Migrations
2020 • 272 pages
Ratings33
Average rating4
15
Ratings33
Average rating4
"Migrations is as beautiful and as wrenching as anything I've ever read. This is an extraordinary novel by a wildly talented writer." —Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven For readers of Flight Behavior and Station Eleven, a novel set on the brink of catastrophe, as a young woman chases the world’s last birds—and her own final chance for redemption. Franny Stone has always been a wanderer. By following the ocean’s tides and the birds that soar above, she can forget the losses that have haunted her life. But when the wild she loves begins to disappear, Franny can no longer wander without a destination. She arrives in remote Greenland with one purpose: to find the world’s last flock of Arctic terns and follow them on their final migration. She convinces Ennis Malone, captain of the Saghani, to take her onboard, winning over his eccentric crew with promises that the birds she is tracking will lead them to fish. As the Saghani fights its way south, Franny’s new shipmates begin to realize that she is full of dark secrets: night terrors, an unsent pile of letters, and an obsession with pursuing the terns at any cost. When the story of her past begins to unspool, Ennis and his crew must ask themselves what Franny is really running toward—and running from. Propelled by a narrator as fierce and fragile as the terns she is following, Migrations is both an ode to our threatened world and a breathtaking page-turner about the lengths we will go for the people we love.
Reviews with the most likes.
“It isn't fair to be the kind of creature who is able to love but unable to stay.”
Migrations follows Franny Stone's journey to follow the last migration of the Arctic terns. It's a story set in the near future, on an earth that's been ravaged by the warming climate and where most species of animals have gone extinct. It's a heart wrenching story centered on a character who is so damaged and has lost so much.
I found the story to be predictable to a certain extent, but Charlotte McConaghy's story-telling is so beautiful that I found myself hooked anyways.
“It isn't fair to be the kind of creature who is able to love but unable to stay.”
Migrations follows Franny Stone's journey to follow the last migration of the Arctic terns. It's a story set in the near future, on an earth that's been ravaged by the warming climate and where most species of animals have gone extinct. It's a heart wrenching story centered on a character who is so damaged and has lost so much.
I found the story to be predictable to a certain extent, but Charlotte McConaghy's story-telling is so beautiful that I found myself hooked anyways.
Loved the shorter, alternating chapters going back in time to give us context and clues, and I felt much more invested getting to part 2. However, most of the characters' actions and motivations made no sense to me, even if we assume a suspended dystopian future and Franny's generational trauma.
I guess in the end it felt too much nature, and falling into tendencies or expectations without processing them until it was too late.
Featured Prompt
32 booksApril is Earth Month! 🌎 What fiction or nonfiction books would you recommend to readers who want to learn more about environmental issues, climate crisis, and protecting our planet?
