I might lower this to 3.5 stars, but we’ll see. While I’m with the other reviewers on how Marin’s emotions felt distant, that wasn’t a huge issue for me because I thought the book felt like roughly 230 pages of depression-related disassociation anyhow, and the simple prose captured her heartbreak. This is probably the closest to literary fiction that YA is gonna get?

I can see why this is so highly recommended. I haven’t read such a visceral, miserable depiction of grief in my life before. The story is meandering, but the gradual unraveling of Marin’s memories and the realism of her spiraling (also, I eat up YA books with easier writing styles) kept me turning the pages until I lost track of the numbers. The flashbacks felt like actual memories put onto a page, the bittersweetness in the homely visuals were tangible. However, I didn’t find the characters as complex as some of the reviews were saying they were. I would’ve liked to see them developed more, especially some of the interesting side characters Marin would dwell on. (Also, while the ending was still sweet in a way, it felt too much like Ana was pressuring Marin lol. Wasn’t a fan of the dialogue in that scene.) 

Also, two (maybe three?) of the jokes were in poor taste. (One used the e slur, another joked about living off-grid and living in a teepee.) The consistent references to classics and lofty metaphors already make “We Are Okay” seem a little annoying and pretentious at times, that just exacerbated it. 

I’m still coping with the loss of my father, so a lot of this felt relatable to me. Maybe that’s why I still thought of this positively, for the most part. Most of all, though, I am so grateful I was able to finish this before the end of the month. God is real because I can finally rest knowing that “Alien Abduction For Beginners” won’t be my last read of the year.