HALLOWEEN REVIEW: The Girl With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey
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| Title: The Girl With All the Gifts Author: M. R. Carey Rating: 5/5 |
The very first time I pick it up I read over 100 pages in one sitting, which is very rare for me. Usually I read 30-50 pages and get bored (because the first few chapters of books are never the most thrilling), but I was hooked from the start. However, I read it just before bed and ended up having the most terrifying zombie dream - heart palpitations and all. Secretly loved it, though.
So yeah, I feel like I need to preface this review by saying that I love all things zombie related so surprise surprise this will be pretty positive. Overall, I enjoyed this book so much mainly because the concept is so refreshing and not like anything I have personally read or seen before!
When I first started reading 'The Girl With All the Gifts' (TGWATG from now on - that title is just too long to type), I had to be in a certain mood in order to read it. Especially after my traumatic zombie nightmare - I did not want to go through that again. But the more I read the more I couldn't put it down and wanted to read it constantly.
The main reason for this is because of the writing. M. R. Carey's writing is extremely easy to read, it flows perfectly and he knows exactly when to add humour. There were genuinely some laugh-out-loud moments, for example
'"The classroom block is underground," Caldwell snaps. "There's only one way in or out. You'll be trapped." What a wonderful pair of scientists the two of them are. Assembling known facts into valid inferences. Forensic minds refusing to quit in the face of this utter f*cking nightmare.' (page 126)
This genuinely made me snort. I was sat on a busy train, engrossed in the book and made a disgustingly embarrassing noise. You know, that noise you make when you've already started laughing before you know it and you desperately try to stifle it but you end up sounding like a pig. Yeah, that. It was such perfectly timed humour in amidst of all the action and tension going on around them that it caught me off guard and hit me right in my funny bone.
TGWATG is full of great quotes that I could list on here but I won't bore you with that, I'll just include my absolute favourite line.
'Melanie finds this interesting in spite of herself - that you can use words to hide things, or not to touch them, or to pretend they're something different than they are' (page 234)
This quote hit me HARD. I can relate to it so much because words, stories and language have always been my 'thing' and I am definitely guilty of hiding behind words. It really made me think about why I love zombie books so much. It's not all about the blood and the gore but also the subconscious commentary the genre makes on society and human behaviour in disastrous situations. But yeah... mostly the blood and the gore.
However, the only part of TGWATG I didn't enjoy reading was the scene where the group first finds Rosie. When Caldwell's first mentions Rosie she calls it 'Rosalind Franklin' and I automatically thought of the woman who was involved in DNA research. So I thought they had actually found the zombie version of Rosalind Franklin. Understandably, I got super confused when they started talking about some machine... When I finally realised what was going on, I was still confused. I feel like that scene was not particularly well written and needed some more description in order to flow properly. It was probably just my stupidity that got me confused but .... Oh well.
Gallagher definitely deserves an honorary mention in this review. Gallagher was my FAVOURITE character because, apart from Judith and Herschel from The Walking Dead, he is the first character I have come across that was born and raised completely in a post-apocalyptic world. It was so interesting to me when they came across pre-apocalypse objects like buses and he was fascinated by them - scenes like this make you take a step back and look at your world through their eyes.
Obviously, I was super sad when (spoiler) Gallagher died. However, I thought his final scenes were really well written and he was given the proper amount of attention he deserves... <3
As I've said before, TGWATG is very refreshing - especially the ending. Unfortunately I didn't get the Pandora reference until I read the interview with Cary at the end of the book but I could still appreciate the innovation behind it. As soon as I realised the Pandora reference I was very impressed and a bit embarrassed it went straight over my head...
*******
I will admit TGWATG might be considered 'low' literature because it's just another stereotypical zombie book but honestly it's probably the best zombie book I've ever read. Plus, zombies are my guilty pleasure, so just let me live !!!
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