We Are Okay

Title: We Are Okay
Author: Nina LaCour
Genre: YA fiction, LGBTQ fiction, grief, depression, mental illness

**The following review was originally posted on a discussion board for my Children's Literature class**

My second YA pick for this week’s reading is We Are Okay by Nina LaCour, a character-driven novel told in chapters that alternate between the present and flashbacks. Our protagonist, Marin, is a college student hiding the grief over her grandfather’s passing that occurred unexpectedly two weeks before her freshman year of college: “I just appeared in the doorway two weeks after Gramps died. I stepped in- a stunned and feral stranger” (LaCour, 2017, p.3). Marin has somewhat successfully stifled her grief but it bubbles to the surface as anxiety attacks (“Slowly it comes…The sound and then faster-the sight of waves crashing in, pulling back, disappearing into ocean and sky. I open my eyes. It’s too much” [LaCour, 2017, p.5]) and past depressive episodes (“No one will know if you stay in bed all day” [LaCour, 2017, p.3]).

Marin has a love for literature-especially literature containing ghosts; this is probably since her mother died when she was a toddler and Marin’s mother remains a mysterious yet ghostly presence in Marin’s mind and identity. Mysterious because Gramps claims that all family photos were lost. While Marin wrestles with her grief, she must also contend with her feelings for Mabel, her former best friend who comes to visit Marin over their respective holiday breaks.

After the initial awkwardness wears off, the two girls discuss the painting The Two Fridas by Frida Kahlo. I felt this section of the book and the girls’ interpretation of it was a metaphor for Marin’s struggle with grief and the status of Marin and Mabel’s friendship: “The painting is how she described it, but there’s also more. Behind the two Fridas are storm clouds, gray-blue and white. ‘I can’t tell, I say, if the trouble is coming or if it’s passed and already left them’ “(LaCour, 2017, p.95). The conversation then shifts towards possible explanations of the two Fridas in the painting: self-identity, loss of self, and emotional connection, all while a literal snowstorm rages outside of their room (a metaphor within a metaphor?).

As the story slowly evolves, the reader finds out that while Gramps had been acting erratically and hiding a serious physical and mental illness, Marin and Mabel’s relationship unexpectedly turned from friendship to an illicit romance. The flashbacks climax with Marin’s discovery of her grandfather’s shrine to Marin’s dead mother (not everything was lost after all) and evidence that Gramps committed suicide by walking into the ocean.

The themes of We Are Okay are grief/loss, betrayal, family secrets, teen sexuality, friendship, mental illness/suicide. There are a few F-bombs sprinkled throughout the text and the mention of suicide and a sexual encounter makes this a book full of “sensitive topics.” Although some adults might disapprove of the content within this book, our lecture notes remind us that “many of our young people face these issues every day. It’s important that their perspectives are represented and that the collection reflect the needs and interests of all our users regardless of our personal views” (Carruth, 2018).

Since the YA I read is either happy fiction or dystopian fiction, I had to consult the Internet for help in finding read-a-likes for LGBTQ YA fiction that also centers around grief and loss. Thankfully, the Internet gave a me a few lists:

100 Must-Read LGBTQIA YA Books

The Latest in Realistic Fiction for Young Adults

11 YA Books About Grief and Loss to Make You Think (And Cry) in 2017

Citations:

Carruth, D. (2018) Introduction to materials for youth [Word document] Retrieved from https://vsu.view.usg.edu/d2l/le/content/1710195/viewContent/27688012/View

Doll, J. (2016, November 11). The latest in realistic fiction for young adults. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/13/books/review/the-latest-in-realistic-fiction-for-young-adults.html

Jarema, K. (2017, March 9). 11 YA books about grief and loss to make you think (and cry) in 2017. Retrieved from https://www.bustle.com/p/11-ya-books-about-grief-loss-to-make-you-think-cry-in-2017-43211

Kahlo, F. (1939). The two Fridas [Oil painting]. Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City.

Stepanuik, C. (2017, May 11). 100 must-read LGBTQIA YA books. Retrieved from https://bookriot.com/2017/05/11/100-must-read-lgbtqia-ya-books/