Review: Challenger Deep

Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a slightly tough book to get through, as it entails reading about a teenage boy succumbing to schizophrenia. Caden’s reality becomes mixed up with hallucinations or something that makes sense to him for what is going on.

When he becomes hospitalized it is that environment that becomes like a ship. They are cruising the waters and talk about going down into a deep trench at times.

There are many chapters, over 150, which are usually quite short. They switch between what is going on in Caden’s life and other times what is going on in his head. The book starts with him going to high school, hanging out with his friends, but the chapters about the boat are there early on as well. The timeline isn’t quite straightforward.

Neal Shusterman’s own son has been diagnosed with mental illness and this book was written to help understand what it is like to be the one dealing with the illness. His son also contributed drawings that are sprinkled throughout the book.


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