Library / Living With Mental Illness
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Challenger Deep
When your mind turns into a ship you can't steer. 🌊 This one gets it from the inside.
Who it's for
Alternating short chapters between Caden's hospital reality and an imagined voyage to the Mariana Trench let the reader experience how psychosis can feel meaningful, frightening and logical from inside, instead of watching it from outside.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Neal Shusterman's 2015 young adult novel follows Caden Bosch, a gifted 15-year-old who is living with a serious mental illness. The story alternates between his real life, including time in a psychiatric hospital, and an imagined voyage on a ship sailing toward Challenger Deep, the deepest point of the Mariana Trench.
Where to find it
In print; widely available from libraries (Libby/Hoopla, where held) and as an audiobook. Not public domain.
Before you start
Heads up: Psychosis and a suicide attempt.
Age: Ages 14+
Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.Helen Keller, Optimism: An Essay
