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thelukasisaiah's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is a book that I would easily recommend to someone who was wanting to read fiction featuring a character with schizophrenia. The author does such a great telling on this mental illness, and I think the drawings inside the book really aided in this storytelling.
Graphic: Mental illness and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
bennybooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
laurajones's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Ableism, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Body shaming, Death, and Abandonment
Minor: Animal death
lilithreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
maryy_r0se's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
Caden is a high schooler. ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ. His behavior is changing. ๐๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ. His friends are distancing from him. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต. His parents are concerned. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ. He feels himself unwinding. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ช๐ต๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
This book really affected me. While compiling a list of YA mental health books for work, it was important to me to include a wide array of experiences. Most YA mental health books focus on depression and anxiety, and itโs very very difficult to find books that approach topics like psychosis and schizophrenia sensitively.
Caden is not definitively diagnosed in the story, although it does seem implied he has schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. I do not have either of those, so I wonโt assess that representation. It was difficult to find reviews from individuals who have those disorders, but from the few I did find this book seems to represent them well. I do have bipolar disorder, and I thought that book really captured the extreme moods and psychosis excellently.
I think what made this book really stand out was the input from Nealโs son, Brendan. Brendan has schizoaffective disorder and the book was influenced by his experience. He consulted on and illustrated this book, and it added a very personal element. I would definitely recommend this book. My favorite scene was the NYC flashback and the moments surrounding it; the way the book came together and fell apart in those moments was breathtaking.
Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Mental illness, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Animal death, Self harm, Sexual assault, Medical content, and Medical trauma
criticalgayze's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
With the recent "developmentally appropriate" discourse surrounding book bans, one of the pieces that has risen above the noise is the conversation on curation versus censorship. Defined in pieces like this one from critic and author Roxane Gay, curation is that books should not be "banned" but that a library should be curated to fit both the interests and accessibility of the clientele while still pushing diversity.
When it comes to a topic like mental illness, curation of a middle grades or young adult shelf can be tough. While heavy-hitting books on race, gender, or sexuality can be removed if the demographic facing harm in the text is represented in your space, curating for genuine and earnest mental and physical health depictions that don't trigger a young reader can be tough as illness can be assured to impact at least one person in the room, no matter what the room looks like.
Challenger Deep is a great piece to include in your curation process in answer to this problem. What makes this book a good piece for any library is its ability to keep triggers at a distance. One of the ways in which the main character, Caden, copes with trauma is the creation of a fantastical world aboard a pirate ship that creates an extreme metaphor for situations he encounters. This coping mechanism also works for the reader as we get metaphorical representations of the moments of trauma, like suicide attempts, that reduce the need for bracing for young readers when approaching the text. The book accomplishes all this, however, without rendering the text fangless, as seen in the quotes below.
The one thing that dinged this book for me a little is that I found its heteronormativity a little unnecessarily present at times, especially one joke about Shakespeare that I'm still trying to decide if it was a bit of dated homophobic humor.
Quotes:
There are two things you know. One: You were there. Two: You couldn't have been there. (Page 1)
My emotions are talking in tongues. Joy spins into anger spins into fear then into amused irony, like leaping from a plane, arms wide, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that you can fly, then discovering you can't, and not only don't you have a parachute, but you don't have any clothes on, and the people below all have binoculars and are laughing as you plummet to a highly embarrassing doom. (Page 6)
Forget solar energy - if you could harness denial, it would power the world for generations. (Page 53)
"You said the ship was too old-fashioned for the mission, and what you say makes a difference around here," he tells me. (Page 83)
I didn't get it at the time, but that feeling - knowing something is wrong, but not being able to pinpoint what it is - is a feeling I've come to know intimately. The difference is, I've never been able to find something as easy and as obvious as a rearview mirror lying at my feet. (Page 93)
"The moral of the story is that we must not free ourselves from our beasts. Nay - we must abandon all else in this world but our beasts. We must feed them as much as we fight them, submitting to loneliness and misery with no hope of escape." (Page 141)
"Your mind is in a cast now," he says. "Think of it that way. It was broken and now it's in a cast." (Page 148)
Don Quixote - the famous literary madman - fought windmills. People think he saw giants when he looked at them, but those of us who've been there know the truth. He saw windmills, just like everyone else - but the believed they were giants. The scariest thing of all is never knowing what you're suddenly going to believe. (Page 163)
Dead kids are put on pedestals, but mentally ill kids get hidden under the rug. (Page 168)
He grins. "As time goes on, you'll find more and more flukes." (Page 213)
Still, if you've got to bring yourself within inches of your life just to cry for help, something's wrong somewhere. Either you weren't yelling loud enough to begin with, or the people around you are deaf, dumb, and blind. Which makes me think it isn't just a cry for help - it's more a cry to be taken seriously. A cry that says "I'm hurting so badly, the world must, for once, come to a grinding halt for me." (Page 262)
The stars will go dark and the universe will end before I get this year back. (Page 287)
"Yes, you have achieved the bottom," he says. "But the bottom gets deeper with each trip; you know that, don't you?" (Page 290)
Schizophrenia, schizoaffective, bipolar I, bipolar II, major depression, psychotic depression, obsessive/compulsive, and on and on. The labels mean nothing, because no two cases are ever exactly alike. Everyone presents differently, and responds to meds differently, and no prognosis can truly be predicted. (Page 298)
Graphic: Mental illness, Medical content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Bullying, Drug abuse, Rape, and Fire/Fire injury
typedtruths's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Death
amber_unabridged's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Mental illness and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Suicide attempt
hayleythegoose's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Mental illness, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
bipolarblue's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Mental illness and Schizophrenia/Psychosis