The Girl with all the Gifts (spoilers!)

[WillWorkForShoes]

I really enjoyed this book, despite the ending. Normally I don't like books or films which don't end happily or with everything sorted out but this ending was perfectly fitting and had hope. I wonder if that was due to Melanie's character? I do wonder what ultimately became of Miss Justineau though.
I didn't realise a film had been made of it before I read it.

I absolutely adored this book. It is one of my favourites ever. Haven't seen the film as I didn't know that there was one!

Oh, I loved this book. Is the film recent? Will hunt it down!

Film is 2016, I think.

" I do wonder what ultimately became of Miss Justineau though."

She became a zombie, too, in a matter of hours. Like, the next time she had to go to the toilet, eat or drink something.

It's not like she could have stayed in that airtight suit forever.

I thought it was hilarious that she started teaching the little zombie kids the alphabet at the end of the book. It's not like she would get far into the curriculum until she would have to open the suit.

I really enjoyed this too, in fact it's ine if the best books I read last year.
I recently read Fellside by the same author too, a ghost story set in a high security women's prison on the Yorkshire Moors. It's very different to TGWATG which is definitely my favourite of the two, however I found both really compelling and couldn't put them down.

Oooh, I've just ordered Fellside on the back of reading TGWATG - glad it's good!

cote wasn't the van a sealed unit though? I thought it was designed with an airlock system but I can't remember whether it was damaged.

It's really good book and film, none of the changes in the adaptation cause the story to suffer. I was a little bemused at the casting, the characters are so well described in the book but look so different onscreen, but it was no biggie in the end.

It is an amazing book. I had a real book hangover after and couldn't find anything I could get in to. So many memorable scenes that go against all we have been conditioned in to thinking. The woman and the pram, the old man ...
it's like the book I Am Legend where humanity survives. It made me wonder if the generation created would make the same mistakes.
I want to watch the film but am almost scared to

"wasn't the van a sealed unit though?"

So? How much air can possibly be in there and how long will it last?

All the water & food she needs is contaminated. All the air outside is contaminated. It's not like she is going to live for years and teach all those zombie kids.

It's ridiculous. Then again, this was a YA book written for teenagers and much was ridiculous in it (apologies to its fans).

Ooh, I might have to get Fellside.

The fungus was airbourne, so I always assumed Miss Justineau would become a Hungry. I suppose what I meant by what ultimately became of her was 'did the kids have to kill her? How long did she last?, Did she take herself away from the kids when she knew she'd have to get out of the suit?'

I'm with Cote. Silly book. Great concept, really poorly executed imvho. I don't think it's necessarily YA (certainly no more than The Martian is YA) and I don't think YA necessarily means 'crap' in the way that Cote assumes it does, but I do think it's a v flawed book. I really wanted to like it, too.

I don't think YA means crap. Not always, anyway. Lord Of The Flies is YA and definitely isn't crap.

But... A book about the sweet feelings between a zombie child and her teacher? Seriously???

I suffered its teenagey truisms like "You can't save people from the world. There's nowhere else to take them" and "not even caring whether what's inside is good or bad. Because it's both. Everything is always both."

I'm just too old to read books on daft subjects that are written really badly for teenagers

On the subject of whether YA books are 'crap', I hadn't really noticed that there was such a genre as YA until I got a Kathy Reichs crime novel, Virals, out the library and found it unbelievably dull. As all her others that I had read- and I'm a very seasoned reader of crime fiction - had been absorbing and satisfying I was a bit puzzled so went on Amazon to read reviews to see if it was just me. That's when I discovered she has branched out in to writing YA crime fiction and Virals was the first in a series. Since then, I've noticed that if I find a novel is lacking in depth and challenge, I find it is often specifically aimed at YA. Obviously, as I am not extensively read in the YA genre, this is only a limited opinion, but I steer clear of the genre, I find them so disappointing, too dumbed down.. I'm afraid it's old adult books for me.
Love Lord of the Flies. Now that's a novel with depth.
Looking at the list of YA crime fiction on Goodreads, the only one I've read is the curious incident of the dog in the Nightime which I thought was excellent. I read it when it first came out but don't remember it being classified as a YA at all.

"I've noticed that if I find a novel is lacking in depth and challenge, I find it is often specifically aimed at YA. Obviously, as I am not extensively read in the YA genre, this is only a limited opinion, but I steer clear of the genre, I find them so disappointing, too dumbed down.. I'm afraid it's old adult books for me."

My thoughts exactly. I don't mind it when they are clearly marked as YA (so I stay away, mostly) but am when they are not and I'm suckered into reading dull, superficial, simple-minded stuff like The Book Thief, Station 11, etc.

I found Curious Incident brilliant, too, and no I wouldn't have called it YA. I think there is a difference between teenagers CAN read as vocabulary is simple and story features teenagers, but book is written for adults with adult themes and book written FOR teenagers, with themes they want to read about, without the deeper ideas and analysis they would find boring.

Lord of the Flies is absolutely not YA.

Curious Incident definitely IS YA, but none the worse for that!

Remus. I think categorising a novel as part of a specific genre will never be an exact science. Nor do all readers come to a book with the same experiences, concentration levels, ability to see pictures, range of vocabulary etc . I think 14-18 year olds will interpret the same book in a completely different way than they would if they read it say 30 years later and I think life experience is key to that. So a novel while accessible to YA on one level should not be categorised specifically as YA if it deals with deeper themes and issues to satisfy the adult reader as well. The two books mentioned above, while perfectly enjoyable for YA take on deeper shades of meaning when read as a life battered adult. Id be surprised if William Golding or Mark Haddon intended their books to be exclusively YA. Just because a novel has YA characters leading YA lives , written in clear prose, does not make it suitable for YA. The Cement Garden by Ian MC Ewan is one I can think of. I think today's YA adult rereading Flies or Nightime in 30 years time, will still be gripped and get even more out of it compared to the specially written for YA stuff flooding the market today which will seem more banal than they remembered. I have read many books recently that I first read in my late teens - not such a thing as YA books then. You were either a child or an adult- and I'm surprised at how my response to them was so different. As an 18 yr old, I felt so sorry for the main character in The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, that she was so badly treated by life and those around her. 30 years later, I saw her as a selfish, bitter old woman who had expected people to do everything for her all her life, doing nothing in return. I thoroughly enjoyed the book at both stages of my life.
Bit like The Simpsons really. Kids watch it and love it but they miss so much of the content aimed at adults. My mid 20s dc often remark on what they didn't "get" when they were kids even though they found it funny.
Today's YA books usually don't have that extra layer.

Yes, of course, re getting different things out of books at different stages of one's life.

I think specific YA books are intended for 12-15ish market - things like The Hunger Games. Few 12 year olds would get anything very meaningful out of Lord of the Flies whereas plenty of adults see stuff like The Hunger Games as light reading, just as they might chick-lit or an airport thriller.

I didn't see TGWATG as YA, although I enjoy a bit of YA - Hunger Games is great for a 'read it in an hour' bit of popcorn kind of stuff. I like to mix my genres, although I like the point about YA being chick-lit for adults. I cannot stand chick-lit, but a know a lot of people who do. Whatever floats your boat. I'm now reading 'Golden Hill' which is a totally different genre to YA.

Only read Lord of the Flies once. It upset me too much. One day I will read it again. When I am old. And wearing purple.

You will have a whole couple of decades of adulthood, hopefully, before you get old & have to wear purple, so can try reading Lord Of The Flies again without getting terribly upset at that point.

Littlepleasures - Come join us on the 50-Book Challenge thread. You don't have to read 50 books. It's fun to talk about books with people who like to read

CoteDAzur Joined the 50 book challenge and the don't buy a book all year thread.Only lurked last year to pick up some recommendations. Trying to keep up with reading all the posts is making my head spin at the moment. I'm a bit like a child in a sweetshop. So much good stuff, so little time. How do you keep up with all the posts?

It's the January rush. The thread will get much more manageable in a month or so. At the beginning of each year, 50-Book gets loads of enthusiasts most of whom then drop out. There were only about 10 of us left on the thread after about May last year.