Introduction

Nina LaCour's award-winning, achingly beautiful novel is now available in paperback!

–Includes a new foreword by Nicola Yoon, #1 bestselling author of The Sun is Also a Star and Everything, Everything–

Winner of the Michael L. Printz Award

“Short, poetic and gorgeously written.” –The New York Times Book Review
“A beautiful, devastating piece of art." –Bookpage

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.
 
An intimate whisper that packs an indelible punch, We Are Okay is Nina LaCour at her finest. This gorgeously crafted and achingly honest portrayal of grief will leave you urgent to reach across any distance to reconnect with the people you love.

Praise for We Are Okay 

“Nina LaCour treats her emotions so beautifully and with such empathy.” —Bustle

? “Exquisite.” —Kirkus

? “LaCour paints a captivating depiction of loss, bewilderment, and emotional paralysis . . . raw and beautiful.” —Booklist

? “Beautifully crafted . . . . A quietly moving, potent novel.” —SLJ

? “A moving portrait of a girl struggling to rebound after everything she’s known has been thrown into disarray.” —Publishers Weekly

?"Bittersweet and hopeful . . . poetic and skillfully crafted." —Shelf Awareness

“So lonely and beautiful that I could hardly breathe. This is a perfect book.” —Stephanie Perkins, bestselling author of Anna and the French Kiss

“As beautiful as the best memories, as sad as the best songs, as hopeful as your best dreams.”
—Siobhan Vivian, bestselling author of The Last Boy and Girl in the World

“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

Editorial Review

No editorial review at this time.

Excerpt

Chapter One

Before Hannah left, she asked if I was sure I’d be okay. She had already waited an hour past when the doors were closed for winter break, until everyone but the custodians were gone. She had folded a load of laundry, written an email, searched her massive psychology textbook for answers to the final exam questions to see if she had gotten them right. She had run out of ways to fill time, so when I said, “Yes, I’ll be fine,” she had nothing left to do except try to believe me. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. What does the title phrase, “We are okay,” mean to you? What does it mean for Marin to be okay? How does that evolve over the course of the novel?
2. Marin feels a profound sense of loneliness when We Are Okay begins. How is it possible to be “alone even when surrounded by people”?
3. We learn that Gramps also struggled with loneliness. How is Marin’s loneliness different from her grandfather’s?
4. Settings (time, place, season, weather, mood), and the contrast between California and New York, are very important in We Are Okay. How are the settings symbolic of the person that Marin was and is, and her life in each of these places?
5. Rather than following a linear timeline, LaCour switches back and forth between the present and the past throughout the novel. How does this affect the movement of the story? How does it impact you as a reader?
6. A recurring theme in We Are Okay has to do with both figurative and literal ghosts. How does each character deal with their own ghosts? What are the consequences of those choices?
7. Why do you think Marin’s personal loss changes the way she reads and analyzes literature? How can life shift the way we experience books? How can books shift the way we experience life?
8. Grief is a palpable emotion in We Are Okay. How do the different characters manage their own grief? How did the book impact the way you understand grief?

Weblinks

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