Caden Bosch is both and he’s struggling to survive in both worlds.

Sometimes Caden Bosch is a member of a crew on a ship heading to explore Marianas Trench, who doesn’t know if he can trust the captain. Sometimes Caden Bosch is a regular high school student who lies about being on the track team so he can go walking by himself, whose friends and family are starting to notice his strange behavior. This is a must-read for everyone who has struggled with their own mental health, or the mental health of a friend or loved one. The verdict: A masterpiece of contemporary fiction, CHALLENGER DEEP brings to life the challenges of mental illness in a compelling and eye-opening story. Shusterman masterfully portrays the benefits and detriments of treatment, and how a lesser evil is often the only choice for someone at the end of their rope. We see his spiral into darkness, and his return into the light, and everything in between.

We get to see Caden's thought processes, the effects of medication, or lack thereof, on his everyday functioning. The unashamedly honest and necessarily accurate portrayal of mental illness from inside Caden's own head is so powerful.

The drawings scattered throughout the books were done by Shusterman's son, and are reflections of the boy's mental health. Shusterman modeled Caden on his own son, who has been treated for schizophrenia. It was clear from the beginning that he is a boy with a lot of different sides, and the reader gets to know them all.Ĭaden is a very sick boy. What I loved: The balance between character development and an honest portrayal of mental illness.Ĭaden is a very well-developed character. The reader struggles to determine what is real, and what is not, just as Caden does. After weeks of strange and erratic behavior escalate into something dangerous, Caden's parents take him to the hospital, where he is admitted to the juvenile psychiatric ward.ĬHALLENGER DEEP is told entirely from Caden's perspective sometimes Caden is in the real world, and sometimes he is on a pirate ship bound for the deepest part of the ocean, under the control of a one-eyed captain and his cruel parrot.

He can't bring himself to stay in school, feeling that he was follow the directions of signs around town until he is hopelessly lost. He can't sleep, and lays awake at night until sunrise and sunset are meaningless notions. He goes for long walks, returning home with blistered feet and soaked through with rain.

Challenger deep book pages