Underrated Author: Courtney Summers
Sofia Alvarado ’18/ Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
Courtney Summers is one of the most underrated authors today. A YA author, her work includes Cracked Up to Be, Some Girls Are, Fall for Anything, This is Not a Test, Please Remain Calm, and the upcoming April release, All the Rage. Her novel This is Not a Test, which follows a group of students who take refuge at their old high school when the zombie apocalypse breaks out, was optioned by SONY in 2012. Although she has a great niche following, her work lacks recognition amongst other readers.
Much like Gillian Flynn, Summers writes not the ideal woman, but the complete opposite. Most of her female characters are antagonistic, self-destructive, brash, and most importantly unapologetic. She writes girls struggling with past mistakes, loneliness, depression, and abandonment amongst others. Her female characters put the “strong women” trope to shame. She crafts beautifully complicated women who are struggling with realistic issues, and she is not afraid to admit when her characters have made mistakes. The purpose of these girls is not to inspire you to be better, but to give an understanding of everything women can be, and most importantly, how they become so.
Her debut novel, Cracked Up To Be, follows a good girl gone bad. Alarms go off when Parker Fadley, straight-A student, number one teacher’s pet, and most popular of St. Peter’s High School begins to drink in school. Her parents and counselors try their best to help, but Parker refuses to speak or listen. As the novel unfolds, readers are taken along Parker’s journey back to the night when everything changed. There’s a reason why Parker decided to stay quiet about what she did and readers will not be disappointed to learn what it is.
Despite her fourth novel being a dystopia YA, This is Not a Test is unlike anything else on the YA subgenre out there. Sloane Price was on the verge of committing suicide when the apocalypse broke out. As she finds herself on a world that gives her no reason to keep holding on, she must decide if she will fight or die. Sloane is nothing like your usual dystopia heroine, she is not fighting against a totalitarian government or finding the cure that will mend the world; she is fighting an inner battle against herself and the odds are as high as could be.