The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland feels like a warm, comforting hug (if books had arms…which would be weird…and a little gross). It will make you laugh out loud, cry with sorrow, and feel all the emotions in between.
Zander has been sent to summer camp. A summer camp for kids who are messed up in some way, shape, or form. At first, Zander doesn’t want to participate in arts and crafts or share-apy sessions, but then she sort of by accident gets pulled into a group of dysfunctional friends. Cassie, Zander’s bunkmate, is a “manic-depressive-bipolar-anorexic disaster” who pushes everyone away with her bad attitude. Alex Trebek is a pathological liar. And Grover Cleveland is PC (pre-crazy) and is preparing for the day he follows his father’s schizophrenic footsteps. Throughout the book, they learn to let go of some of their anxieties and learn that “reality might be ugly, but sometimes we can be broken and beautiful.”
The best part about this book are the characters. Zander is the perfect narrator for this story because she’s already so far inside her own head. She doesn’t outwardly show a lot of emotions, so when she’s confronted with characters that spew their emotions everywhere, it makes for an interesting story. Grover is just adorably hilarious. He’s never scared to speak up—especially if it will confuse the counselors—and has a quick wit. His interactions with Zander compliment each other well. And then there’s Cassie. She’s the girl you love to hate. She’s loud, she gets into everyone’s business, she purposefully causes chaos, but in the end, you can’t help but like her. Alex is more of a throw away character—just there for some comic relief and to round out the friend group to four—but the other characters more than make up for that.
I’ve read stories like this before, but none have the heart that this book has.
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