Natália Gomes

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.

We Are Not Okay

Eleanor Luhar

I'm desperately trying to write up the reviews of all the books I've finished over the past few months before the end of the year. Hopefully, I'll keep on top of things next year!
Now this book was fantastic at tackling multiple social issues in modern society - issues that many girls and women have to deal with. Some of the main themes are teenage pregnancy, having underwear pictures leaked on the internet, rape, and disordered eating. These things aren't all experienced by one single character, but by multiple girls whose stories are intricately intertwined with one another. This book alternates between different characters' accounts/narratives, and the reader slowly pieces together the bigger picture of how they all connect.
I found it really clever how Gomes did this, actually. She managed to really accurately portray how one small action can affect so many other people. She also explored how young girls have the ability to help each other when in need and can overcome petty differences and feuds in order to tackle the real, serious issues. This is something that I think is often forgotten but should be remembered by more young women. There is often too much bitterness and dispute amongst girls in schools when we should put more effort into uniting, standing together and helping each other through difficulties.
The ending of this book was quite shocking, too, but in a sadly realistic way. I won't discuss it too much, though. I did still find it a little too neatly wrapped-up, in a way, though; not everyone responds so well, not all girls do forgive each other or become so close. Which is a shame, but it is the truth.
Overall, I'm giving this book 4 stars out of 5.

We Are Not Okay

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