Erin
3/13/16
Review
of Challenger
Deep by Neal Shusterman
*Ebook
Selection
Caden Bosch is a 15 year old boy muddling through his
typical teenage life filled with parents, friends, school, and pressure. But
Caden thinks a little differently. He sees things abstractly. He thinks creatively.
But his thoughts have become darker and darker. As Caden tells about his life
he switches between the humdrum of average days and an adventurous voyage on a
galleon to explore Challenger Deep, the lowest point on Earth in the Marianas Trench.
As Caden continues on both journeys, his mental stability slowly declines until
his parents admit him to a hospital for mental health. Once there, it becomes
extremely clear that Caden’s mission to the Marianas is a reality only in his
mind; a distorted version of the reality at the hospital. His fellow inpatients
are his crew mates. His therapy group
leader is the swabby cleaning up brains. And his doctor, Dr. Poirot, is a witty
parrot convincing Caden to join him in a mutiny against the captain. As Caden is
treated at the hospital, his mind slowly begins heal but is set back by the suicide
attempt of his friend and roommate. Caden plunges to the deepest part of his
mind, Challenger Deep. After finally making it back to reality, Caden is able
to see the effect on his mind without medicine. After getting back on track, he
is released to go home and is reunited with his family.
Neal Shusterman’s writing in this novel is beautiful. He establishes a strange bizarre shift between reality and the delusion of the Challenger Deep voyage. It leaves the reader wondering how this strange galleon fits into the very real world Caden lives in. As the plot progresses, there are more and more instances that Shusterman writes where what is reality and what is not becomes distorted. In one such scene, Caden goes for a walk and walks until his feet are filled with blisters. When reaching a strip mall he tells a woman “There’s a worm in hour hear, but you can cast it out” (p.119) causing her to run to her car. He goes on to tell how the worm jumps into his chest and runs store to store in panic searching for help. The metaphor of traveling to the bottom of Challenger Deep was another wonderfully piece that went into crafting this story. While it was Caden’s alternate reality, it also gave a comparison to those low places that all people affected by mental illness reach, whether it is the person who is ill or their family. I would recommend Challenger Deep for a high school level. The content is never explicit in any way, however the subject and style may be hard for middle school students to grasp. This novel could appeal to many different interests. It is realistic fiction, but can feel at times like fantasy because of Caden’s illness. It was a great book and would allow for many curricular connections to be made inside a classroom.
Neal Shusterman’s writing in this novel is beautiful. He establishes a strange bizarre shift between reality and the delusion of the Challenger Deep voyage. It leaves the reader wondering how this strange galleon fits into the very real world Caden lives in. As the plot progresses, there are more and more instances that Shusterman writes where what is reality and what is not becomes distorted. In one such scene, Caden goes for a walk and walks until his feet are filled with blisters. When reaching a strip mall he tells a woman “There’s a worm in hour hear, but you can cast it out” (p.119) causing her to run to her car. He goes on to tell how the worm jumps into his chest and runs store to store in panic searching for help. The metaphor of traveling to the bottom of Challenger Deep was another wonderfully piece that went into crafting this story. While it was Caden’s alternate reality, it also gave a comparison to those low places that all people affected by mental illness reach, whether it is the person who is ill or their family. I would recommend Challenger Deep for a high school level. The content is never explicit in any way, however the subject and style may be hard for middle school students to grasp. This novel could appeal to many different interests. It is realistic fiction, but can feel at times like fantasy because of Caden’s illness. It was a great book and would allow for many curricular connections to be made inside a classroom.
Bibliography
Shusterman, N. (2015). Challenger Deep. New
York: HarperCollins.
Interested in Challenger Deep or books like it?
Check out excerpts and illustrations here!
For more information on Schizophrenia
Teen Mental Health.org
Causes of Schizophrenia
Recovery and Treatment of Schizophrenia
Links to other mental disorders
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