What readers think of Migrations, plus links to write your own review.

I thoroughly enjoyed Charlotte McConaghy's gripping novel of redemption, love, and survival, "Migrations." In this time of forced sheltered in place isolation, I found by reading her astounding novel, I was finally able to break my "lack of concentration" cycle I found myself spiraling in with other books. This is story is about loss but it is also about hope as the protagonist, Franny tells her story of wildlife's disappearance from our earth. She follows the arctic terns as they travel from Arctic to the Antarctic. She persuades a captain and crew to let her join them and allow the birds to dictate the boat's course. As the story unfolds, the author takes the reader through Franny's harrowing search for the birds and her tormented past. Interlaced in this lyrical story are interesting characters that have their own action filled stories to share with the reader. This unique heart-wrenching story slowly pieces together why Franny is driven to follow the terns and will keep any reader engaged during the difficult days ahead.

This story is like a puzzle. Every now and then you get a piece of the puzzle. Then you start to put it together. It is very interesting and moving in so many ways and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in birds, climate change, tides and finding yourself.

This book, like the birds the protagonist is so determined to follow, soars. Reading it in the midst of an actual pandemic gives it that much more gravity. But it needed no help in that, with or without the hovering of coronavirus. The prose is achingly gorgeous: 'I wandered. Through cobbled streets or into paddocks, where long grass whispered hish as I passed between.' The slow emergence of our main character, Franny, how the author lifts veil after veil to reveal her character, made me physically ache for her, while the author's attention to language makes the narrative that much more poetic, that much more enthralling. The laser-focus on nature, in all senses of the word, gives the book both a timeless and timely theme. I loved everything, every aching sentence, of this debut novel.

Love and loss. Human family and the family of earth.
How does one embrace each of these?
Denial or acceptance? Avoidance or acknowledgement? Escape or engage? As Franny journeys through each of these stages and emotions of her life, she travels physically and passionately from north to south.
Migrations contains a wealth of topics-relationships, death, nature, environment and the most interesting to me, Arctic Terns-for any book group discussion.
When I rate a book 5 stars that means I plan to read it again. As soon as I share this engrossing novel with all my bookworm friends, I will be eagerly rediscovering Migrations.

I loved Migrations! Reading this book during the Covid-19 pandemic was very interesting. There are always two strong arguments in every controversy and it was interesting to read these points in the book and also seeing these points in relation to Covid. Throw in some beautiful language and Migrations is a hit! My favorite lines of the whole book are "We are wiping them out. Creatures that have learned to survive anything, everything, except us."
I think Migrations would be an excellent book club read. I think the best discussion books are ones in which people will naturally divide on an issue and have differing points of view. This book has enough back story that it will appeal to most readers. I read it in two days, earmarked a ton of pages and look forward to reading it again!

I agree with one reviewer of Charlotte McConaghy's novel Migrations in that it is a "deeply moving and consistently unsettling novel, both personal and global." From the first page, Franny Stone reveals just enough about herself and the environment to know something is tragically wrong with both. Broken proves a dominant theme of this novel. Throughout Franny's mission to follow the migration of the world's last flock of Artic Terns, the reader discovers, bit by bit, Franny is a destroyer. She wrecks everything and everyone she touches. Franny romanticizes that her "wandering" nature is an inherent trait passed from her mother and her mother before that. However, when examined closer, one can see her wandering, and resulting emotional destruction, comes not from a gene passed through the generations, but rather a horrifically tragic event. Her life is one big lie, both to herself and those around her.

Even though McConaghy's novel is a page turner that kept me reading too late many nights, I found myself not liking Franny at all. I feel she is supposed to be the sympathetic victim we are to root for and fall in love with, but I'm not sold. In life, we are all responsible for our actions. No matter how horrible the cards we are dealt, we have a responsibility to protect others, even if it's from ourselves. I found irony in the fact that she felt so deeply about the animals going extinct, but did little to save the people she loved from herself. Now, I had moments of weakness when Franny was bluntly honest (in retrospect) and bared her soul to show the workings within. In those moments, my heart truly hurt for her. I could see her as a little injured bird, so fragile the slightest disruptions may end her life right then and there.

McConaghy's prose throughout the novel is as rhythmic as the ocean Franny sails, and Franny's emotions are as volatile as the storms that rage on that same sea. In many ways, the Terns and Franny live the same life and, in the end, the Terns bring her back.

This novel is one of the better books that I've read in a long time; it even may be a look into our environmental future. Franny with her migrations is moving from one interesting and eventful situation to another. Always there is a surprise when she reaches the ending of a migration. I'm hoping Migrations will receive many honors. It is a special book.

I put off reading this book because of the uncertain times we are facing. Once I stated reading it I found it to be captivating. Very scary at time, as it addresses rel situations we are facing such as climate change and extinction of species.
Fanny was a modern day hero with issues in her own past. She dealt with her issues and tried to help others on a ship bound journey to follow the migration.
I found this to be a very interesting and informative book and I will recommend it to my book club.