Misleading Odds

Reading The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland (2016) by Rebekah Crane, I found myself thinking about history and what the books of today, the ones that resonate years from now, will reflect about the preoccupations and struggles of this historical period in which they've been published. I also thought about John Green's The Fault in Our Stars (2012), if only because the characters of these two books seem to deal with snarky teens who are dealing with some serious health issues. Whereas The Fault in Our Stars deals with cancer, The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland deals with teen mental health.

Sixteen-year old Zander Osborne is spending her summer at Camp Padua, a camp for at-risk teens who seem to suffer from some form of a social-emotional-psychological issue. There's Cassie, a self-described manic-depressive-bipolar-anorexic; Alex Trebek, better-known as Bek, a pathological liar; and the titular Grover Cleveland who anticipates becoming a schizophrenic. These four teens are at the center of this coming-of-age story, one which I found surprisingly boring: Things happen; self-deprecating, snarky banters are exchanged; grief, depression and other serious life issues are explored, along with lessons related to knowing yourself, teamwork, trust, courage, perseverance, and hope.

In the end, The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland is a melodramatic story highlighting mommy-issues and not so much about loving Grover Cleveland.

Crossposted at CBR8.