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A review by book_concierge
The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland by Rebekah Crane
1.0
From the book jacket: According to sixteen-year-old Zander Osborne, nowhere is an actual place – and she’s just fine there. But her parents insist that she get out of her head – and her home state – and attend Camp Padua, a summer camp for at-risk teens. Zander has only one word for her fellow campers: crazy. In fact, the whole camp population exists somewhere between disaster and diagnosis. … Amid group “share-apy” sessions and forbidden late-night outings, unlikely friendships form, and the teens begin to reveal their tragic secrets. Zander finds herself inextricably drawn to (fellow camper) Grover Cleveland’s earnest charms, and she begins to wonder if she could be happy.
My reactions
Okay, I knew this was a YA novel about a summer camp for at-risk teens, going into it. I knew from the title and cover art that some sort of summer romance would come into play. But I am so over the teen angst phase of my life, that I find it overly dramatic and cliched.
In addition to Zander the kids at camp include: her cabin mate Cassie, who describes herself as a a “manic-depressive-bipolar-anorexic,” Alex Trebec, called Bek, who is a pathological liar, and Grover Cleveland (yes, like the president), a cute guy who is certain he’ll be schizophrenic one day, given his family history. We don’t know Zander’s problem up front, but she has a tendency to obsessively conjugate French verbs when feeling stressed. Populating the novel with these kids was just a bit too over-the-top for me to enjoy it.
The crisis that results in some break throughs is somewhat believable given the emotional and mental difficulties these kids face. But the way in which this is resolved is totally unbelievable. It’s a relatively fast read, and satisfied a couple of challenges, so I finished it, but that was really time wasted.
My reactions
Okay, I knew this was a YA novel about a summer camp for at-risk teens, going into it. I knew from the title and cover art that some sort of summer romance would come into play. But I am so over the teen angst phase of my life, that I find it overly dramatic and cliched.
In addition to Zander the kids at camp include: her cabin mate Cassie, who describes herself as a a “manic-depressive-bipolar-anorexic,” Alex Trebec, called Bek, who is a pathological liar, and Grover Cleveland (yes, like the president), a cute guy who is certain he’ll be schizophrenic one day, given his family history. We don’t know Zander’s problem up front, but she has a tendency to obsessively conjugate French verbs when feeling stressed. Populating the novel with these kids was just a bit too over-the-top for me to enjoy it.
The crisis that results in some break throughs is somewhat believable given the emotional and mental difficulties these kids face. But the way in which this is resolved is totally unbelievable. It’s a relatively fast read, and satisfied a couple of challenges, so I finished it, but that was really time wasted.