Migrations

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

This thread is to discuss Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy.

Pages: 256 pages

Length: 1 month (August)

Participants: SarahKat, Shari

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

Hi Shari I started this early because the library hold came through. Unfortunately it's on audio so it's a little harder to follow and I'm not a big fan of the narrator. She doesn't emote well.

I am through chapter 7. (view spoiler)[I enjoy the chapters with her following the birds a little more right now because it just has an introspective feel to it. However, I can't keep all of the crew straight. I think her background is just now starting to get interesting when she meets her husband. (hide spoiler)]

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

Through chapter 18: (view spoiler)[This book is just too hard to enjoy on audio. I don't know if it would be better in physical form or not. The timeline jumps around a lot I think. I can sort of follow the thread of when she met Nile, and the one where she's on the fishing boat, but there's a lot of other stuff about her past she touches on for a minute.

I'm still more interested in the fishing boat stuff. So she got attacked by a man and stabbed him and then she and the crew all leave, even though there is a new ban on fishing boats. But like... earlier? She's in prison for killing 2 people. I don't even know if it's explained that or not.

There's a lot of symbolism and symmetry and all that fun stuff. I can definitely see my English Lit professor from college assigning this book and me writing a nice flowery essay about all the themes. But since I'm not in college anymore I don't feel like writing such an essay. (hide spoiler)]

[Shari]

Hi SarahKat. I got this from my library last week. I'll start reading it on Saturday as I'm going on an overnight trip with some friends tonight. Sorry you aren't enjoying the narrator of your audio book.

[Shari]

Sorry I haven't updated here. I did start reading this, but I don't like it, yet.... I can't remember what chapter I'm on - I got distracted reading Fairy Tale by Stephen King which I'm hoping to finish today - I know that she is on the boat and they went through a storm. Did you finish it?

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

Not yet I'm on the last disc! I'll probably finish tomorrow. It's not my favorite but her past starts coming together and being a little more interesting.

[Shari]

I read more of it last night. I'm liking it better now. It is confusing with all the flashbacks. I'm up to chapter 10.

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

I finished! Putting my final thoughts in spoilers

(view spoiler)[ The story did become easier to follow after a while when I was oriented to the different timelines, but for a while it was too confusing. At first, I liked her present time on the ship better just because I knew *when* it was, but there too many characters on the ship and none of them really stuck out to me except Ennis and Lea.

I started enjoying her story with Nile a little more, and I started figuring that Nile was probably one of the two people she killed somehow. The scene with the car wreck was really graphic and sad.

I'm glad she went back to Ireland and served her time and then her dad picked her up, and the whole theme of humans not just being destroyers but we can maybe help some too.

Sometimes it felt too preachy. Sometimes it felt too corny. Like when it says stuff like "I was up but down, I was freezing but also no I wasn't." There was a lot of that. Sentences made to sound profound but just end up being annoying, especially when overused. (hide spoiler)]

[Shari]

I finished last night. (view spoiler)[ Not sure my spoiler alert thingy worked, I haven't done one in awhile. I also thought her husband was one of the people she killed. I'm glad she got back out of the water at the end and that she found the birds she was looking for. I only gave it 2 stars.

The first time the spoiler didn't work, but the 2nd time I tried it did! Yay! But now this note is in my spoiler......UGH! (hide spoiler)]