Migrations

Charlotte McConaghy

For readers of Station Eleven and Flight Behavior, a debut novel set on the brink of catastrophe, as a young woman chases the world’s last birds – and her own final chance for redemption.

A dark past. An impossible journey. The will to survive.

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 so 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 salty, 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 the beguiling scientist in their midst is not who she seems. Battered by night terrors, accumulating a pile of letters to her husband, and dead set on following the terns at any cost, Franny is full of dark secrets. 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 a shatteringly beautiful ode to the wild places and creatures now threatened. But at its heart, it is about the lengths we will go, to the very edges of the world, for the people we love.

-Excerpt taken from Goodreads.

Check Goodreads to see the book’s ratings.

My Opinion

(3.5 / 5) This is a tough one to rate. I have very mixed feelings. First off, it’s a story about a woman traveling to follow the migration pattern of birds. That in and of itself didn’t interest me a ton. She was passionate about it so it made me interested but not enough. 

The part I struggled with the most was Franny, the main character. She was definitely a lost soul. It stated more than once that she was born in the wrong body, but it wasn’t clear what body she should’ve been born into? I’m assuming a bird or some kind of animal. She was a difficult character. For one, you feel for this woman. She truly is a tortured soul. She is searching for something throughout the entire book and I’m not positive she ever found it. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she killed herself, that’s how she was. Seeing into her life and having her described was heart breaking. It was poetic and beautiful in some ways but painful and heavy in others. The author did a good job making me feel these feelings which is great writing, but not something I want to feel. 

Throughout the story, you see her lift then fall in so many ways. She has multiple tragedies and multiple good things happen to her. Yet, she’s still searching. 

This story hurt my heart. It was easy to connect with her but hard to not want to smack her for stupidity. She kept leaving her life over and over for her search. This woman needed serious mental health help and I wish she had it. She saved multiple lives throughout and initially I thought it as selflessness, but I came to look at it as a possible death wish.

Parts of it felt like a memoir, parts felt like a story. I had so many mixed emotions that I will give it a solid “in the middle” rating. I do not understand why it was labeled sci fi, it felt more like contemporary fiction.

The content/ trigger warnings are language (F words), attempted rape, murder, attempted suicide, physical abuse and two women kiss.

Thank you to Libro.fm and Macmillan Audio and Flatiron Books for the ALC copy in exchange for an honest review. This book will be published August 4, 2020.

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