Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

Xhaiden | High Technology High School, Grade 9

Rating: *****

Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman is a unique and intense book about mental illness. It features two tales: one in the real world, the other in the mind. The book follows fifteen-year-old Caden Bosch who lived a normal life until he began to experience symptoms of schizophrenia, where he struggled to decipher reality from the imaginary. He became paranoid, and sometimes his consciousness drifted away from his body. The most common place his thoughts resided in was a pirate ship with a crazy captain and parrot, attempting to go to Challenger Deep. The pirate ship seems just as real as the real world, for both Caden and the reader. Through the pages of an expertly-crafted novel, the author invites us to follow Caden on his path to recovery, as well as his journey to the deepest point in the world.

I would recommend this book to older teens and young adults. It could be a bit confusing for younger readers, as the story is not constructed in a linear fashion at all, one of the major reasons being that it has two storylines. Moreover, the two storylines don’t even happen at the same time making it even more hard to understand. In addition, many of the important pieces of symbolism may not be caught by younger readers: everything that happens in the world in his mind has significance in the real world, although it is presented in a subtle manner. Another reason why this book would be more suitable for older readers is that it revolves around the large, sensitive themes like mental illness. Overall, this was an insightful read - one that accurately depicted mental illnesses, and was enjoyable all the same. Neal Shusterman definitely deserved the National Book award for Young People’s literature for this eye-opening and thought-provoking tale.