It’s the age old question asked by any film or print fan around the planet. I know how many times I’ve been asked, ‘why would you read that, they made a movie?’ Obviously it’s because the book is always better.
But is it really?
Goodreads Synopsis:
Melanie is a very special girl. Dr. Caldwell calls her “our little genius.”
Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don’t like her. She jokes that she won’t bite, but they don’t laugh.
Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children’s cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she’ll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn’t know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad.
The Girl with All the Gifts is a sensational thriller, perfect for fans of Stephen King, Justin Cronin, and Neil Gaiman.
My Thoughts
The Girl with All the Gifts was a hard book for me to read. Not only did it hit on a few of my phobias, which made me squeamish, but it felt like a very bleak story. My husband likes to argue with me, but I will always prefer a story with hope rather than complete despair. What’s the point of watching Walking Dead if you know everyone dies in the end!? That was one of my issues with this book. The story was so desolate, especially the ending. I also thought the writing was really slow. For being a horror/zombie novel I never felt my adrenaline spike. (except when they were talking about fungus’s growing on brains. Ew. Phobia!) When I wasn’t actively reading, I couldn’t care less about the story. I never invested.
While watching the movie my perspective was totally different. I still didn’t like all the fungus, but I was far more involved. I’m sure a lot of that had to do with Sennia Nanua’s portrayal of Melanie, actually. She really brought the character to life, in a terrifying and vulnerable way. In fact, I thought the whole cast did an excellent job. They were so good they made me enjoy the ending the movie, which I hated when I read it. It’s interesting how a different platform will evoke different emotions. Watching the movie made me appreciate the story more, when usually it’s the opposite. Interestingly enough, neither my husband nor my daughter were happy with the end of The Girl with All the Gifts movie. They felt how I did when I read the book.
Winner
I might be biased here, since I wasn’t in love with the book the way others were. I liked the movie more. I thought the screenwriters did an amazing job adapting the novel. They kept in everything essential and removed anything that caused the plot to lag. It was gritty and apocalyptic, full of children predators and action! I’d definitely watch this again!
If you are a massive fan of the novel, watch the movie. I think you’ll at least enjoy the movie as much as you did the book.
Birdie Bookworm 
nice point about hope and despair in the beginning. 👍 great post! I haven’t watched movie yet but I’ll see now. ☺
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Thank you! You should definitely try the movie.
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Great post! I’ve watched the movie but haven’t read the book. It’s still bleak but I can see what you mean. She was great in it.
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I’d be interested in hearing if you felt differently reading the book, like I did.
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Sure! I’ll let you know if I get a chance to read it ☺
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I hadn’t even heard of it, but I’ll check the film out now for sure.
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Oh man, it’s so good! Did you watch the trailer?
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I haven’t read the book but I did watch the movie. It’s a good take on the zombie apocalypse which is a very hard mark to hit. Zombie films are a dime a dozen and it’s rare for any originality in the actual plots. But this movie seemed great in character development and story structure. The fungus was odd, but actually more believable in a sense of reality. Personally if a zombie infection were to happen, then a fungal infection would be the closest thing to making that possible. Well, maybe not as much as bacteria, pathogen or a parasitic entity.
Melanie was so awesome in the film. I hope my daughter is like her when she’s older. Minus the flesh eating tendencies. I felt connected to her character and liked how she turns out to be the leader of the new world.
I thought the ending was a little to “up in the air.” I mean, where do these zombie kids go from here and does this teach just keep on living in this mobile bunker behind thick glass? Do these kids grow up and start reproducing, making new humans? It just seemed like we had this climactic ending and there was nothing at the end to catch it.
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I kind of thought that too. Like, what happens when Justineau passes away? Do these little living zombie children make their own teachers? Although, the concept of the world ending for humanity and bringing on a new life form was pretty fascinating.
I’ve seen other zombie stories that start with a bacteria, or parasite… (Parasitology the series is a good one for that theory). This was the first zombie book that started as a fungus, but as soon as I watched I thought about the humans and bugs that grow those similar looking fungus’s, or the bugs that are impaled with fungus. The imagery felt too real, but maybe because that’s a phobia of mine.
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I enjoyed the book, so I’m looking forward to seeing the movie. Great review.
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Thank you!
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