Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

90 reviews

emilypalah's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I think this is my current favourite book. Not many books make me cry, but this one did. It made me rethink my impact, being alive on this earth, and my future career as a biologist. The plot and the twists and turns and the flashbacks all added to the beauty of this book. Wow honestly 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

lak98's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault

wonderenglish's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A hard read because of the possibility of such a harsh future becoming a reality. But beautifully written and somehow hopeful despite its grimness. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Car accident, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, and Blood

Minor: Child death

alsndra's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Car accident, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Death

fraudfrog's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Sexual assault, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicide

izaklights's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I literally have no idea how I feel about this book except I didn't like it and I've already forgotten the names of half the characters 

Also

her saying she murdered someone when she didn't is so stupid. Who does that

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Car accident

obviousidentity's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

taylorlanxon's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Abandonment

annamolpus's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Our heroine is a scientist obsessed with an endangered species that she loves dearly.  In fact, she often identifies more with the animals she studies than with her fellow humans.  She has significant trauma in her past, some of which is alluded to only obliquely so that the reader slowly pieces together what happened via flashbacks sprinkled throughout the novel.  As the novel begins, our heroine has travelled to a foreign land on a possibly-doomed quest to save her species, where she's greeted with distrust - or even outright hostility - from the locals who feel their livelihood is threatened.  However, over time, she forms a found family of sorts with a motley crew of people who develop respect for her obsession even if they don't always understand it.  

My only issue with my synopsis of Migrations above is that it applies equally to McConaghy's subsequent novel "Once There Were Wolves."  As it happens, I read Once There Were Wolves first, so it felt fresher to me then and Wolves is my favorite of the two.  There are certainly differences between the novels, but I must admit that as I began Migrations, I was pretty quickly struck by the similarities.  Nevertheless, I enjoyed Migrations and found it very moving.  It takes place in a near future where most species are going extinct at a rapid pace, which is certainly a sobering premise.  I would've preferred a slightly more straightforward recounting of the protagonist's past trauma (she's an unreliable narrator).  But the well-developed characters and passion for nature were a draw for me.

I'd recommend this for fans of character-centric literary fiction, particularly with a passion for environmentalism.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

corriejn's review against another edition

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I really, really hated this book. It was a gradual but very steady decline from being into it at the start, and just hating it more and more through the entire thing, right up until the end. I did not like the main character (or many of the other characters, for that matter). I hated the really creepy AF main romantic relationship. I hated how many things the author got wildly wrong about wildlife research and conservation (like things that were pretty egregious and would have been super simple to just google). I hated the whole storyline. I hated how predictable some of the things were, that the author tried to keep mysterious throughout the book and reveal later. 

I do get why some people might like this book. They're just wrong. (Sorry, but did I mention I really really hate it?)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail