The New York Times Book Review - USA (2020-09-13)

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW 11

“MIGRATIONS,” THE AUSTRALIANyoung-
adult writer Charlotte McConaghy’s first
voyage into the warming waters of literary
eco-fiction, is a visceral and haunting novel
that opens with the lines “The animals are
dying. Soon we will be alone here.” It’s
telling that such an assertion is so readily
accepted by the reader — that the near-to-
tal collapse of animal life on the planet is
met with merely a solemn nod and an ea-
gerness to get on with the story.
We meet Franny Stone, a detached and
mysteriously damaged woman who has
traveled to Greenland to electronically tag
what might be the last remaining colony of

arctic terns before they embark upon the
“longest natural migration of any living
creature,” a pole-to-pole quest that will
eventually land them in Antarctica.
Seeking passage on a boat to follow the
birds on what could be their final migra-
tion, Franny encounters Ennis Malone, the
enigmatic and tight-lipped captain of the
Saghani, a purse seine herring boat. Some-
what implausibly, the captain agrees to
take Franny aboard, hoping that her
tracked terns will lead them to a hidden
jackpot of herring. No matter the out-
rageous fuel costs required to make such a
voyage. We’re afloat in the realm of meta-
phor here, so to sum up: We have a mercu-
rial and restless narrator signing on with a
menacing captain who is rarely seen above
deck. Ringing any bells? As well as a work
of first-rate climate fiction, “Migrations” is
also a clever reimagining of “Moby-Dick,”
that foundational text of humankind vs. na-
ture, of hubris vs. humility, with Franny
playing Ishmael, the famously morose sea-
farer whose damp and drizzly soul has

gone full November. Sea yarns that serve

as voyages of self-discovery have been the

exclusive literary domain of men for far too

long, and McConaghy deserves extra cred-

it for sounding the oceanic depths of the fe-

male soul.

Once the ship is in motion, there are

some delightful flashes of camaraderie

among the crew, as Franny is shown the

ropes — and knots — of life on a purse

seiner, pitched and pestered by North At-

lantic storms. These workaday details are

expertly rendered: Franny’s hands bleed.

Her blisters pop. Decks are swabbed. Oc-

casionally McConaghy reaches back to

traumatic episodes in Franny’s troubled

past, unspooling the details of her life with

admirable artistry. She’s been to jail, and

the estranged husband she’s left in her

wake may not actually be alive. The real

mystery here is not some white whale but

Franny herself, with much of the novel’s

suspense driven by the patchiness of her

testimony.

“Migrations” is not without flaws, how-

ever. As the crew nears their destination,

the plot gets jerky, at times leaning upon

melodrama, and the narrative’s previous

vagueness about this dystopian world

feels flimsy and concocted. At one point,

fishing is banned worldwide by a nameless

governmental body; at another, Franny is

pursued by a nameless sea police force.

Also, the notion that anyone in Newfound-

land is ever going to hold up a sign that

says “Justice for fish, death to fishermen,”

even after the global collapse of the world’s

sea life, is sheer fantasy.

Still, this novel’s prose soars with its

transporting descriptions of the planet’s

landscapes and their dwindling inhab-

itants, and contains many wonderful medi-

tations on our responsibilities to our

earthly housemates. “What happens when

the last of the terns die?” Franny muses.

“Nothing will ever be as brave again.”

“Migrations” is a nervy and well-crafted

novel, one that lingers long after its voyage

is over. It’s a story about our mingling sor-

rows, both personal and global, and the

survivor’s guilt that will be left in their

wake. 0

Call Me Franny

A ‘Moby-Dick’ for our times.

By MICHAEL CHRISTIE

MIGRATIONS
By Charlotte McConaghy
256 pp. Flatiron Books. $26.99.

MICHAEL CHRISTIE’Smost recent novel is
“Greenwood.”

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