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1-Page Summary of We Are Okay

Overall Summary

We Are Okay is the story of a girl, Marin, who lost her mother when she was 3 in a surfing accident. Her grandfather raised her and she grew up near that same beach in San Francisco. The narrative alternates between the present day (December) and Marin’s past during summer before her grandfather disappears and is presumed to have drowned. After he dies, Marin leaves for New York without talking to anyone or retrieving any of their possessions from their house. For months, she refuses to respond to or contact anyone from California. When Mabel comes for a visit after 4 months of silence, it’s time for them to reconnect with each other again.

Over the course of her visit, flashbacks reveal that Marin’s grandfather was a kind man who provided for her well. However, it becomes clear that his wife and daughter had died when he did because Gramps changed after their deaths. He suffered from an unknown mental illness; he was hospitalized once for it when Marin was a child and acted strangely toward the end of his life with outbursts and paranoia. His physical health also seemed to be fragile; he coughed up blood often and looked weak before disappearing. For many years, Gramps had been corresponding with someone named Birdie via letters but never shared any information about her or even showed pictures of Marin’s mother to him until after his disappearance. This is a betrayal since Marin struggled to remember anything about her mother for most of her life and only found out there were pictures in existence by reading one of Gramps’ letters where she mentioned them herself.

During Mabel’s visit, Marin is able to open up and reconnect with her friend, allowing her to begin the process of healing. Though talking was difficult at first, Mabel persisted and told Marin more about herself. Her parents want to adopt Marin as their daughter; they’ve prepared a room for her in their home where she can stay during school holidays and beyond. However, although she wants this very much, Marin cannot accept because she’s too sad after losing Gramps. After three days have passed since Mabel’s visit ended, she returns with her parents who also brought Christmas presents for everyone on campus including Marin. The presence of all these loving people allows Marin to reach catharsis and remember how happy she was when spending time with Mommy before the accident happened.”

The novel explores themes of grief and loss, following Marin’s journey from depression to her first healing moments.

Chapter 1

As winter break begins, Marin’s college roommate leaves to go home for the holidays. She has left Marin a book of essays on solitude and a sealed envelope with her name on it. The envelope is likely to contain either a Christmas card or some kind note from Hannah. Since she has no friends or family in town, Marin will be staying alone in the dorms during break time.

Marin’s friend, Mabel, will be coming from California the next day for a three-day visit. Marin is tempted to spend all her time in bed until she leaves but realizes that she needs to get through this first before being alone in the dorms for a month. She reads Hanna’s essays and makes a list of productive things to do after Mabel leaves: read the NYT online each morning, buy groceries, make soup, ride the bus to the shopping district/library/café, read about solitude (solitude), meditate (meditating), watch documentaries and listen to podcasts.

Marin can’t sleep that night because of thoughts swirling around her head; she thinks about what may happen when Mabel visits and why it would be better if they were both homebodies like their mother instead of going out every weekend together.