And that’s when I went from feeling like this book might just be a little too strange for me to realizing that all of the puzzle pieces were coming together.

Each strange character, all of the crazy things that they did and said, they all started to make sense once you hit that fifty percent mark in the book.

It all came together. See, I shouldn’t have doubted, because Shusterman is truly brilliant, and every nuance of Caden’s psychedelic alter-reality had a deeper meaning, had a connection to his real life (which we would see, alternating with chapters that took place in Caden’s schizophrenia-induced life).

Until I got to about the mid-point of the book … which is when … Did I kind of enjoy reading about this weird alternate reality? Yes, but I didn’t understand it at all. It was weird. And, honestly, I found myself wondering, if this had been any other author besides Neal Shusterman (who I have undying faith in), if I would have stuck it out at all because I just didn’t get the twisted maritime world that Caden lived in – or the strange people around him – or just about anything that was happening. It kind of reminded me of listening to my dad’s old drug-induced Pink Floyd albums (or maybe the Beatles’ “I am the Walrus”). Reading from Caden’s perspective when he is having a psychotic episode is … well … psychotic. In fact, it bordered on psychedelic in some places. I kept hovering between four and four-and-a-half stars, even though I think it’s brilliant in a lot of ways. Prepare to be confounded. I had a hard time rating this book, to be honest.

Normally, I start my reviews with what I loved, but I’m switching things up a little because I feel like I have to get the negative out of the way first, before I can get to what I really loved. This book sheds light on mental illness in a way I have never seen done before (at least not so thoroughly and realistically) – putting you directly into the mind of the mentally ill character and taking you on an enlightening, but also somewhat perplexing journey through his illness. Challenger Deep is the type of book that you won’t forget long after you’ve finished reading it.

Book reviews for kids challenger deep