Content warning: Self-harm
“We Are Not Okay” by Natália Gomes brought me straight back to high school and what it was like growing up as a teenage girl in a friend group. Gomes beautifully interweaves different perspectives of four teenage girls into one novel. She makes sure to take time and effort to make the characters distinct enough that the reader is engaged while reading.
Gomes addresses issues such as mental health, societal expectations and the impact of trauma on personal development. Each character is distinct, with their unique challenges and experiences, making them relatable and engaging.
Gomes, while tackling difficult themes such as self-harm and bullying, also makes sure that the focus of the book is to highlight how teenagers are growing up in such harsh conditions and are often acting out because of the things that are not necessarily seen on the surface.
The pacing of the story was good as the story was engaging enough to easily follow along; however, sometimes that switching of characters within the novel did seem to throw off the flow of the book as the different characters had different thought patterns and such.
Rating: 9/10.
