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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
This was a really beautifully written book. The intertwined stories of T. H. White, the death of Macdonald's father and her memories of him, and her experience training her own hawk illuminated each other and added a great deal of depth. Tracking White's progress with training a hawk alongside her own allowed Macdonald to get across a lot of information about the history of falconry and the good, bad, and ugly of training hawk, without getting pedantic.
I do wish I had gotten a little more of Macdonald. Her father is a very shadowy presence, so that her grief, which she describes in very harrowing terms, feels more like madness and less like a loss. (I'm sure it did feel like madness to the author as well, but I didn't connect to her loss because compared to her hawk and to her attention to history and White, her family is a tiny part of the book. Likewise the loss of her familiar college life is mentioned as a major blow, but it's not present enough to register with the reader as a huge loss. We just have to take her word for it.
As I think the cover says, Macdonald really evokes the natural world -- different creatures, the landscape -- vividly and often lyrically. The world of falconry is so complex, with a sometimes dark history, and this memoir is a fascinating way to learn about it.
I do wish I had gotten a little more of Macdonald. Her father is a very shadowy presence, so that her grief, which she describes in very harrowing terms, feels more like madness and less like a loss. (I'm sure it did feel like madness to the author as well, but I didn't connect to her loss because compared to her hawk and to her attention to history and White, her family is a tiny part of the book. Likewise the loss of her familiar college life is mentioned as a major blow, but it's not present enough to register with the reader as a huge loss. We just have to take her word for it.
As I think the cover says, Macdonald really evokes the natural world -- different creatures, the landscape -- vividly and often lyrically. The world of falconry is so complex, with a sometimes dark history, and this memoir is a fascinating way to learn about it.
Libby loan expired, and I was too bored with the recurring T.H. White subplot to renew.
3.5, probably. This is a beautiful book about the death of Macdonald's father, how it lead her to train a goshawk, and -- in between all that -- her changing understanding of and relationship with nature. There's also a B plot, such as it is, about TH White. Macdonald is a spectacular writer, and I learned a great deal from this book, but it's a bit too long and drawn out for my tastes. Macdonald writes with an intensity that, while deeply affecting, starts to wear on you after a while. I found myself losing interest a bit about 2/3 through. I'm glad I stuck with it, but I found it hard to maintain that pitch of emotion for as long as the book goes on.
I struggled to get through this one. Did I learn some interesting facts? Yes. Were there moments of beauty? Absolutely! But there was a lot of summarizing of someone else’s work in every chapter and that was not so interesting for me. I get why it was included… I just could have done without.
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Beautiful writing and loved learning about hawks, but something feels a little icky about using wild animals as a hobby and to find community.
emotional
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
Audiobook read by the author. MacDonald writes about her personal experience of grief by simultaneously embarking on a project to train a goshawk and at the same time examine the life of T.H. White through his own attempt to train and write about training a goshawk. It's a lot for one book to handle, but MacDonald does it beautifully, circling around the three parts of her narrative with careful precision, much like the flight of her beloved hawk.
The writing is superb and moving. MacDonald captures the confusion and irrationality that accompany grief. She brings the reader along as she lives through the months following her father's death, never trying to teach a lesson or tie up meaning in an easy way. Instead she tackles the uncomfortable truths in White's story and embarks impulsively on purchasing a goshawk to train. The parts of the narrative seem disparate but are woven together very well--when she writes about one thing, she reveals something important about another.
Moving. Thought-provoking. Beautifully crafted.
The writing is superb and moving. MacDonald captures the confusion and irrationality that accompany grief. She brings the reader along as she lives through the months following her father's death, never trying to teach a lesson or tie up meaning in an easy way. Instead she tackles the uncomfortable truths in White's story and embarks impulsively on purchasing a goshawk to train. The parts of the narrative seem disparate but are woven together very well--when she writes about one thing, she reveals something important about another.
Moving. Thought-provoking. Beautifully crafted.
I saw this book recommended by BookTuber abookolive and thought it sounded intriguing. Helen Macdonald is experienced with training and flying hawks, but decides to take on one of the tougher birds to fly, a goshawk, after her father dies. Simultaneously, she re-reads "The Goshawk" by T.H. White. She read the book as a girl, but it takes on new meaning for her when she's older and flying her own goshawk, named Mabel.
This is some really gorgeous nature writing that makes me want to seek out more by Macdonald. I listened to it as an audibook read by the author. It was lovely. Highly recommended.
This is some really gorgeous nature writing that makes me want to seek out more by Macdonald. I listened to it as an audibook read by the author. It was lovely. Highly recommended.