Migrations - Kirjakasa

Hardcover, 272 pages

Published Aug. 3, 2020 by Flatiron Books.

ISBN:: 978-1-250-20402-8

(2 reviews)

She has always been the kind who can love but not stay. Taking only her research gear, she arrives in Greenland to follow the last Arctic terns in the world on what might be their final migration to Antarctica. She talks her way onto a fishing boat and it becomes clear that she is chasing more than just the birds.

7 editions

Catship reviewed Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

mhm

No rating

Yes I like this one. It's a "boring" book, slow and a bit repetitive. It's, among other things, about the sea, about birds, and about wanting to die, like the birds are dying.

It's a world that is almost realistic. I don't know if people can really swim so far and so fast and survive such cold water, but it doesn't sound completely implausible that these people can. Or if that one injury scene makes sense. No idea.

But the big thing is extinction. All animals are dying. The sea is mostly empty. One character says that rats and cockroaches will probably survive. But seagulls are gone, and crows are declared extinct. Crows? Really? I can't believe that crows will die before humans. (Also, I watched a documentary that said octopuses thrive because sharks are getting fewer.) But I don't have to. That's just what this book world is like, …

Yes I like this one. It's a "boring" book, slow and a bit repetitive. It's, among other things, about the sea, about birds, and about wanting to die, like the birds are dying.

It's a world that is almost realistic. I don't know if people can really swim so far and so fast and survive such cold water, but it doesn't sound completely implausible that these people can. Or if that one injury scene makes sense. No idea.

But the big thing is extinction. All animals are dying. The sea is mostly empty. One character says that rats and cockroaches will probably survive. But seagulls are gone, and crows are declared extinct. Crows? Really? I can't believe that crows will die before humans. (Also, I watched a documentary that said octopuses thrive because sharks are getting fewer.) But I don't have to. That's just what this book world is like, and I don't mind.

There's a lot of cold weather and frustrating relationships and life going wrong.

Garrett reviewed Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

Review of 'Migrations' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I don't want to say too much about the lessons here since it might veer a bit too close to spoiler territory, but there's a really nice build up in the way that it flits through timelines. There's a weaving of a picture of a woman coming to grips with the question of nature or nurture, looking for a way to gain closure in something she has no control over, the migratory path of a bird. A heavy read but well worth it in what you get from it.