Olive is not feeling her absolute best. She's standing on the edge of a cliff after a bout of severe depression. Talked down by the police, she's convinced to attend a Camp Reset, a trial facility for those suffering from a wide array of mental illnesses. At the camp she meets many other teens: Jamie, a wannabe rock star with an attitude and good looks. Then there's Lewis, the quiet, shy boy who knows Maths better than anyone she's ever met. Sophie, who is fragile and quiet and delicate in Olive's eyes becomes a quick friend, but Olive's not there to meet friends, she's there to get her brain back to whatever normal is supposed to be. Halfway through the program, she has an epiphany: What if the teens in the camp aren't the problem? What if society is the problem. If Olive and her friends can figure out a way to infect the world with kindness, there wouldn't be mental illness, right? Olive becomes convinced she's got it worked out, she starts sleeping less, working out algorithms with Lewis and a plan with the rest of the crew in order to create a kindness revolution of course. I won't spoil the novel any more but what follows is a detailed look at mental illness and the hope, humour and devastation that is wrapped up in it. I really loved this novel. Last school year our book club, The Booklings, hid messages of kindness and well being in novels around the Library and this story has inspired me to try and make it a bigger event in Sept.
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