315: Charlotte McConaghy’s MIGRATIONS - June 2026 Book Club Pick
- unabridgedpod
- 15 minutes ago
- 26 min read
Can a story about extinction still leave room for hope? In episode 315, we’re discussing Charlotte McConaughy’s Migrations (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm), our June 2026 book club pick, a haunting climate fiction novel about grief, survival, and the fragile beauty of the natural world.
We start with a bookish check-in: Jen is listening to Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm), and Ashley is reading My Friends by Fredrik Backman (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm). Then we dive into Migrations, talking about Franny’s journey, the book’s bleak but powerful vision of the future, and the questions it raises about extinction, responsibility, and hope.
We also share quotes, book pairings, bookish hearts ratings, and our Unabridged favorites. This is our last book club episode before summer break, and we’d love to hear what you thought of Migrations. We’ll be doing buddy reads on Instagram this summer, and we’ll be back with new episodes in September.
Bookish Check-in
Our June 2026 Book Club Pick
Our Pairings
Mentioned in Episode
Radiolab’s podcast episode about hookworms: https://radiolab.org/podcast/your-friendly-neighborhood-hookworms
Unabridged Favorites
Ashley - This is a Gardening Show
Jen - Lord of the Flies
(A note to our readers: click on the hashtags above to see our other blog posts with the same hashtag.)
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Full Transcript for Episode
[00:00:00] Ashley: Welcome to the Unabridged Podcast. I'm Ashley.
[00:00:05] Jen: And this is Jen.
[00:00:06] Ashley: Join us for bookish episodes and check out our website, unabridgedpod.com, where you can find lots of new bookish content to grow your TBR.
[00:00:13] Jen: Sign up for our newsletter to find out more about online book discussions and upcoming events. Find us on Patreon for extra Unabridged content.
[00:00:21] Join us on Instagram and Facebook at unabridgedpod and message us there or see our website to get plugged into the Unabridged community. You want opinions about books? We've got 'em.
[00:00:35] Ashley: Hi, and welcome to Unabridged. This is episode 315. Today, we're discussing Charlotte McConaghy's Migrations, which is our June 2026 book club pick. Before we get started today, I wanted to mention a couple of things. One is that, as we've said in recent episodes, we have a shop with bookshop.org. You can shop through our links at bookshop.org/shop/unabridgedpod.
[00:00:58] If you go to that site, anything from that link, we get a small commission for being an affiliate with them. Additionally, all of our books are on there, so, like, recommendations, our book club picks, our buddy reads, all of those things are featured there, so it's a good way to see what we've been talking about recently.
[00:01:17] So, you can definitely check that out. There's a link in our show notes. And you're also supporting independent bookstores when you shop at bookshop.org, which we're all happy to do. The other thing I wanted to mention before we get into our discussion today is that, as we've done in the last couple of years, we are taking our summer break. So, this will be our last book club episode for the summer, and then we will take off from episodes for July and August, and we'll be back with you in September.
[00:01:42] You can always keep up with what we're reading over at unabridgedpod on Instagram, and anything that's going on there, you can keep up, but then we will come back with our episodes in September. We hope you have a great summer. Today, before we discuss our book club, we want to share our bookish check-in.
[00:01:58] Jen, what are you reading?
[00:02:00] Jen: I am reading a book that I imagine everyone listening has heard of. It is Caro Claire Burke's Yesteryear. I feel like this has been everywhere recently, and this is a book about a trad wife influencer named Natalie, who wakes up one morning and discovers that she is in the sort of life that she is trying to mimic.
[00:02:27] So there is no access to electricity. There is no access to easy water. She is on the same farm that she and her husband actually own in this alternate universe, but she is now beholden to the things that she pretends to do without in another world. So in her normal life, she and her husband live on this huge ranch, and she has her appliances in her kitchen, but they are hidden behind cabinet doors.
[00:02:57] And she has two nannies and a social media manager, even though they never appear on her social media. She acts as if she does all of this on her own, takes care of all of her children on her own, even though that is not the truth. So it's a very carefully curated social media presence. And so the n when she awakens and is, you know, confronted with having to actually do without the things that she pretends to do without, yeah, she's not really happy about that. So she narrates the entire book, and it does go back and forth in alternating chapters between you see her evolution from being a student at Harvard and feeling really on the outside of things, meeting the man who will become her husband, and how they end up in this sort of life in the one timeline.
[00:03:50] And then in the other timeline, you see what's happening to her as she is in this alternate reality for longer and longer and trying to get accustomed to it. So she is married to the man she calls old Caleb in this alternate reality,y who is a version of her husband, nd but a very different version of her husband.
[00:04:09] She does have children, but they are different children from the ones she has in her other life. I'm not really sure where it's going. I have heard that there is some kind of amazing twist, but I don't really know what's coming, so I have no idea. But it is really compellingly told.
[00:04:25] I would say that Natalie's voice is one of the main draws. She's not always a particularly pleasant person to be in her head, but she is a fascinating character. And yeah, you can kind of see how she has traveled down the road to become the person that she is. So it's really good. I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm enjoying the reading process.
[00:04:47] And I am listening to this one, and I will say the audio is excellent. And I have heard Burke on a couple of podcasts, and I think she is a really fascinating person, so I'm really going to be interested to see how she decides to wrap up her book. So this is Caro Claire Burke's Yesteryear.
[00:05:04] Ashley: That is really interesting, Jen. I have seen it, but didn't know anything about what it was about. I'll be curious to hear... Let me know how and what you think when you are finished, 'cause I would be interested to know your take in the end, that sounds compelling. Yeah, I'll be interested to see what you think.
[00:05:19] Jen: Yeah.
[00:05:20] Ashley: I'm always somewhat skeptical when people talk about big twists, kind of stuff, so I'll be curious if you like it in the end. But I am compelled by that idea of like, we want things to be simpler, but then actually having to do the stuff is very different than the fantasy or like, you know, romanticizing, doing it.
[00:05:40] Jen: Yes. Yes. As Natalie is finding out, yes, it's really good. All right, Ashley, what are you reading?
[00:05:47] Ashley: This is one everybody will be familiar with as well. I'm reading Fredrik Backman's My Friends. I was just waiting to get that hold from the library, so that came in recently. First of all, I don't know much about it, and I did not look at the summary because I didn't look at the publisher's synopsis. After all, I know I wanna read it, and I didn't want anything to be spoiled.
[00:06:05] So I have only read the very beginning, and in the beginning, it is a scene where we meet Louisa. Jen, have you read this?
[00:06:12] Jen: Yes, I have.
[00:06:13] Ashley: Okay. So we meet Louisa, and she is at an art gallery, and she's at this event where all of these people are going to be bidding ridiculous amounts of money on this art. And she is posing as a server, and so she's just kind of blending in with the people who are catering the event, and yet she has a backpack.
[00:06:38] And in her backpack, we know she's got spray paint. And we can tell she has a lot of feelings in general about the whole event, and also about the people. And particularly, she is there to see this one painting. I think it's called This One Is The Sea, or This Is Of The Sea, or something.
[00:06:55] And she wants to see it, and it is this breathtaking, very famous painting,s a picture of the sea, but there is a pier, and the pier that is, like, very faint and, you know, in proportion to the whole painting. And on the pier, there are teenagers. And she is always, like, captivated by this painting and the way that it captures everything about this, like, moment in time.
[00:07:20] But she also recognizes that even though this painting is super famous and they're expecting it to go for millions and millions of dollars, she feels like everyone misses the point, and that the point is about the teens and not about the sea, despite the name of the painting.
[00:07:35] And so we're meeting her and getting to see that she is a really compelling and complicated character.
[00:07:40] She's had a really hard life. Like, you can tell that right at the beginning also. She's lost somebody very dear to her recently and is grieving that loss, and also, like, just has very few connections in the world, so that has really impacted her. And yet we don't know what exactly her- what she's there to do and how far she wants to take things.
[00:08:02] And so, that is kind of unfurling. And I've read a little past that, and I'm very compelled by the next thing, but I don't wanna spoil it for anyone, so I think I'm just gonna say that. Like, and I feel like it does all the things that I love that Backman does. I think what I really appreciate about Backman, and I think he does more and more of this as I've read more of his recent books, is takes people from very different backgrounds, very different lives, and puts them in this situation together that then unfurls in really interesting ways.
[00:08:28] And I feel like that is something I'm really enjoying. I've heard
[00:08:32] Some talk about people who, like, don't like some of the Backman books that have come out more recently, and they are different than some of his other ones that are much more grounded in, like, a community where people already know each other.
[00:08:42] But I like the part where you're getting to see people connect in unusual ways, and it seems like that's happening here. I don't know. I'm not very far along, but I love it, from what I've read so far, and I'm always here for what Backman writes, and I'm curious to see what happens. So again, that's Fredrik Backman's My Friends.
[00:08:59] Jen: Yeah, I really enjoyed that. I feel like that always goes for Backman.
[00:09:03] Um, but yeah, I thought that was really well done. That's a good read. You've got such a journey in front of you.
[00:09:09] Ashley: Yay. This year has been, like, "people said this one was gonna be great" kind of year, and, " so far my reading's really fun because of that. So far so good.
[00:09:17] So, as I said in the beginning, today we are discussing Charlotte McConaghy's Migrations for our book club pick. I'm gonna start with the publisher's synopsis. Franny Stone has always been the kind of woman who can love but is unable to stay. Leaving behind everything but her research gear, she arrives in Greenland with a singular purpose: to follow the last Arctic terns in the world on what might be their final migration to Antarctica.
[00:09:39] Franny talks her way onto a fishing boat, and she and the crew set sail, traveling ever further from shore and safety. But as Franny's history begins to unspool, a passionate love affair, an absent family, a devastating crime, it becomes clear that she is chasing more than just the birds. When Franny's dark secrets catch up with her, how much is she willing to risk for one more chance at redemption?
[00:10:00] Epic and intimate, heartbreaking and galvanizing, Charlotte McConaghy's Migrations is an ode to a disappearing world and a breathtaking page-turner about the possibility of hope against all odds.
[00:10:10] We're gonna start with our overall impressions. Jen, what's your overall impression of this
[00:10:14] Jen: I really liked it. So this is my second book by McConaughey. I also read Wild Dark Shore, and I think some commonalities between them make me think I will continue to read her books. So I really like the cli-fi element. I'm a big fan of climate fiction, and I think she does that particularly well. And I think that her writing is just really strong. I marked so many quotations throughout this book, so I really did enjoy it. There are a couple of plot elements that I didn't love as much, but I think that because everything supporting the development of the plot is so strong, I'm fine with the fact that maybe I don't like all of the twists or the way that they are included in the book.
[00:10:56] So yeah, overall, really positive. How about you? You
[00:10:59] Ashley: Yeah, I've read the three... I think she only has three. Is that right, Jen? Mm-hmm. This one I was the one I had not read of hers, and I definitely wanna read all of her works. And I really loved it overall.
[00:11:10] I found it so heavy. I think the tone was just so pervasively bleak that there was a heaviness that I think is, like, appropriate and also really discouraging for people.
[00:11:24] So I think Jen and I have talked about this a lot with cli-fi and just things about, in the environment in general, that, like, sometimes the balance between encouraging people to do something to try to bring about change and being doomsday and showing just how horrible it is, that's a hard balance to find.
[00:11:43] And I think the book is not about the fact that all the animals are extinct and going extinct, and yet the book is about the fact that all the animals are going extinct, and
[00:11:53] That is not that far away. Like, it's so near, and it's also so disheartening. So yeah, I had a hard time. Like, I really was compelled and also.
[00:12:02] wanted it to be over in some ways because...
[00:12:05] Like, is it too honest for an overview? Maybe. I mean, I think it was just like, oh gosh, like, I think we see the beauty of the world through her eyes, through Nile's eyes also, and through the love that they have for each other because of this commonality.
[00:12:21] And yet again, it just. I think I had never really imagined that world, and also, it's not that far from our world, and I think that was a hard thing to kind of face.
[00:12:30] The book definitely causes the reader to reckon with.
[00:12:33] Jen: Yeah, I... I'll go ahead and skip to what worked for me, which is that climate fiction element, and it is really heavy. It's not an overly long book, and I think that's appropriate for the topic because... And this is just your reminder that we are going to talk about the end of the book.
[00:12:48] So I'll pause just for a minute if you need to pause or come back after you've read it. I think really she is grieving through the whole book, and she is grieving the loss of her daughter. She is grieving the mother whom she lost when she was so young. She is grieving Niall, we find out ultimately. And she's grieving, and we are all grieving the loss of this way of life and the choices that we have made to allow it to happen.
[00:13:18] I thought, and I'll cheat again, and just say there's a quote when Niall says, "The animals," he's referring to, "aren't going. They are being violently and indiscriminately slaughtered by our indifference. It has been decided by our leaders that economic growth is more important, that the extinction crisis is an acceptable trade for their greed."
[00:13:35] And I found that to be so powerful because, of course, that applies to the animals, but that applies to so many things right now and decisions that we see being made. And yeah, that, pull to advocacy and the way she then takes on this mission as a way to live out her love for Niall and to sort of continue his... Yeah, the thing that drove him forward, I think, is so beautiful and also so devastating. And I think, yeah, I have a student whose research project this year was to write a climate fiction novel, and she found this great study that had been done about climate fiction and when it's most effective for people.
[00:14:15] And one of the things that it emphasized was hope, and that there has to be a sense of hope ultimately offered through the book. And while I do think that's there, I wonder if it needed to be a larger proportion of the book. I don't know. I'm still debating that. But I did think that the way the book evolved did help to show how devastating this would ultimately be.
[00:14:40] And I thought that her feelings about the fishing crew were so interesting to watch because, yes, they are catching fish, but they also obviously love everything. You know, they love the way of life. They make the decision with the sea turtle, and so it's this interesting contradiction in that she feels like they are killing the very thing that they love the most, and that is driving them forward.
[00:15:05] And I think with Ennis, in particular, we see a struggle within him to make decisions that will allow this to continue to be a way of life. And so, yeah, I thought all of that was just really well done. I thought... I don't know. I'm still struggling ultimately with the course of the book, as you can tell, 'cause I'm kind of talking around it, but I do think it's really powerful, and I think she's such a great writer that she makes you feel every moment of this potential loss, which is why, again, like you were saying, it does feel quite heavy.
[00:15:34] Ashley: Yeah, I think it's the global scale of it that,
[00:15:38] like, you know, feels so bleak. I think a lot of the book felt so bleak to me. But as you said, Jen, it's also framed in grief, and it is the grief that is driving all of her feelings about all the other things as well. And so, like, there is that piece.
[00:15:56] But I think you're right. Like, I think we were supposed to feel hopeful at the end, and it is beautiful that she not only survives but also reckons with the consequences of everything. And, like, we see that she does serve time, all of that does come to pass in the way that it probably would in reality.
[00:16:15] And then she also has this mission and can finally really do the things that she was wanting to do and that Niall was wanting for her to do that she just could not, ground herself in prior. And so I think, yeah, there's something really beautiful about that, but I also think it was such a tiny, tiny, tiny part of the larger book.
[00:16:36] Like, yeah, maybe I needed more of that.
[00:16:39] Jen: Yeah,
[00:16:39] Ashley: I needed to see more of that, like, thriving amidst the mass extinction, piece maybe.
[00:16:46] Jen: and read it. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:16:47] Well, since I jumped ahead, I'll just go ahead and return the question that you never had the chance to ask me, which is what worked for you?
[00:16:52] Ashley: I mean, so many things worked. I think that... Yeah, really, the unpacking of her story, the movement toward the fact that we learn what happened with Niall,
[00:17:08] I do think that really worked for me. and I think that the reason... I do think I knew that he was dead for a long time, but I appreciated the way that she could not touch that piece and the way that she wanted to penalize herself and punish herself, even though, of course, when we come to see what happened, it feels like this is not something she should be carrying.
[00:17:31] But it's also understandable that she's carrying it and, like, all the more because she doesn't wanna admit that he is gone and sort of feels like if she keeps just traveling she doesn't have to face the loss. I think all of that made a lot of sense and helped to contextualize just how desperate she was and how far she would go to do this one thing that came to feel that it was the only thing that she could do in the world, that was the only thing there was left.
[00:17:59] and I think all that's really beautiful. And I also loved, like you were talking about, touching on, Jen, about the way she comes to see Ennis and The Crew.
[00:18:06] And I think what I loved so much about that was that we make all these sweeping assumptions about people and how wrong they often are, and I think we really see that.
[00:18:17] And then the way that in the end she winds up being attacked by someone who is protesting what they do, even though she was previously a patient, Ester, and because of it gets in a life-threatening situation. I think, like, all of that was just so important to think about and is something that we're facing, just this, like, these sweeping black and white attitudes and this idea of, like, we know what's right and wrong instead of understanding the shades of gray.
[00:18:45] And so she really has to reckon with that because it's exactly what she wants to resent them for what they do, but in a lot of ways, they are more aware of and in the face of all of this than most of the people, and how interesting that is.
[00:19:00] Jen: It's really an intricate story, the more we talk about it. Yeah. I think it's really well done. Amazingly, this was her debut.
[00:19:07] Ashley: Yes. For Sure.
[00:19:09] Well, we wanted to share a quote, and we both have several on our document that we reference. Jen, which one did you land on?
[00:19:17] Jen: Well, I already shared one.
[00:19:19] Ashley: That's true. Good point. I- and I like that one a lot as well. I had that on my list too.
[00:19:24] Jen: The one that I'll officially share is, "Do you know how long it takes the sea to make that journey around the world? How long? He is humoring me, but gently, so I smile. A thousand years. Ennis shares my expression. How could he not? Who was it that discovered this extraordinariness? Someone like my husband, who has dedicated his life to the questions by which others are dwarfed."
[00:19:45] And I think that represents, in the book for me, this reverence for the wonder of scientific discovery, and that when you ask questions, you find answers that are so powerful. And it's similar when they're talking about the terms and just how remarkable the journey that they're taking is. And I think that acknowledgement that there are things out there that we can't fathom both makes it wonderful, but also heightens the sadness of the potential loss of those things.
[00:20:18] And I think that love for the sea and all that it contains runs through the book so beautifully, and it becomes such a symbol for so many other things. Yeah, I think the symbolism in the text is just amazing. And so I really love that quotation. Just sharing something with someone who loves the sea as much as she does, maybe in a different way, but those stories are the ways that you start to reach people with your message.
[00:20:43] And so I thought that was really lovely.
[00:20:45] Ashley: Yeah, I think I love all the parts exploring kind of the academia piece of it and how some of it is so off-putting, and then other parts are so beautiful, and, like, this quest to know more and also to recognize how little we know. Like, I think, yeah, all of that is so interesting, and her perspective in the university setting is so different from Niall's and a lot of the other people in the book.
[00:21:12] And so, like, that piece is really interesting, too.
[00:21:16] Jen: What about you, Ashley? What quote do you wanna
[00:21:19] Ashley: I still feel torn, but I think I'm gonna go with, "Saving specific animals purely based on what they offer humanity may be practical, but wasn't this attitude the problem to begin with? Our overwhelming, annihilating selfishness. What of the animals that exist purely to exist because millions of years of evolution have carved them into miraculous beings?"
[00:21:39] And I think, I mean, that part was one of the many times I felt my heart break alongside hers with this understanding of her, comes to realize that what is being done is that they're prioritizing these animals that they think will help survive. And, you know, there are points made about the domesticated animals will survive because people care about them, and that the animals that are bred for food will survive because people need them.
[00:22:06] I think that is so sad and also important for us to reckon with because again, we are not in the dire situation of the book, but our
[00:22:16] communities and culture, like we are making decisions every day that have to do with exactly this trajectory of if we can't make changes, we are going to lose the animals, and particularly the wild animals.
[00:22:28] And so I think, you know, pausing to think about that and what pathways are possible, and can we revel in the joy of them, you know? And in so doing, they care more about them.
[00:22:42] Jen: Yeah. It made me think, it was Radiolab that just had an episode this week about hookworms and how, you know, they are not seen as something that we want around.
[00:22:52] They're not very pleasant, and yet scientists have discovered that people who have hookworms don't have allergies. It helps to prevent allergies. And so it's also, yeah, that idea that even the things that we don't take joy in, that seem so unpleasant, and yeah, it would be no problem to eradicate them from the world.
[00:23:12] There's so much we don't know about them. And again, and then I'm thinking, well, isn't that going back to the argument that we should just keep them around because they're helpful to
[00:23:19] Ashley: Yeah. Right.
[00:23:20] Jen: So yeah. Again, I'm getting twisted in my mind. I think that all of this just represents the complex questions this book is asking, and I think I really love that because it really is thought-provoking.
[00:23:30] Ashley: Well, we wanted to share a pairing for the book. And so, Jen, do you wanna share your pairing?
[00:23:38] Jen: Sure. Mine is Lily Brooks-Dalton's The Light Pirate, which is also climate fiction, and this one is set in Florida, and it begins when there is a just horrible hurricane that this family is trying to deal with. And so there's a man named Kirby, his wife Frida is pregnant, and they have two sons, Flip and Lucas.
[00:24:01] And as they are battening down for the hurricane, they realize that Flip and Lucas have gone missing. And so Kirby, you know, goes out to try to find them, leaving Frida alone. And while he is gone, she gives birth to their daughter, whom they name Wanda after the hurricane that has a devastating impact on their family.
[00:24:24] I won't go into all the details. Wanda does become our point of view character, and the book skips through these different eras of her life when we see that Florida has essentially been cut off from the rest of the United States, and it is not truly inhabitable anymore because it has gone underwater.
[00:24:45] But Wanda does continue to live there, to choose to live there in a life that is very different from the one that has become what we would think of as normal. And I just thought it was a really powerful book. Again, it feels quite close. It feels as if this is something that could happen in the near future.
[00:25:05] And Wanda is such an interesting character because she has to reshape her life around this adjusted reality. And seeing what comes to matter to her and the way she navigates this new society and this new meaning of family, the way family is now defined, is really interesting. So, again, I love climate fiction, and this one hit hard.
[00:25:32] It was out a couple of years ago. I can't remember the year of publication. So it's been a few years since I've read it, and it has still really stuck with me. So that is Lily Brooks-Dalton's The Light Pirate.
[00:25:42] Ashley: That is really interesting, Jen, and I hadn't heard about that one.
[00:25:45] Jen: I think you would really like it. It is excellent. I did read the print, so I don't know about the audio, but the print was great.
[00:25:51] Ashley: Man, that does sound good.
[00:25:54] Jen: What are you recommending?
[00:25:55] Ashley: So I, I was on the fence about this one, but I think several came to mind. But I think I wanna share Matt Haig's The Life Impossible.
[00:26:01] The reason that one comes to mind is that Grace is the main character, and Grace,
[00:26:09] The primary thing to me. Well, several things really resonated.
[00:26:13] The primary thing, though, is that Grace is also shaped by grief. I felt that there is a similar inability to touch upon the actual events around the grief and the carrying of that for a long time. Like, those pieces, I think, really overlap. But another really similar piece is that Grace is gifted a home in Ibiza from a friend, and it's, like, a kind of distant friend that she didn't know particularly well, and she's given the home.
[00:26:44] She's elderly. Her husband has died. She doesn't have any real connections, and so she's kind of, like, it's very unlike her, but she's like, "I'll just go. I'll just go and see the home and kind of go from there, and so she uproots, and she goes to Ibiza. And so that part of the, like Frann,y we see is a wanderer, I guess I would say, and is often kind of on the go.
[00:27:08] But they're both on this, like, journey that they don't really know the end of and don't really care, like, what happens next, and so there's kind of this desperation feeling for both characters. And then also she encounters this guy who, kind of like Ennis and the fishing crew, she has an entire very strong opinion about who she thinks he is and what she thinks he's like.
[00:27:31] And similar to what we see, Franny's perspective really changes; that happens with Grace, just like she really comes to understand that people are not what we see on the surface, and people are actually quite different from what we understand. And then there is this connection to the natural world.
[00:27:49] This one veers more from reality than I would say... Like, Migrations is playing out one possible outcome of, like, our current thing. This one, as far as I can tell, has more of a magical component, that is, a natural component that unfurls, but it is fascinating. I do think the thing that is very different for me and why I kind of paused with the parallel is because this one, the tone is very different, and I feel like the tone in this one is much more hopeful, magical, like, kind of like mystical.
[00:28:23] and so that part is very different, but I think that idea of, like, the journey and trying to find some kind of closure, some kind of ability to reckon through a journey, like all of that is very similar. So again, that's Matt Haig's The Life Impossible, and I do think it has a lot of similar elements.
[00:28:43] Jen: Yeah, I read that not too long ago, and I think also that connection with people who are making decisions for themselves versus those who are thinking of others is, yeah, that'd be another great parallel.
[00:28:55] That's a really good one.
[00:28:57] Ashley: Yeah. Yeah, so interesting, and in some ways, again, very different. Like Franny, I feel like has more of a... Grace, as a protagonist, is really deviating from a life of being exactly what people expect, whereas Franny feels that she's never what people expect or that she's always been like on the outside.
[00:29:15] and part of that is like her reconciling that within herself, I think. So that piece is different, but yeah, that quest part.
[00:29:22] Jen: Yeah.
[00:29:23] Ashley: is similar. We wanted to end with our bookish hearts. Jen, how many bookish hearts for you?
[00:29:28] Jen: Four-and-a-half. I had a few things that held me back from a five, but overall, I would highly recommend this one. How about you? Yeah, I was
[00:29:34] Ashley: Yep, I was gonna say four, I think. I mean, I really loved it, but there were a few, exactly what she said in the beginning, there were a few plot things that I got a little hung up on. But I still am here for everything she writes because I just think her writing itself is just gorgeous and leaves the reader with a lot to contemplate.
[00:29:53] Well, today, to wrap up, we're gonna share our Unabridged favorites. Jen, what's your favorite this month?
[00:29:59] Jen: I am going to recommend Lord of the Flies, the recent adaptation that's available on Netflix.
[00:30:06] It is a four-episode adaptation of the classic novel, which had a huge part, like, just holds a huge place in my memory of my high school English class. And I will say, talk about heavy, it is definitely a heavy adaptation that leans into all that is devastating. My husband and I watched the first episode together and found that to be a little slow, but I feel like it sets the stage so well for episodes two, three, and four. And the child actors are just phenomenal. It is by the creator of Adolescence, if anyone saw that, which I put off watching for a long time because I knew it would be devastating, and it was.
[00:30:44] But I think there's a similar consideration of, yeah, sort of toxic masculinity and how we ask our boys to act and the ramifications of that. Of course, the time period here is very different, but common themes. So, with you know, some caution, I am recommending Lord of the Flies.
[00:31:05] Ashley: I saw the trailer for that and the fact that it was out, and I was like, "Not for me."
[00:31:09] Jen: " No, definitely not an Ashley show, for sure. Would not recommend to my friend.
[00:31:16] Ashley: Nope. No, thank you. I will not be watching that one, but I'm glad it, I'm glad it turned out well.
[00:31:19] Jen: Yeah. What are you recommending, Ashley? What's your favorite?
[00:31:22] Ashley: I'm gonna share, this is a gardening show. Have you seen this, Jen?
[00:31:25] Jen: I haven't heard of it, but- I haven't, but I heard about it the other day and thought I needed to watch.
[00:31:28] Ashley: Okay, so this is Zach Galifianakis, and it is a gardening show, and he goes to places where people garden and talks with them about what they do, and focuses usually on a particular, like the first one's about apples.
[00:31:43] So, he focuses on how that particular thing is grown. And then he has kids in each of them, like random kids.
[00:31:51] He, like, goes to a school and asks them random questions. And, I love it. It was one of those that Mahan started the show, and I was like, "Meh. Why is this on? Please stop." And then I really like it, and there's only six. We already watched all of them. They're super interesting.
[00:32:05] and most of them are about, like, particular gardening, but then, one is about foraging, and one is about compost. So it's just like, and I mean, you learn things also. So that is interesting. But anyway, we watched one of them with our girls, and they just cackled, like, thought it was hilarious. And I was really surprised because, I mean, listeners are probably familiar with Zach Galifianakis' humor, and I feel like
[00:32:27] It's, like, an acquired taste kind of. But I was like, "Oh, this is like-- Kids like this." Like, laughing out loud, really thought it was just, like, so funny. And so that was cute. So we'll keep watching that as a family, and I hope they do more of them. And I think every time he's like, "The future is agrarian."
[00:32:45] I think relevant to Migrations, I mean, it is this idea of like,
[00:32:49] It's a funny show, and it's kind of light, but it's also, like, we have got to find a different way forward, and we need to all be doing some of these things because, like, this is our viable future to do things like this.
[00:33:02] And so I think, yeah, there's an element of that that really resonates for me also. So anyway, that's been a surprising favorite.
[00:33:10] Jen: I'll have to move that up my list. Yeah, that sounds great. And it's always so nice when it's short and you…
[00:33:15] Ashley: Yes, they're super short, Jen. They're, like, 15 minutes or something. They're
[00:33:19] Jen: I didn't realize it was that fast.
[00:33:20] Ashley: They're very short. Yeah, it's very short. And I think,
[00:33:23] I feel like sometimes I find his humor, like when he did the, what was it called with the plants? It was Between Two Ferns, okay.
[00:33:30] Like, sometimes it means, you know? And this is not that way. Like, it's funny, and it's, like, the sort of, like, awkward things, but it's never, like, mean-spirited in any way.
[00:33:38] So anyway, that's been a good one.
[00:33:40] Well, we hope that you enjoyed reading Migrations. We would love to hear if you read what you thought about it.
[00:33:46] And, as I said in the beginning, we will be taking our summer break. We hope you have a lovely summer. We'll still be active on Instagram some. You can always message us, and then we'll be back in September with new episodes. Thanks so much for listening.
[00:33:57] Jen: Do you have comments or opinions about what you heard today? We'd love to hear them. You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter at unabridgedpod, or on the web at unabridgedpod.com for ways to support us. To get more involved, you can sign up for our newsletter, join a buddy read, or become an ambassador.
[00:34:17] Thanks for listening to Unabridged.
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