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Content snapshot
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Violence
Barely any
Minimal physical violence
Language
Barely any
Mild language
Sexual Content
None
No sexual content
Substance Use
Barely any
Some medication reference as part of the treatment
Emotional Intensity
Very heavy
Extreme psychological content by design — the novel is built to immerse readers in a disintegrating perception of reality; the most accurate and sustained portrayal of psychosis in YA fiction
What this book is about
Neal Shusterman's National Book Award-winning YA novel follows Caden Bosch, a high school student who simultaneously navigates his high school life and an increasingly vivid alternate reality where he is sailing on a ship captained by a parrot toward the deepest place on Earth. The novel is a portrait of schizophrenia from the inside — Shusterman co-wrote it with his son, who has schizophrenia. The psychological content is extreme and the novel's depiction of a breaking mind is among the most accurate in YA fiction.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Extreme psychological content depicting schizophrenia from the inside
Reality dissolution throughout
Reader Verification
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