGBTQ+ and also a character battling with mental illness. Marin and Mabel, who begin dating during their senior year of high school, experience a lot of emotions typically associated with first love. When Marin eventually leaves town unexpectedly, Mabel is crushed. She tries to get in touch with Marin, but after months of ignored responses, she eventually begins dating a boy that she met at school. No mention is made about her switching back and forth between dating girls and boys, which I felt was a positive thing. The sexual identity of the characters is definitely not the focus of the story, and there are no negative portrayals of non-binary characters in the story. Even at the end of the book, when Mabel is trying to convince Marin who she likes, Marin mentions that being openly gay is widely accepted at her school and that she has seen and heard many girls discuss being gay.
The bigger issue, and the one that I felt was focused on more throughout the story, is Marin's struggle with depression and anxiety, especially after leaving home. Marin spends three miserable weeks before the dorms open in a run-down motel, barely communicating with anyone. She mentions that she mostly just tried to sleep her days away, only leaving to eat her meals at a diner across the street. Her depression is definitely lingering throughout the story, and her anxiety escalates everytime that she is left completely alone. Her roommate Hannah, who we don't learn too much about, definitely serves as a positive source in Marin's life, never asking questions about her past and inviting her to outings with her other friends. Even the title of the book is an indication that, despite everything that has happened with her mother and grandfather, and especially after everything that took place with Mabel, that Marin is okay and getting better.
D. REVIEW EXCERPTS
“A meditation on surviving grief, We Are Okay is short, poetic and gorgeously written…. The power in this little book is in seeing Marin come out on the other side of loss, able to appreciate a beautiful yellow-glazed pottery bowl and other people’s kindnesses, and to understand that she might one day have a girlfriend and a future. The world LaCour creates is fragile but profoundly humane.”
--The New York Times Book Review
“A beautiful, devastating piece of art. . . .The title hints at a happy ending, but the journey toward it passes through some of the darkest corners of the heart. Be prepared to be gutted—and grateful. We Are Okay is an extraordinary work by an author who keeps redefining and elevating her genre."
--Bookpage
“You can feel every peak and valley of Marin’s emotional journey on your skin, in your gut. Beautifully written, heartfelt, and deeply real.”
--Adi Alsaid, author of Never Always Sometimes and Let’s Get Lost
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