Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Last Migration by Charlotte McConaghy

13 reviews

britthesmer's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I did not want this book to end. I found the story to be thought-provoking, suspenseful, deeply moving, and just overall a unique and beautiful read. I loved the complicated characters, the shifting timelines, and the tragic love story, intertwined with a painful but wildly relevant environmental/climate change theme. This novel will stay with me for a long time, and I can’t wait to recommend it to others!
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sarahholliday's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Honestly, so close to a 5 star read! The ending lost me a little—it seemed a little too "wrapped up with a neat, pretty bow" compared to the rest of the story, but I was happy that Franny ended up where she did so I can't complain too much.

McConaghy is a brilliant writer—her prose are gorgeous, and I really enjoyed the structure of this story. The slow reveal of Franny's past, and the impact it's having on her present, built the tension of the story beautifully. And McConaghy's dedication to illuminating the consequences of climate change while also wrestling with the complexities of everyday life is incredibly impressive. All of these things make her an automatic read for me!
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iseinkpen's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A very emotionally powerful book. I enjoyed the first half more than the second half, as the story devolved increasingly into quite melodramatic and difficult to believe plotpoints.
The crew becoming so ride-or-die for Franny? Ennis and Franny managing to walk across fricking Antarctica with no prep and barely enough food, yet surviving? Also how did they get back afterwards? How did the ships survive such long journeys when they were breaking down? I don't mind suspending disbelief but I felt like my suspension was doing some seriously heavy lifting.
 
Nevertheless, the themes and characters were powerful enough that it affected me emotionally, even if from a plot point of view I was dubious.
I read McConaghy's second novel about wolves first, and I've got to say they are remarkably similar - it feels a bit like she copy and pasted the template, but I guess if it works it works. But like her other novel, it's billed to be about climate change and wildlife destructions but deviates a lot from that plot/theme to explore the character's own trauma. That isn't a problem per se, but the birds and climate change plot felt a little unfinished, like it petered out because she didn't exactly know where to take it. BUT, not nearly as much as in the wolves book, hence my higher rating for this one. The near apocalyptic world also felt somewhat underdeveloped (if that much wildlife had died off, humanity would be struggling a lot more). 
On the writing, it was very evocative and emotionally powerful. And that's when I'm reading it in Swedish, which isn't my native language - if the emotion and skill in describing the natural world and bodily experiences survived that much level of translation, I reckon if I'd read it in the original English this writing would have hit me like a truck and left me a blubbering mess on multiple occasions. As it was, I just cried at the end (on a public bus!).
Important to be aware that it's a lot darker than the blurb would imply so definitely heed the content warnings - of which there are many and very explicit. There's no option for ecocide in the content warnings, but like big time on that (of course).
Overall, I did... Enjoy isn't the right word, but I was transported by this book. I learnt about birds, and it's left me thinking a lot about how I want to treat the people - human and animals - in my life, and perhaps that's the most important thing of all.
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karwc's review against another edition

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adventurous dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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exiles's review against another edition

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5.0

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marykatpat's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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h_dubew's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book gave me so much perspective and after having finished it I feel grateful that I got to read this story. 
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morganthecarrot's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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smiti_nathan's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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jaimiejaimiejaimie's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

It's a 3.5? This book was strange for me. Franny was so outside of anyone I could imagine, and the events were so improbable I had a hard time with it. I appreciated the diverse characters, but at the same time they seemed there as a backdrop to a white woman's plight. It was still engrossing, but it felt like a book I would have appreciated more as a college student and had more drama in my gut. The audiobook narrator does a pretty darn good job with all of the accents and brings the story alive with her acting, so there's that. And as a content note, I found it very difficult to get through certain parts as the mother to a son and daughter. 

But also, what the heck did I just read? Did anyone grow? Did anyone learn anything? What was real? 
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