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.
I came across The Girl with All the Gifts on a list of “Plot Twists You Didn’t See Coming.” Before I came to the ending of the book, I was suspicious of the so-called plot twist. Where is it? Sure, it has ZOMBIES in it and has a great The Walking Dead feel to it, but that’s nothing special, right? Then, thwunk, I was hit in the back of the head by that ending that I couldn’t see coming a mile away.
Melanie lives in a cell when she’s not in class, where she’s strapped to a wheelchair with other kids. Even though what they learn is pretty standard, history, literature, math, Melanie has this feeling everything they’re taught is useless from a careless remark made by an adult. Moreover, the adults like Sergeant Parks or Miss Justineau, her teacher, never touch Melanie or any of the children, ever. When they strap or unstrap her from the wheelchair, they point guns at her. She once jokes, “I don’t bite,” but no one else thinks it’s a joke. A terrible attack on the institution smashes Melanie’s world into pieces and shows her just how small and confined it had been. Surviving on the road teaches her many truths about herself and humanity, prompting her to make serious decisions. Throughout the novel, Melanie is self-sacrificial and meek, obeying orders from the Sergeant and voluntarily restrains herself in case she harms anyone. On one hand I’m thankful we have such a non-annoying un-whiny protagonist for once, but I still get an uneasy feeling about her: she’s a kid, and kids don’t do things like this. It’s like she’s plotting away in her little brain and maintaining a disarming front. The only certain thing about Melanie is her deep, fierce adoration of Miss Justineau, the teacher who shows her affection.
The supporting characters are also well-developed. Miss Helen Justineau specializes in psychology and is in the institution to observe the behaviors of these children, who we later find out are all Hungries, the book’s name for zombies. Unlike other wheezing, stumbling hungries, the children retain their thinking ability and function as normal humans, as long as they don’t get a whiff of human flesh. What’s so special with them? That’s for Dr. Caroline Caldwell to find out. Shut out of an elite scientist program, she is determined to find a cure for humanity, to show them just who they rejected! She spends years at the facility enduring unsophisticated tools and inconclusive results, but finally she found something groundbreaking. As fate would have it, she’s already contracted a fatal blood poisoning from the attack and the journey, and the only person she can pass on her knowledge and findings is Melanie. We can see all her hopes and despairs and selfish ambitions playing out and the consequences. The two military men, Sergeant Parks and Kieran Gallagher. Both are used to dealing with zombies and crises the army way, and suddenly three female civilians are thrown at them to protect and usher across the country to a safe area. Seeing them deal with their journey and knowing their stories are really endearing and bring readers closer to the two soldiers. They also represent another aspect of the civilization, so it's nice to see their opinions in addition to the female scientists.
The mood of the book is bleak, hopeless, and seriously depressing. Like in the Walking Dead, there are unscrupulous raiders who look out only for themselves, who stormed down the facility and forced Melanie and several adults on the run. We also know there’s no possible cure for the zombie disease, and Melanie’s decision at the end of the book may cause irreparable damage to mankind. The notion that human civilization could be gone forever really depresses me! Nevertheless, the plot is without doubt exciting and gripping, keeping me interested in what’s gonna happen next. If you like the theme of zombie apocalypse, definitely give The Girl with All the Gifts a try. Although the pacing lurched into super-speed near the ending, remember that plot twist I told you about? Watch out for it. Chances are you won’t see it coming too!
