Reviews with content warning for Violence - Migrations

it wasn’t an easy migration for franny, and going through it by her side wasn’t a straightforward journey for me either.

my first impression, only a few pages in, was that mcconaghy knows how to grab me, drag me into her world, and have me really present - captivated- in the events which are filled with colour. franny (protagonist) and her obsession with birds and the ocean gave these moments and reflections a poetic touch which really attracted me.

but i got worried.
all that longing to follow the last arctic terns, to swim in the ocean and to give in to this desire to be free; was this romanising her mental state and her selfish ways which hurt the people around her? i started to have these thoughts and i got quite judgmental and annoyed at her, but this feeling was also in conflict with my empathy towards a struggling and heartbroken woman.

but it was mostly annoyance for some time, and this was before i finally saw the whole picture and realised that this is not a romanisation at all and there’s more to this story and her reasons for her actions.

my journey through these pages ended with heartbreak and a new perception of franny. she’s real and flawed, and i finally realised that she was easy to be suspicious of because i didn’t know the whole story.

i’m telling you this to demonstrate how this personal migration i was reading about evoked a reading experience that took me though a journey too.

wow. this book was a rollercoaster for me. but in the end, it truly was a unique experience and i’m in awe thinking about how this was executed. i’m actually quite speechless and i don’t feel like this review gives it justice, and that it won’t matter how many times i rewrite it.

read this book through and through, and you’ll see it’s beauty. prepare for heartbreak. i’m deeply impressed and i highly recommend.

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whatellisreadnext's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

One of the best audiobook experiences I've ever had. I really struggle with audio, but this was just so engaging and the narrator was a dream. Plus, the ending totally broke me; I'm talking major waterworks.

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andiefish's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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bakerreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Tragic, haunting, dark, and beautiful.
This story is set in the near future, where most every wild animal is extinct. We follow Franny Stone, an unreliable narrator with a dark past, as she tracks the last known flock of Arctic terns on their final migration.
This story is fairly depressing, but there’s a found family aspect that I just absolutely adored and loved how the characters interacted with one another (for the most part). McConaghy is amazing at writing complex, and realistically flawed characters. This is a story about love, and loss, and finding your place in the world, and I thought it was perfect.

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hadley_w's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.0

I liked the writing and the topic of climate change (well more like it made me super sad but it is still a great reminder to do my part to help our planet). I just was not expecting the uniqueness of the main character and her life/ lifestyle. Even though I liked it at some points and it made for beautiful one-liners, it mainly made me feel disconnected from her and sometimes annoyed me. That’s not to say uniqueness is bad at all, just that in this case it didn’t hit the way it could have if that makes sense. Overall, I liked it but it wasn’t amazing like I was hoping. It also gave me weird dreams of the world ending and all the animals dying so there’s that too lol.

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