Review:
Author Courtney Summers offers her view of the end of the world in This is Not a Test, a new teen novel that follows in the footsteps of the popular post-apocalyptic genre. When the world ends, six students, including Sloane Price, take refugee inside Cortege High School to wait out the apocalypse -and, most importantly -to survive physically and mentally.
This is a Not a Test had its ups and downs for me. The books crowing glory, without question, is Summers' gorgeous, lyrical writing style that frequently boarded on poetry. Though, I'll admit that her storytelling isn't orthodox and can be considered slow-moving or lacking in enough dialog, that really didn't bother me for most of the book. I was completely pulled in by Summers' amazing style and the fascinating character depth that grew with every word.
Yet, the plot seemed to move very slowly and seemed to be almost non-existent. The characters didn't seem to do much other than sit around and have retrospective thoughts and conversations about their lives. All that mattered now was survival, and if it took holing up in the local high school to do it, they were going to find a way. While I understand that this can be difficult for anyone to get through mentally, and Summers did a great job of portraying this, there just wasn't enough going on in the plot for me. Despite that, I read the entire book and didn't want to put it down.
This is Not a Test offers a fascinating dissection of the human mind, its reaction to crisis and the will to survive that's interesting to read, but lacks action.
1 comment:
It starts with a shocking scene of Sloane discovering the zombie invasion. I was hooked from chapter one. She ends up with a group of teenagers from her high school with whom she has barely had contact before. They seek shelter in her High School and must coexist while they figure out what to do next. With the apocalyptic threat on the background, the problems end up being more within.
Gripping and addicting, This is Not a Test is everything I hoped it'd be. Courtney Summers' words are made of awesome. Every sentence is so emotionally charged that it seems like all these feelings are just trapped inside the story, waiting for YOU to feel them. It's like a peek inside the world of REAL teenagers who just need to be heard.
This book was no exception. Even though it has zombies, it also has the trademark Summers contemporary feel. It's basically a realistic fiction book with a touch of zombie-rific-ness, which just serves as a threat in the background. And OF COURSE it has the tension. The constant vibrating tension, an obvious relationship tension (between all characters) and a new tension brought by this threat of zombies.
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