Tag: Literature

Review: Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

Anna and Alexis1 Comment
book with river behind it

VERDICT: 2 stars

Trigger warnings: Suicide, Sexual Assault

I’ve wanted to read Migrations since before its release. It has great ratings on Goodreads, which proves that you need to take ratings with a grain of salt. I did, however, see a 1 star review from a trusted reviewer. Because of the dystopian aspect, I wanted to read this for myself.

I was disappointed. 

The actual style of the writing is the only thing I liked about this book. It’s lyrical yet concise. But there are glaring holes in the world building and the plot. Then there’s the biggest problem-Franny.

Migrations alternates between two timelines: the past and present. In the present, almost all animals have gone extinct in the world. There aren’t many fish left, and people who still fish are hated. Franny worms her way onto a fishing ship to follow the last migration of Arctic Terns. She tells the captain she is an orithinogist, and that she thinks the Arctic terns will lead them to fish. She is right, for the most part, so she stays on the boat.

We are introduced to Franny’s tumultuous childhood in Ireland. Her mom disappeared when she was young, and she lived with her father’s mother in Australia. Back in Ireland, Franny sits in on at University and meets the love of her life- Insta love style. She and Niall marry immediately, but very quickly it’s a struggle for Franny to stay. 

Franny is the most unlikable narrator I have ever encountered. There is nothing redeeming about her. She is so chaotic that she’s not even a believable character. And the author’s excuse for her behavior? She’s a “wanderer”. She’s unable to stay in one place. Why? It’s in her blood.

SPOILERS: Franny’s defining character trait is violence. She sleepwalks and attempts to strangle Niall in her sleep. She’s in jail for  murder, and it’s unclear if it was on purposeful or not. She also managed to kill two more people over the course of the present narrative. And yet. Franny is a wonderful swimmer and saves multiple people from drowning over the course of the story as well. Her character is completely unpredictable but predisposed to destroy and leave. 

In the past, we know that Franny served time in prison. It’s eventually revealed why. She (accidently?) rammed headfirst into another car, killing Niall and the woman in the other car. Franny claims she did it on purpose. Then she reveals that she saw an owl, which distracted her from the road. Franny is an unreliable narrator, so we don’t really know. Which brings me to my next point. 

Niall, Franny’s husband, is seemingly okay with the fact that Franny will just leave him when she feels she has to. By the end, we are made to understand their relationship is like this-Franny is a wild thing, possibly a bird, possibly something else. She is untamed. Niall is a scientist and by trapping Franny, he’s able to study her closely. But Franny, being a wild thing, kills him in the end.

Franny succeeds(?) in following the birds to their last migration. destroying everything else around her in the process. She plans to spread Niall’s ashes into the sea there. She also plans on killing herself. She spreads the ashes, and then submerges herself, fully intending to end it. But she doesn’t. The book ends with her being released from prison for the second time of her life. Her dad, who has never been part of her life and who is a convicted killer herself, is waiting to pick her up. They drive off together.

Then there’s the complete and utter lack of worldbuilding. This is apparently set in the not-so-far future in which climate change and human behavior has made most animals in the world extinct. For some reason, fishermen have received the bulk of the blame for this act (maybe because there are still some fish in the ocean? It’s not very well explained). This could have been such a rich world and the extinction of the animals could have added another layer to Franny’s story. Instead, the state of the world is barely acknowledged throughout the story. 

Overall: With more developed worldbuilding, maybe I could have forgiven some of Franny’s erratic behavior in this book. Or maybe not. Either way, I don’t recommend reading this. Migration’s book description first reminded me of one of my favorite books, The Lightkeepers by Abby Geni. After reading Migrations, they can’t be compared. Save yourself the pain and read the Lightkeepers instead. 

Review: Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica

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Anna: This month, my fiancé and I read Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke. This is the first in a new noir series about Darren Matthews, a black Texas Ranger in East Texas. Darren’s job is on the line when he is sent to the rural town of Lark to investigate the murder of two people, a black lawyer and Chicago-resident Michael Wright, and a local white woman named Missy Dale. The people of Lark are frustratingly secretive. To further complicate things for Darren, Michael’s wife, Randie, is already trying to find out what happened to her husband.

Bluebird, Bluebird is about race, family, and justice. While I found all the topics important and the plot okay, I wasn’t thrilled by the writing style, which is why I ultimately gave the book three stars. Most of the characters felt glaringly one dimensional, especially the women.

The weakest character is Lisa. Not only is she extremely one dimensional and mostly nonexistent, but she’s the stereotypical “wife”. She’s mad at Darren because he just wants to ”roam” and live his life and she just wants him to come home and be safe. Um, no. I know this takes place in the south, but still. You’d think a man wrote this.


This use of recall and memory also made it hard to care about some of the secondary characters like Joe and Joe Junior. The reader never sees them, and their stories are told in such an indirect way that I found it hard to care.

The writing in general is super tell-y. I felt I was being alternately spoon fed and smacked over the head while being told, “this is what this means!” I would have liked to draw these conclusions myself.

One of my huge pet peeves in books is when a twin dies and the other twin is dating the dead twin’s former lover. Ahem, J.K. Rowling, I’m looking at you. As a twin, this is super annoying because TWINS AREN’T INTERCHANGEABLE. In this book, Darren’s twin uncles, William and Clayton, raised him. His Uncle William is dead, and William’s wife Naomi is dating Clayton now. I hate this.

Here are some things I did like:

The discussion of race relationships and how the justice system treats black people unfairly.

The fact that Randie and Darren didn’t fall in love. I would have just stopped reading then and there if that happened.

That Darren had noticed the tree in his yard where Mack had buried the gun, but left it alone. I think that was a great twist and a clever way to end the book and say that justice is complicated.

VERDICT: 3 out of 5 books

Review: Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

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Anna: Read 11/26/18

I couldn’t stop reading this. It’s safe to say that I’m in love with Sally Rooney’s writing style- it’s exactly what I want in literary fiction with a modern setting. I also think it’s an accurate representation of my generation. It’s an accomplishment when a book involves technology without taking away from the quality of writing. Everything about this book feels so real. It captures the ideas and ideals of my generation so well, from fluidity when it comes to sexuality, to how frustrating it can be, as a full-time student, managing finances, friendships, and mental health.

I loved Frances as a character. All of the characterization was rich and complex, but especially the main four- Frances, Bobbi, Nick and Melissa.The relationships were complicated and meticulously fleshed out, and the dialogue felt so realistic. I was impressed by the way Frances and Nick’s arguments were written, even over email. This book is aptly named Conversations with Friends as the complexity, frequency, and realness of these dialogues is something that defines this book. These characters actually have real, interesting conversations, which is something I appreciate. There’s nothing worse than fake, fluffy conversation.

Here are some things I didn’t like.

(Below is where the spoilers live!)

I loved this book all the way through, but it would have had even more of an impact without the last chapter. The fact that it implied that Frances is going to enter into a “relationship” with Nick again takes a way a bit from the chapters before.

Frances’s endometriosis diagnosis was a bit strange. I think reproduction problems are important to talk about in fiction, and too often periods aren’t even mentioned in literature, even in explicitly feminist fiction. Though I really appreciated that aspect, I wasn’t exactly sure of its purpose in the plot. All that comes to mind is that Frances being sick interfered with her fixing things with Bobbi and Nick. It also made her think about youthfulness, womanhood, and pregnancy in a different way, especially since she thought she was having a miscarriage when she first experienced the painful symptoms. I wait to read other people’s full reviews until after I write my own, so I will be looking into other takes on this when I finish writing this.

I thought Bobbi was really annoying. She felt so condescending and controlling over Frances, even at the end when Frances had grown a lot and developed her own “real personality.” I liked how complicated and undefined their relationship was, but I couldn’t get over how preachy and elitist Bobbi is throughout the book.

A huge pet peeve I have is how easy it was for Frances to get published. There is NO WAY that her story would have been published in a prestigious journal AND that she was paid royalties for it. Frances wrote the story in one sitting, sent it in unedited, AND it was the first prose she had ever written in her life. As writers and as someone who has worked in publishing, Alexis and I and are very familiar with the publication process. Maybe it’s easier to get published in a journal in Ireland, but I doubt it.

It was funny reading about Frances interning at a literary agency, because I did that. I can say that part was realistic!

This book does so many great things and I enjoyed reading this so much that I am still considering bumming it up a rating, despite the unsatisfying ending. I can’t wait to read Normal People by Sally Rooney soon!

VERDICT: 4 out of 5 books