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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
adventurous
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Not read a book like this before. Very moving and thoughtful. Throughout almost the entire book I wanted to give the author a hug, such was my emotional response to her amazing writing. The device of using another author's book on a similar subject was very smart I thought, and the way she welded the two narratives together was an intelligent device. Would recommended, hugely.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Wonderful, fascinating.
Quite well written and much more entertaining than I'd expected. I went into this with a little trepidation, thinking it'd be dry, and too full of grief for me given I'd already read a lot of that recently. Thankfully it is neither. This is a story mostly about the journey of training and flying a goshawk, and the details are told in a compelling way that served to make me feel almost like I too knew what it was like to have a hawk. The bond between Helen and Hawk was one I delighted in, especially during playful scenes. Hawks can play catch! I would never have guessed.
There are two other stories wound through the telling of this process. The first is the actually pretty minor one of Helen's grief at losing her dad, something that mostly exists to explain her circumstances and desire to retreat to the wild. This is not at all a book like The Iceberg where the narrative is about death, something I didn't realise prior. The second story is that of T. H. White, the author of The Goshawk, an older book on the process of training a hawk. He's a deeply flawed, sympathetic character, and again I thought the references back to his life and writing would be dry, but I enjoyed these too.
All in all, quite a good read for non-fiction.
There are two other stories wound through the telling of this process. The first is the actually pretty minor one of Helen's grief at losing her dad, something that mostly exists to explain her circumstances and desire to retreat to the wild. This is not at all a book like The Iceberg where the narrative is about death, something I didn't realise prior. The second story is that of T. H. White, the author of The Goshawk, an older book on the process of training a hawk. He's a deeply flawed, sympathetic character, and again I thought the references back to his life and writing would be dry, but I enjoyed these too.
All in all, quite a good read for non-fiction.
After reading Macdonald's book "Falcon" I was a bit sceptical, but now I completely understand the hype around this book. What a truly magnificent piece of literature.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Good book on allure of falconry and grieving her father, but the TH White bits left me a bit cold.
Picked this up in a rush while changing trains, on the basis that it had won an award and the cover was brilliant. Didn't realise it was biographical until I started reading it. It never particularly held my attention, but if the idea of reading about the author's attempts to cope with the death of her father by training a goshawk appeals to you, it is a well-executed book.