A review by winterdevil
We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

hopeful sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

 Doesn't really a plot, but it was short (230 pages) so I read in two evenings. A lot of things were left dangling or undefined, the prose wasn't anything special, the characters were rather limited, but it ends on a hopeful note, and I can't really blame a depressed narrator for being monotonous.
 
I saw a review that said this book is very much a "character-driven" book as opposed to plot-driven, and to that, I have to disagree. Plot-driven books are books with an external plot that pushes characters into doing something (such as a zombie apocalypse forcing people to survive), and character-driven books are characters making choices that inspire the plot.

This book is neither. The character drives nothing.

Not necessarily a bad thing, but if you go into this expecting an active protagonist with agency... she's literally depressed, barely showers, and avoids her friend and conversation for most of it. Only at about 75% do we see any meaningful action on her part, though the story kinda undercuts why it took her so long to get there.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings