A review by entanglement
Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

4.0

it’s hard to articulate how i feel about my time with this book. i had it on my shelf for a long while before i took a course that had it listed as a required text. with it waiting on my tbr, i was relieved to finally reach for it. while on a plane, i devoured much of it, settling on the verge of tears for hours. 

This was a very unique approach to showing mental illness rather than simply telling about it. the storyline was turning me in circles throughout. i was a bit dizzy, feeling like i was lurking and waiting for the anticipated reveal of what was happening. thankfully, i had instruction in my class to hint at what was unfolding throughout, making the content more palatable confusion wise. however, I do think it’s worth it to leave the mystery intact, letting the story piece itself together as you read- it really puts you in the shoes of someone who experiences the world the way it is presented. 

sometimes there are moments when we objectively face the never, and it overwhelms us. i tried to defy the overwhelming never once, when i realized there are songs in my own music library that i will probably never hear again. i went to my computer and created a playlist with every single song. there were 3,628 songs that would take 223.6 hours to play. i kept at it for a few days before my interest waned. and so now i mourn. i mourn for the songs that will never reach my ears again. for the words and stories that lie on eternally unopened pages.