Review: Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers

Some Girls Are
By Courtney Summers
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

To Sum It Up:

As a member of Hallowell High’s Fearsome Fivesome, Regina Afton counts herself among the social elite. Her world comes crashing down, though, when she becomes the subject of malicious gossip following an incident at a party. No one in Regina’s former circle of friends believes what really happened to her that night. Instead they embark on a campaign to not only make her the school pariah but also to bully her. The sole lunch table at school where Regina has a chance of finding a place to sit at is occupied by Michael Hayden, another social outcast. This isn’t a simple case of bonding with someone who knows what it feels like to be frozen out, though, since Regina is the one who engineered Michael’s ostracism.

Review:

I had a difficult time getting into Courtney Summers’s zombie novel, This Is Not a Test, but I’d seen a lot of praise for her contemporary books, so I figured I’d give one a go. I spotted Some Girls Are at the library and picked it up. While I did find this much more absorbing to read than This Is Not a Test, it wasn’t without its issues.

One of the biggest problems I had was with how Regina’s parents conveniently worked long hours plus had a long commute, so they were often not around. They are utterly clueless about what’s going in their daughter’s life. She was dating the school drug dealer, for heaven’s sake! I wanted to slam my head on a desk when Regina’s mother told her to have a good time at Josh’s party (Josh being said drug dealer, and not even Regina’s boyfriend anymore at this point in the novel). I realize that with today’s busy lives, it’s tough for families to find time for the traditional sit-down meal where everyone shares their day. From the sound of how hard Regina was partying, though, you’d think that a parent would have, just once, noticed she was hung over or something. Regina’s also been in therapy and is constantly popping antacids, her stomach problems the effect of some of her past misdeeds weighing on her. You’d think that her parents would keep a closer eye on her. Er, not really. Regina’s view of her mother and father as useless annoyed me, too. This family seemed like total strangers to one another, and that really, really bothered me.

While reading Some Girls Are, I couldn’t help thinking of Lauren Oliver’s Before I Fall, another novel about a clique of mean girls. Before I Fall gave you some insight into the girls’ lives outside of the clique, and although stopping short of making excuses for their behavior, at least you got a possible idea of why they acted as they did. Not so much with the bunch from Some Girls Are. You’re pretty much left on your own to figure out what makes these girls, particularly Anna and Kara, the most aggressive of the group, take so much pleasure in hurting others, both physically and psychologically. I need more backstory to a bad guy/girl, and there’s virtually none here.

As for Regina, I didn’t hate her, though she was far from a likable protagonist. It was only yesterday that she, too, enjoyed making other people’s lives miserable, and of course it’s different now that she’s the target of the Fearsome Foursome’s malice. I think Regina does grow throughout the novel, though, and in a way that doesn’t come off too much like an afterschool special.

I’m really struggling to rate this one. On the one hand, Some Girls Are is a compelling, intense read with some finely crafted storytelling. On the other, the plot boils down to the bullying; it’s one incident after another after another, and you don’t get a sense of why these girls are beyond hateful other than because they can be. I like Courtney Summers’s writing a lot; I think that I just haven’t yet found the right Courtney Summers book for me, but I’m going to keep searching.

All in All:

Some Girls Are is a powerful novel about bullying that can be extremely tough to read at times. I do wish that Regina’s parents had been more involved, and that the book had spent some time looking at what fueled the characters’ love of hate, including Regina’s.

Review: This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

This Is Not a Test
By Courtney Summers
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

To Sum It Up:

Sloane Price’s last sliver of hope disappeared the day that her older sister, Lily, took off and broke her promise that they would leave their abusive father’s house together. Sloane is prepared to escape from her pain permanently when the world erupts into chaos. Zombies are everywhere, and she ends up taking refuge in Cortege High School with some of her fellow students. As the group fights, sometimes among themselves, to see another day, Sloane continues to struggle with her despair. Finding something to live for before the zombies was difficult enough, and now, with no end to the mayhem in sight, Sloane faces an even tougher battle to summon the will to survive.

Review:

I think the best way to sum up how I feel about this book is with: it’s not you, it’s me. There’s nothing overtly wrong with This Is Not a Test; it just wasn’t my kind of read. I couldn’t get into the story or connect with any of the characters. As I read, it seemed as though there was a distance between the book and me, and that distance was never bridged.

I found the characters in particular difficult to form any kind of attachment to. They all garnered my sympathy for the situation they were in and for the losses they suffered, but my investment in them failed to go beyond that. No one stood out to me and commanded my attention. I also had a hard time processing Sloane’s mind-set once the zombie apocalypse began. Granted, she had a horrific home life before, and the fact that she wanted to end her life because of it was heartbreaking. But once she’s barricaded inside the school, she continues to dwell on her sister leaving and to feel that she has no reason to go on. I think my brain couldn’t reconcile Sloane making it to shelter in the first place only to plan on walking out and letting the zombies infect her. I expected a different reaction, for her to be as consumed with fear of the undead as her classmates were and for her survival instinct to kick into high gear. It’s interesting that Courtney Summers chose to have Sloane act this way, sort of opposite to what might have been anticipated. For me, though, it created an incongruity in my head that I couldn’t move past. The world has been altered forever, but that isn’t enough to break Sloane out of her pre-apocalypse thought pattern.

If you’ve read other reviews of This Is Not a Test, then you probably know that the zombies are rather secondary to the story. Instead, the novel focuses on the dynamics within this group of teenagers who’ve been thrown together under extreme circumstances. Summers builds some great tension-filled scenes that make you wonder whether the survivors are going to turn on each other before help arrives or the zombies manage to breach their makeshift sanctuary. To me, the unpredictability of the plot is the strongest aspect of the novel. Summers keeps you guessing as to whether the zombies outside the doors are the biggest threat, or if the frayed nerves of the weary, frightened teenagers are going to prove to be their undoing in the end.

I know this review is all over the place, but so were my thoughts when I finished reading this book. It simply didn’t work out for me, but that shouldn’t discourage anyone from giving it a try.

All in All:

If you’re looking for an all-out zombie fright-fest, then you should probably look elsewhere. If, instead, you’re in the mood for a dark, intense read that examines how people are driven to survive in the face of catastrophe, then this might be worth checking out.