Friday, September 9, 2016

Book review: The Girl with all the Gifts by M. R. Carey

Genre: Science fiction
Rating: A
Year published: 2014
Date finished: July 1, 2015

This is a very good book. It is also a great book. I mean two different things.  A good book is well-written - the sentences are proper, the characters are interesting, the plot makes sense and so on. In The Girl with All the Gifts, MR Carey does all that. But a great book tells you something about what it means to be human. And The Girl with All the Gifts does that, too.

It is set in England, about 20 years after a plague has turned most humans into "hungries" - barely sentient animals who live only to eat. They'll eat any meat, but their favorite is human flesh.  Socieity has almost completely fallen apart. But the novel starts in a school, a small island of civilization.

The main characters (and memorable ones they are) are Sgt. Eddie Parks, a noncomissioned officer in what used to be the British army. Susan Caldwell, a scientist trying to figure out a way to reverse the plague, Helen Justineau, a teacher at the school, Private Kieran Gallagher and at the center, Melanie. A 10 year old. She is the girls with all the gifts.

An amazing work.

Warning: There are scenes of cannibalism and savagery. They are central to the book. They are disturbing.


M. R. (Mike) Carey is a British author; his previous work was mostly comics. 

 



2 comments:

  1. I read this one a while back and absolutely loved it! It was compelling and creepy and one of those rare gems that leaves you thinking about it long after you've finished. Your review of it is spot on!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I hope you find some other books on my blog that you like. I just started, but I will be adding books (and words and quotes) regularly.

      Delete