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A review by holyteeth
The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey
4.25
Not sure how to feel about this book.
It had an extremely strong start, and the first half of the book was, in my opinion, an incredible show of craftsmanship. Each character voice was distinct, the prose was full of connecting strings and metaphors and callbacks, the imagery was fresh and solid, and the constant relations to mythology had me very excited for what came next. Carey is very good at writing children and it really added to Melanie's pov, and being in her head really drove the horror of what was happening home.
The second half was... disappointing. Not bad, but it felt like it was from another book entirely. There were a lot less Melanie POVS, which in my opinion was a huge loss for the book, as it completely changed the vibes of the story and took away the strongest thing about the narrative.
I'm far from a prude, but I also really really think the book could have benefited from less sexual content. There wasn't a lot of it, but going from the first half of the book being from a child's POV or focusing on a child to the second half of the book full of people constantly thinking about sex or masturbation or nudity was a big change in vibes and personally I was not for it. In addition, it got tiring very fast to jump from the POVs of the women characters, who were having genuine thoughts and worries and actions, to the POVs of the men who were both constantly thinking about how hot their coworker was and how much they wanted to have sex with her in detail. Why was it written like that? And from both of them? It got tiring very quickly. I can't believe we got less Melanie for that.
The ending felt... abrupt, and a little rushed. I definitely think that would have benefited from more Melanie chapters, too, so we could see her evolution and thought progress.I was not a fan of the way the feral children were handled, and felt it undermined the themes of the book thus far a bit. Also, was not huge on the fact that apparently they just... left behind like 20 kids locked in an underground bunker, even though both Melanie and Helen allegedly cared about them. Not even one mention of them at the end? Come on.
Overall, despite the fact it's hard not to feel a little disappointed at the way it fell off in the second half, I enjoyed the book. If it had kept up like the first half the entire way through, it could have been my favorite book of all time. Alas, it'll have to settle for 'book I quite enjoyed.'
It had an extremely strong start, and the first half of the book was, in my opinion, an incredible show of craftsmanship. Each character voice was distinct, the prose was full of connecting strings and metaphors and callbacks, the imagery was fresh and solid, and the constant relations to mythology had me very excited for what came next. Carey is very good at writing children and it really added to Melanie's pov, and being in her head really drove the horror of what was happening home.
The second half was... disappointing. Not bad, but it felt like it was from another book entirely. There were a lot less Melanie POVS, which in my opinion was a huge loss for the book, as it completely changed the vibes of the story and took away the strongest thing about the narrative.
I'm far from a prude, but I also really really think the book could have benefited from less sexual content. There wasn't a lot of it, but going from the first half of the book being from a child's POV or focusing on a child to the second half of the book full of people constantly thinking about sex or masturbation or nudity was a big change in vibes and personally I was not for it. In addition, it got tiring very fast to jump from the POVs of the women characters, who were having genuine thoughts and worries and actions, to the POVs of the men who were both constantly thinking about how hot their coworker was and how much they wanted to have sex with her in detail. Why was it written like that? And from both of them? It got tiring very quickly. I can't believe we got less Melanie for that.
The ending felt... abrupt, and a little rushed. I definitely think that would have benefited from more Melanie chapters, too, so we could see her evolution and thought progress.
Overall, despite the fact it's hard not to feel a little disappointed at the way it fell off in the second half, I enjoyed the book. If it had kept up like the first half the entire way through, it could have been my favorite book of all time. Alas, it'll have to settle for 'book I quite enjoyed.'
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Sexual content and Torture