Olive’s review of Migrations > Likes and Comments
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but why emily st john mandel called it extraordinary...
Agreed, I could not even rate this book for all the ridiculousness. Was I imagining it or did a helicopter really arrive out of nowhere at the end? I feel like I need to read that part again.
Linda wrote: "Agreed, I could not even rate this book for all the ridiculousness. Was I imagining it or did a helicopter really arrive out of nowhere at the end? I feel like I need to read that part again."
I can't remember also but it sounds about right :)
the ending was not good and a bit bananas. it was obvious she's spent the most time editing the beginning.
And leave us not forget that Franny seduced a group of people to join her on a suicide mission and then, after two of them die, she decides to live. Even Jim Jones drank his own Kool-Aid.
I completely agree with you. I loved Station Eleven and also love birds so I was super excited about this book. I hated Franny and I agree about the awful world building. I won’t go out of my way to read anything by this author.
This novel is about Franny not conservation, I am disappointed, falsely advertised.
I will not recommend this to my friends.
Oh I do like a good honest review!! too many books are published full of rubbish masquerading as meaningful reading.
So nice to read comments by like-minded people. I don't know when I've ever disliked a character so much. Three things really bothered me: the wolf which looked at Franny with black eyes (wolf eyes are never black, they are different shades of amber all the way to green); and when she and Anik get on board the boat to steal water and she drags the containers through the cold sea (and seems to be surprised when the 5-gallon containers float)! And the fact that 10 gallons of water is enough for 7 people for a week. My inner reader was shouting -- "Give me a break!!" I so wanted to like this book, but it was, in the end, simply ridiculous.
I wholeheartedly agree that it was hard for me o remember that this took place sometime in the future because, besides the extinction of animals, there was no other indication that the story was taking place in the future. I also felt like I was being manipulated to feel sympathy for the protagonist, but really only felt confused.
I'm glad I'm not alone! I felt Franny was self-indulgent, self-destructive and overwrought.
I appreciate you pointing out that the author repeatedly states that wandering is in her blood and her nature. I found that irritating. Wandering isn't a genetic trait and franny's behaviour made no sense to me. She was one of the most dislikeable main characters I've read in some time
Really connecting with your review. I liked the settings but found little redeeming in Franny and overall this was the most monotonous, monotone book I've read in quite awhile.
Yes! I was so confused about the extinctions that the author threw in randomly and without explanation.
THANK YOU for this review. How have most people not realised that if practically all wildlife has gone in this story, then the characters should already be living in an apocalyptic landscape?? It's actually terrifying because it means too few people have grasped what losing wildlife will mean for us...
Thanks for these comments and review. They are a relief between the heaps of praise for this simplistic take on mass extiction.
This review helps me feel less alone! I was annoyed for most of my time reading this book and kept waiting for it to get better... You make so many great points and I agree!
This book is SO unlike or even remotely related to Station Eleven I cannot comprehend people finding them similar. Migrations is the far superior book, IMO.
@Linda: Ennis deployed an emergency distress signal before they left the yacht.
@Paul: 2 of them died? Samuel was hospitalized and Lea's fate was never revealed. Or did I overlook someone?
Your review is so spot on! I’m so glad I’m not the only one who had these thoughts. My book club and I recently finished this book and we are all super displeased by the lazy writing and “shock factors” this author implemented.
Totally agree with you ..Once again, I am not impressed by a book everyone is raving about
Beware reviews from people who thank publishers for arc’s in their reviews, lol.
I’m 50 pages from the end and it’s a fast read so I’m going to finish but I am not into it at all. I’m in environmental sciences and this vision of the world due to climate change is ridiculous, and also Franny and Niall are ecofascists! Being anti-human is not environmentalism, I find them insufferable
Thank you !! I thought I was crazy for having the same thoughts as you when I saw the reviews and ratings!
I agree with your review and enjoyed reading it. Thanks for confirming my view of this book!
Thank you, I agree with your review. I found the first half engrossing, then it degenerated into ridiculous scenarios. I admired some of the author's prose but the ending was hurried and not at all believable.
I appreciate your honest review even if I don't agree. But I have never read Station Eleven, so I have no personal feelings about the comparison made. I was disappointed in the ending, but otherwise really liked the book.
Totally agree with this comment. Basically there is no research, a romance slapped on a foreground of an important topic, neither had delivered well
Thank you for this review. This book basically told us to be sad for no reason at all.
Thank you! It's disturbing that someone can write a whole book based on the premise of "animals are gone" and offer no other discussion of how the world is affected. It's extremely lazy to use environmental degradation as a mere abstract foil for an unlovable character's despair. Ugh. This kind of narcissism is pretty much the problem.
Thank you. I only read a little less than half of this before I decided I couldn't spend any more time with the glum bird-lady. Station 11 was engaging and somehow sparkled with humanity and hope even in the midst of disaster. This one was manipulative and annoying.
You make excellent points about the repercussions of all animal and plant life being gone. This has to be addressed.
Aren't we doing just that--watching animals disappear, forests burn, and the ocean change and kill off wildlife, while we....Netflix, shop Amazon, complain about a myriad of daily "truths." I understand your needing more building off the time and space, but i think what resonates with me is that everyone is just going about their business, not wanting, not able or absolutely rejecting the darkness that is coming....
Above: Olive’s scathing 1 star review.
Immediately Below: a 5 star review from another trusted reviewer.
The winner: Olive, by a country mile. If I read this book and realized that the author never explained the reason why animals are gone, I would have been livid.
Thank you, Olive! You’ve saved me no small amount of frustration.
Thank you for this review. I felt pretty much the same way. I grew to loathe Franny and just didn’t get the whole ‘in her blood’ thing at all.
I agree. What a disappointment for what could have been an interesting tale
Just awful -- Franny is just a sad, pathetic, messed up character who doesn't deserve to be the focal point of an entire novel.
You are mistaken in your review. Franny is not an unreliable narrator. She is not telling the story at all. It is in the third person, after all. This is one of the most beautiful novels I have ever read and I have read a lot of novels. The formula is perfect for it is part mystery, part character analysis, part adventure, part warning. I am sorry you did not see in this author’s gift what I saw.
Virginia wrote: "You are mistaken in your review. Franny is not an unreliable narrator. She is not telling the story at all. It is in the third person, after all. This is one of the most beautiful novels I have eve..."
People are allowed to feel different things about the same novel?
Chantal, it is not an opinion about whether she is an unreliable narrator. She is just NOT the narrator, unreliable or otherwise.
Virginia wrote: "Chantal, it is not an opinion about whether she is an unreliable narrator. She is just NOT the narrator, unreliable or otherwise."
Third person does not necessarily denote an omniscient narrator. As the only person's point of view we are ever given is Franny's, the implication is clear that Franny is telling the story. It's a very common device in novels.
in fact, without insects you would not have crops or any plants.
Thank you for saving me from reading this. The world is bad enough. I read to escape it.
Ah! Thank you for mentioning that this is an unreliable narrator novel. I was considering this read, then read your review. I can't stand unreliable narrators! Thanks for helping me dodge that bullet!
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nastya
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Aug 24, 2020 10:44AM
but why emily st john mandel called it extraordinary...
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Agreed, I could not even rate this book for all the ridiculousness. Was I imagining it or did a helicopter really arrive out of nowhere at the end? I feel like I need to read that part again.
Linda wrote: "Agreed, I could not even rate this book for all the ridiculousness. Was I imagining it or did a helicopter really arrive out of nowhere at the end? I feel like I need to read that part again."I can't remember also but it sounds about right :)
the ending was not good and a bit bananas. it was obvious she's spent the most time editing the beginning.
And leave us not forget that Franny seduced a group of people to join her on a suicide mission and then, after two of them die, she decides to live. Even Jim Jones drank his own Kool-Aid.
I completely agree with you. I loved Station Eleven and also love birds so I was super excited about this book. I hated Franny and I agree about the awful world building. I won’t go out of my way to read anything by this author.
This novel is about Franny not conservation, I am disappointed, falsely advertised.I will not recommend this to my friends.
Oh I do like a good honest review!! too many books are published full of rubbish masquerading as meaningful reading.
So nice to read comments by like-minded people. I don't know when I've ever disliked a character so much. Three things really bothered me: the wolf which looked at Franny with black eyes (wolf eyes are never black, they are different shades of amber all the way to green); and when she and Anik get on board the boat to steal water and she drags the containers through the cold sea (and seems to be surprised when the 5-gallon containers float)! And the fact that 10 gallons of water is enough for 7 people for a week. My inner reader was shouting -- "Give me a break!!" I so wanted to like this book, but it was, in the end, simply ridiculous.
I wholeheartedly agree that it was hard for me o remember that this took place sometime in the future because, besides the extinction of animals, there was no other indication that the story was taking place in the future. I also felt like I was being manipulated to feel sympathy for the protagonist, but really only felt confused.
I'm glad I'm not alone! I felt Franny was self-indulgent, self-destructive and overwrought.
I appreciate you pointing out that the author repeatedly states that wandering is in her blood and her nature. I found that irritating. Wandering isn't a genetic trait and franny's behaviour made no sense to me. She was one of the most dislikeable main characters I've read in some time
Really connecting with your review. I liked the settings but found little redeeming in Franny and overall this was the most monotonous, monotone book I've read in quite awhile.
Yes! I was so confused about the extinctions that the author threw in randomly and without explanation.
THANK YOU for this review. How have most people not realised that if practically all wildlife has gone in this story, then the characters should already be living in an apocalyptic landscape?? It's actually terrifying because it means too few people have grasped what losing wildlife will mean for us...
Thanks for these comments and review. They are a relief between the heaps of praise for this simplistic take on mass extiction.
This review helps me feel less alone! I was annoyed for most of my time reading this book and kept waiting for it to get better... You make so many great points and I agree!
This book is SO unlike or even remotely related to Station Eleven I cannot comprehend people finding them similar. Migrations is the far superior book, IMO.
@Linda: Ennis deployed an emergency distress signal before they left the yacht.
@Paul: 2 of them died? Samuel was hospitalized and Lea's fate was never revealed. Or did I overlook someone?
Your review is so spot on! I’m so glad I’m not the only one who had these thoughts. My book club and I recently finished this book and we are all super displeased by the lazy writing and “shock factors” this author implemented.
Totally agree with you ..Once again, I am not impressed by a book everyone is raving about
Beware reviews from people who thank publishers for arc’s in their reviews, lol.
I’m 50 pages from the end and it’s a fast read so I’m going to finish but I am not into it at all. I’m in environmental sciences and this vision of the world due to climate change is ridiculous, and also Franny and Niall are ecofascists! Being anti-human is not environmentalism, I find them insufferable
Thank you !! I thought I was crazy for having the same thoughts as you when I saw the reviews and ratings!
I agree with your review and enjoyed reading it. Thanks for confirming my view of this book!
Thank you, I agree with your review. I found the first half engrossing, then it degenerated into ridiculous scenarios. I admired some of the author's prose but the ending was hurried and not at all believable.
I appreciate your honest review even if I don't agree. But I have never read Station Eleven, so I have no personal feelings about the comparison made. I was disappointed in the ending, but otherwise really liked the book.
Totally agree with this comment. Basically there is no research, a romance slapped on a foreground of an important topic, neither had delivered well
Thank you for this review. This book basically told us to be sad for no reason at all.
Thank you! It's disturbing that someone can write a whole book based on the premise of "animals are gone" and offer no other discussion of how the world is affected. It's extremely lazy to use environmental degradation as a mere abstract foil for an unlovable character's despair. Ugh. This kind of narcissism is pretty much the problem.
Thank you. I only read a little less than half of this before I decided I couldn't spend any more time with the glum bird-lady. Station 11 was engaging and somehow sparkled with humanity and hope even in the midst of disaster. This one was manipulative and annoying.
You make excellent points about the repercussions of all animal and plant life being gone. This has to be addressed.
Aren't we doing just that--watching animals disappear, forests burn, and the ocean change and kill off wildlife, while we....Netflix, shop Amazon, complain about a myriad of daily "truths." I understand your needing more building off the time and space, but i think what resonates with me is that everyone is just going about their business, not wanting, not able or absolutely rejecting the darkness that is coming....
Above: Olive’s scathing 1 star review. Immediately Below: a 5 star review from another trusted reviewer.
The winner: Olive, by a country mile. If I read this book and realized that the author never explained the reason why animals are gone, I would have been livid.
Thank you, Olive! You’ve saved me no small amount of frustration.
Thank you for this review. I felt pretty much the same way. I grew to loathe Franny and just didn’t get the whole ‘in her blood’ thing at all.
I agree. What a disappointment for what could have been an interesting tale
Just awful -- Franny is just a sad, pathetic, messed up character who doesn't deserve to be the focal point of an entire novel.
You are mistaken in your review. Franny is not an unreliable narrator. She is not telling the story at all. It is in the third person, after all. This is one of the most beautiful novels I have ever read and I have read a lot of novels. The formula is perfect for it is part mystery, part character analysis, part adventure, part warning. I am sorry you did not see in this author’s gift what I saw.
Virginia wrote: "You are mistaken in your review. Franny is not an unreliable narrator. She is not telling the story at all. It is in the third person, after all. This is one of the most beautiful novels I have eve..."People are allowed to feel different things about the same novel?
Chantal, it is not an opinion about whether she is an unreliable narrator. She is just NOT the narrator, unreliable or otherwise.
Virginia wrote: "Chantal, it is not an opinion about whether she is an unreliable narrator. She is just NOT the narrator, unreliable or otherwise."Third person does not necessarily denote an omniscient narrator. As the only person's point of view we are ever given is Franny's, the implication is clear that Franny is telling the story. It's a very common device in novels.
in fact, without insects you would not have crops or any plants.
Thank you for saving me from reading this. The world is bad enough. I read to escape it.
Ah! Thank you for mentioning that this is an unreliable narrator novel. I was considering this read, then read your review. I can't stand unreliable narrators! Thanks for helping me dodge that bullet!
