Skip to main content

Book Review: WE ARE OKAY by THE Nina LaCour

Dear Kim,

You know my love for Nina LaCour runs deep. I've written about Hold Still and Everything Leads to You at length. Her novel with THE David Levithan, You Know Me Well, is only one degree from any other book that I am speaking about at any given time. I love her work. (I guess I already said that...but...)


Mon coeur pour ses livres de LaCour.

Fitting, LaCour's latest book released on February 14th-- a day of love. We Are Okay is a masterfully written story about loss, self-preservation, and family.


We Are Okay brings us into Marin's life on winter break, her first year of college in New York. Since Gramps died, she has no family to return home to in California, so she stays on campus alone. Until her friend Mabel, who was once her everything, visits after not speaking for months. Snow piles up around them as questions are left unanswered. Then slowly, LaCour unveils the answers. We learn about Mabel and Marin through flashbacks. We learn about Gramps and his secrets too. We see moments of happiness in Marin's past that lead us to hope for her future. It is another stunning work of art by Nina LaCour.


Great Expectations

I've come to expect a few great touchstones from Nina LaCour's work, and We Are Okay did not disappoint.

1. The melancholy.

I expect a thick layer of longing and grief in LaCour's work, none more prevalent than in We Are Okay. The grief and loneliness so wrenching they almost drip from the page (or maybe that was just my tears). I know you are wondering about the title. It says "OKAY" right there above the gorgeous illustration on the cover. Yes, LaCour gives us hope too, but we must earn it. Take for instance:



2. The words. Oh, the words.

Each word so breathtakingly deliberate in this novel. Each significant in unfolding the mystery of Gramps, and understanding Marin & Mabel.




3. The perfect love story.

Not the PERFECT. LOVE. STORY., but a love that is perfect for her characters. In Everything Leads to You the romance had to be cinematic, epic, and happily ever after. However, that kind of love story wouldn't fit Marin and Mabel. LaCour writes a love story for them. We learn about their past and hope for their future instead.

Past
And, if for some bizarre reason, you still haven't hit BUY on the button next to We Are Okay, take a moment to listen to the melancholy, her words, and the love that is perfect for Marin, in this audio sample (click here).

Much love,
Alison


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

KIM NEEDS YOUR HELP!! Please, oh please!

Today is the day! STARR LOST, BOOK 2 of the STARR FALL SERIES is only... and I need your help. I've purchased ads from some major social promoters, and if all goes well, STARR LOST will make it to the bestselling list.  Amazing things happen to authors and their books when they make the Bestselling list, so if you could purchase a copy or two (or three) for 99 cents it'll help hurl me to the top. So, let's see what happens when we all combine our buying power together. SUPPORT KIM BUY STARR LOST Ebook for $.99 AMAZON USA AMAZON CANADA AMAZON UK AMAZON AUSTRALIA And to thank you for your WRITER LOVE, I'm running a  $10 AMAZON GIFT CARD GIVEAWAY... to enter, email a copy of your receipt to KimBriggs [@] KimBriggsWrite.com. a Rafflecopter giveaway Write on, Kim

FIRST SNOW by Bomi Park: Classroom Activity and Review

Dear Kim, Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow! We had fun with Bomi Park's gorgeous FIRST SNOW last week. We used the book as a mentor text to explore personal narratives and poetry.  We also explored watercolor resist techniques. (We also made a mess-- which is kind of my modus operandi during writing workshop. Sorry, Kelley! ) I used the sentence starter from the jacket copy: Look up. One flake falls, then another. And just like that—it's __ __ __ __ __ __ __ . The kids worked cooperatively at their table groups to discuss what word might fill in the blank. I love hearing them chat.  "Well it is a snowflake because 'one flake'."  Followed by: "No. It has seven letters, snowflake has nine."  And: "It is an action. A-- what's that called-- a verb because it is something falling."  Eventually we filled in the blank by using spelling clues to check our thinking, which might not sound like a whole lot of fun, but spell

INTERVIEW WITH K.M. WALTON, YA FEST & HARRY POTTER

Dear Alison and readers, Have I got a surprise for you...Guess who stopped by to chat? Any guesses? No peeking at the title. Wait, I guess it's too late. Okay, I'll tell you anyway, KM Walton, the YA Author of all of these books... Hi K.M., Thanks so much for stopping by to talk to me. Care for a chai latte or a glass of wine? It’s Friday. Let’s go for the wine. Excellent choice. I’ll have one as well. So tell me, when did you become a writer? Despite my debut novel releasing when I was 44, my stacks of journals from childhood onward prove that I’ve always been a writer. Yeah, it took me a while to figure out what I really wanted to be when I grew up. The bulging folder filled with scraps of paper and napkins of all my “book” ideas and “story” ideas didn’t make me realize my true calling until six or seven years ago. So tell me, what do you love about writing? Possibility. I’m a wildly anticipatory person, always have been. A dreamer for