i went to enough boarding camps with f'd up kids, counselors and all the rest to know that everyone's got their own crazy and that some among us are textbook or at least acting that way and others can be quietly a hair's breadth away from self harm while the banality and mayhem and hijinks of whatever passes for everyday life is going down

what this book's got right is readability - it's a page turner and it draws the reader in emotionally but also through humor.

what feels contrived are the characters who are little more than stereotypes of their diagnosis - a bit like a human zoo built from the DSM.

what's to love ? the idea that relationships can and will grow anyplace, even ( or especially ? ) in groups like those who inhabit camp padua's cabins for the summer .