Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Sarcastic, Adolescent, Humorous
Because the whole story is told from Cam's point of view, the tone of the book is the same one a grumpy, perpetually unsatisfied teenager would use to talk to someone they hang out with on a regular basis. But while Cam is the king of sarcasm and tongue-in-cheek humor, he's also—begrudgingly—filled with awe at the world around him, so we glimpse wonder and amazement underneath his surly attitude on occasion. And even when he's getting very bad news, Cam maintains a sense of humor:
I vaguely remember hearing a news story about mad cow disease. Some cows got it from bad feed and went insane, hence the mad cow. But I'm pretty sure I haven't been munching on any bad feed, unless you count what they serve in the Calhoun cafeteria. So I don't see how I could have this Creutzfeldt-Jakewhatever. Sounds like a brand of kick-ass speakers. (11.42)
This has the effect of keeping a book lighthearted and humorous that very easily could become epically depressing, which is no easy task. In fact, if you were to do a pie chart of the number of times you LOL'd or chuckled silently versus the number of times you allowed a single tear of sadness to escape during one of the well-crafted emotional moments, it would look something like Pac-Man—you know, with the mouth being the sad bits. Okay, maybe this isn't a great metaphor, but our point remains: Instead of being a downer, this book keeps our chins up thanks to its tone.