We’re Not Okay book review

We Are Not Okay by Natália Gomes
Published by HQ Young Adult on May 2, 2019
Pages: 320
Goodreads

13 Reasons Why meets John Green and Jennifer Niven in We Are Not Ok - a powerful novel about what happens when girls are silenced.

If only they could have spoken out.Lucy thinks she’s better than the other girls.Maybe if she’s pointing fingers at everyone else, no one will see the secret she’s hiding.

Ulana comes from a conservative Muslim family where reputation is everything. One rumour -true or false – can destroy futures.

Trina likes to party. She’s kissed a lot of boys. She’s even shown her red bra to one. But she didn’t consent to thatnight at Lucy’s party. So why doesn’t anyone believeher?

Sophia loved her boyfriend. She did anything for him, even send him photos of herself. So why is she the one being pointed at in the hallways, laughed at, spat at when it was him who betrayed her trust?

We Are Not Okay was a book provided to me by Netgalley and I actually really enjoyed the story and the characters. The one thing that I didn’t particularly rate was the writing style, I thought it was a little simplistic and underdeveloped at times. In terms of themes and issues, there was a lot, almost too many. I’m not entirely sure why it was thought that they could cover all of it in a single but they definitely tried. I was disappointed that they didn’t pull it off, but I appreciated the attempt, purely because the things that are discussed are important and need to be talked about.

I think the biggest problem I had with We Are Not Okay was that I’m a little old for the characters, and I struggled to connect to them each as characters. However, this could have also been the writing style, especially as everything seemed to move extremely quickly and it had a kind of whiplash effect and I was left reeling from each event with very little time to recover and connect with what was happening. This was where more development could have played a bigger part in the storyline and would have made a better impact on me as a reader.

We Are Not Okay was a really good look at life within a high school and it deals with many issues that teenagers go through on a daily basis. I have mentioned it above that I think there were too many that weren’t dealt with particularly well. I wanted there to be depth and a sub plot for each of the characters and I just felt as though the issues were extremely superficial and lacked a sense of purpose within the story. I appreciated that these are issues do happen but I thought it might have been better to just focus on one and delve right into it.

I thought the ending of We Are Not Okay was a fitting end. I think it really highlights how hard hitting these issues can be when they aren’t dealt with as efficiently as they should be. I definitely think that each of the characters developed at an appropriate pace but I do wished there had been more about each of them and more about where they are as a person rather than the superficial bits, I think that would have made the ending so much better!

I do think I would recommend We Are Not Okay, it was a good read and a good look at the inner workings of a high school I just think it dealt with too many of those issues at once. I definitely think it would be good for someone who was slightly younger than I am. But I did really enjoy the book and the story.

Have you read We’re Not Okay? What did you think of the different characters and their stories? Let me know in the comments.