Amazon.ca:Customer reviews: We Are Okay

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on August 17, 2022

I got this book at the same time as the authors other book watch over me, and read them both in under a week.
I’m absolutely in love with this author and her writing style. The way she creates characters and the stories hold some thing not many authors are capable of. She’s my favourite author of all time and I love all of her books. I highly recommend this book however I think her best book is hold still. Watch over me and we are OK are very close seconds but hold still hold a special place in my heart

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GF

Yes, good.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on September 26, 2019

Verified Purchase

An interesting portrait of grief and a complicated friendship. I liked the main character and I want to see more of her life going forward.

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Eve

Love

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on February 3, 2019

Verified Purchase

Absolutely loved this book. Couldn’t put it down. Finished it the day it arrived.

One person found this helpful

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Shay

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on July 27, 2018

Verified Purchase

love it! definite read for anyone who wants a pick me up

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Mika00214

Three Stars

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on May 11, 2017

This book was ok

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 13, 2021

3.5/5

This isn’t a plot driven story and deals with grief as well as character development. It was slow going in the first half of the book but it has real emotions.

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Ffiona and Stella

simply stunning

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on August 26, 2020

This is a novel that eases in slowly and leaves an indelible mark long before the final page is turned. The prose feels so simple, but it's not. Without showering her characters with grand epiphanies at every turn, LaCour still takes her heroine through an emotional ride toward a new understanding of grief, loss, loneliness, love, family, home, truth, and self. As the mystery of the past unfolds, the possibility of the future expands. Although it's not a happy read, it is full of hope for how we can emerge from the life changes that seem to separate us from our very selves, so we come out different, but still whole. This one will echo in my bones for years to come.

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brooklynnnnereads

An okay read

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on August 9, 2017

I liked this book and thought it was wonderfully written and beautifully designed. However, I don't know if I would say it lives up to the hype that it has recently been given.

In defense of this book though, I think everyone will relate to some of Marin's loneliness/depression that she goes through. Maybe readers won't relate to her circumstances or the severity of her loneliness/depression, but I think everyone goes through upsetting moments/seasons. This book is one that could be very beneficial to those currently going through a difficult season. Then again, I could also see how if you were going through a difficult time, this book may not help because it's a pretty emotional novel. I guess it all depends on the reader.

Overall, I liked this novel but even though it was well written and thought provoking, it just didn't seem like the right fit for me. I'm glad to have read it though because it was quite a unique story.

3 people found this helpful

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ThatGirlWhoReads

Exquisite, emotive, excellent.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 30, 2020

Verified Purchase

“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.

Natalia Cuello

Sutil e tocante

Reviewed in Brazil 🇧🇷 on March 28, 2017

Verified Purchase

“I thought that it was more likely the opposite. I must have shut grief out. Found it in books. Cried over fiction instead of the truth. 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.”

Acho que qualquer leitor, ao ler qualquer livro, se identifica com alguma coisa. Mas sempre tem um livro que é real. Você se identifica de uma maneira que nunca se identificou antes e ele ganha um pedaço no seu coração para sempre. E esse foi o meu.
A história fala sobre Marin, uma menina que "foge" apenas com sua carteira, uma foto de sua mãe e seu telefone. Seu avô, e a única pessoa de sua família, morre e ela vai embora, deixando tudo para trás. Ela ignora chamadas e mensagens de todos, até que sua amiga Mabel vai até ela, durante as férias de inverno em que ela está sozinha no dormitório da faculdade, e Marin precisa reviver tudo o que aconteceu com ela.
Acho que a primeira coisa que me assustou foi a maneira como a Marin pensa como eu. Vamos lá, talvez você tenha visto um texto sobre como é ser ansioso ou o que os seus amigos ansiosos e em depressão gostariam que você soubesse, mas caso você queria SABER como é, você precisa ler esse livro.
Foi até engraçado, pois na maioria dos livros eu sofro pelo personagem, pensando em coisas minusculas que não significam nada e nesse caso, eu não precisei imaginar. "Talvez ela tenha se cansado e queria ter ido embora", "Ela deve estar pensando que tem que ficar presa aqui comigo", "Talvez eu deva dizer alguma coisa apenas para quebrar o clima, mas eu não consigo". É muito simples na minha cabeça e muito difícil de explicar. E talvez por isso o livro fez tanto sentido para mim.
Os relacionamentos da Marin são mostrados de uma forma bem realista. Gostei que é um livro com personagens LBTQ+, mas não é um livro sobre discussões LBTQ+. Para ser sincera, talvez pela minha idade, é um pouco cansativo ver narrativas de pessoas se descobrindo, já que eu já me descobri faz tempo e meus problemas já não são "preciso sair do armário" e mais "preciso pagar contas". Acho que a melhor maneira de tornar sexualidades "normais" é tratando elas desse jeito (sem querer descreditar esse tipo de livros, mas é preciso perceber que depois disso tem muito mais problemas na vida de pessoas de qualquer sexualidade).
E o relacionamento dela com o avô me doía de uma forma tão profunda e mesmo tão sendo (totalmente) minha realidade, foi sofrido para ler e eu sentia exatamente o que ela sentia.
Gostei muito das referencias que esses livro tem de outros livros, entre os principais: Cem anos de solidão, que eu não li e Jane Eyre, que eu li. Aliás, esse livro me fez repensar bastante minhas opiniões sobre Mr. Rochester. As metáforas não são sutis, mas elas servem tudo muito bem.
Esse livro virou um favorito e eu estaria mentindo se eu dissesse que eu não deixei passar algumas coisas, mas eu sinto que no final, ele me fez sentir coisas que nenhum livro sentiu antes. Com certeza é um livro que vou reler muitas vezes.

10 people found this helpful

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2 star		2%
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