We Are Okay by Nina LaCour starts with the protagonist Marin living alone in the dorms of NYU over winter break. She sits here waiting for her former best friend Mabel to come from sunny L.A., to whom she hasn’t spoken in months. Told in a narrative of flipping back and forth between the past and the present, this novel tells the story of Marin's life in the before, in California with her grandfather, and why she ran away and ended up here in New York City alone. I have read this book multiple times, and each time I take away new meanings and messages from LaCour’s words, watching how as I change as a person, my perception of this story transforms as well. We Are Okay explores grief, friendship, and love through Marin, exposing how messy and tangled up these can be. Marin is a relatable character whose life is easily connectable, with complexities and multitudes as every real person has. This book is a simple story that will reach out to you and leave you with lingering thoughts and feelings about these characters.

Review by: Gabriel Friedman

Gabriel is a teen volunteer at the Palms-Rancho Park Library. He is a 9th grader at the Geffen Academy at UCLA.

—Emily Meehan, Palms-Rancho Park Branch Library