Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

3 reviews

maryy_r0se's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

“Sometimes there are moments when we objectively face the never, and it overwhelms us.”

Caden is a high schooler. 𝘊𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱. His behavior is changing. 𝘏𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘋𝘦𝘦𝘱. His friends are distancing from him. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘵. His parents are concerned. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯. He feels himself unwinding. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨. 

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 it’s 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 won’t 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 Neal’s 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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Ableism, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Confinement, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Animal death, Medical trauma, Medical content, Self harm, and Sexual assault

swaggynikki's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

Jeri reccomended this to me in 7th grade when she read it for Battle of the Books, and said she loved it. I love it to, but I'm ASTOUNDED by the fact that she liked it in middle school. It's VERY mature. I really liked the way it was told, I liked the intersecting storylines of his real life and the ship and how you slowly saw his life become his life on the ship and see they were the same the whole time. Mostly, though, I thought it was an incredibly well-done portrayal of mental health. I was worried up to like, the last 20 pages of the book, because it really seemed like the message was going to be "don't take your meds they're fake, just succumb to the disorder because you have no other option" but it wasn't! It said so much about recoverly and preserverence and I just left it feeling really good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Incest

lou_o_donnell's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Death, Drug use, Incest, Medical content, Medical trauma, Rape, Self harm, and Sexual violence