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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
I highly recommend listening to this if you can. It's read by the author and whereas many authors do just fine reading their own work, Macdonald is superb. She reads like a classically-trained narrator. You can hear a sample here to give you an idea of her voice, though not necessarily of the mesmerizing nature of her tale the further it progresses.
I remember when this came across my desk. There hadn't been much information for it available, at the time, and it looked like a children's book on falconry or somesuch, due to the woodcut nature of the cover illustration. I went to my trusty source, Goodreads, to find out more and immediately saw Greg's review, which was, I think, the only review available at the time, but it's a beautiful review, I gleaned all the info I needed, and those pictures! I've thought of this book ever since.
This month, I finally took the time to listen.
This deserves all the praise it has received. It's a complex book broken down simply. It covers grief and depression, falconry, regrets, the ways in which we deceive ourselves, love, healing, and lessons-learned through both Macdonald's struggle after her father dies and T. H. White's struggle with self via his [b:The Goshawk|1188127|The Goshawk|T.H. White|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1547026454s/1188127.jpg|105249], which Macdonald re-reads when she decides the best thing for her to do is train a goshawk.
And that goshawk. Mabel.
This story isn't actually about her, even though most everything centers on her. And yet, she steals the show. She's misunderstood in that Macdonald seems to not see her as a bird of prey but as a challenge whose solution will fix Macdonald's myriad of problems. Mabel becomes a surrogate for life, a vicious, primal life, devoid of feelings. She's a distraction, a joy, a focal point, but, for much of the book, she's not a hawk, not a wild animal who just happens to have been bred in captivity much like Macdonald is not suffering from being overwhelmed after the loss of her father, is not falling apart, is not letting everything go. The listener knows, though, that Mabel is a hawk and Macdonald is in terrible pain.
H is for Helen as much as it is for Hawk and Macdonald manages to finally see both of them, their true natures, their real situations.
She is so elegant and honest about this journey. There’s deep self-knowledge and understanding both of herself and her counterpart, T.H. White. His story is sad and troubling but a wonderful backdrop to Macdonald’s own sad and troubling trials.
Here's an interview with Macdonald, in case you want more from the author, herself.
In related news, Helen Macdonald is someone karen can never, ever visit. Her house is full of birds. (Source)
I remember when this came across my desk. There hadn't been much information for it available, at the time, and it looked like a children's book on falconry or somesuch, due to the woodcut nature of the cover illustration. I went to my trusty source, Goodreads, to find out more and immediately saw Greg's review, which was, I think, the only review available at the time, but it's a beautiful review, I gleaned all the info I needed, and those pictures! I've thought of this book ever since.
This month, I finally took the time to listen.
This deserves all the praise it has received. It's a complex book broken down simply. It covers grief and depression, falconry, regrets, the ways in which we deceive ourselves, love, healing, and lessons-learned through both Macdonald's struggle after her father dies and T. H. White's struggle with self via his [b:The Goshawk|1188127|The Goshawk|T.H. White|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1547026454s/1188127.jpg|105249], which Macdonald re-reads when she decides the best thing for her to do is train a goshawk.
And that goshawk. Mabel.
This story isn't actually about her, even though most everything centers on her. And yet, she steals the show. She's misunderstood in that Macdonald seems to not see her as a bird of prey but as a challenge whose solution will fix Macdonald's myriad of problems. Mabel becomes a surrogate for life, a vicious, primal life, devoid of feelings. She's a distraction, a joy, a focal point, but, for much of the book, she's not a hawk, not a wild animal who just happens to have been bred in captivity much like Macdonald is not suffering from being overwhelmed after the loss of her father, is not falling apart, is not letting everything go. The listener knows, though, that Mabel is a hawk and Macdonald is in terrible pain.
H is for Helen as much as it is for Hawk and Macdonald manages to finally see both of them, their true natures, their real situations.
She is so elegant and honest about this journey. There’s deep self-knowledge and understanding both of herself and her counterpart, T.H. White. His story is sad and troubling but a wonderful backdrop to Macdonald’s own sad and troubling trials.
Here's an interview with Macdonald, in case you want more from the author, herself.
In related news, Helen Macdonald is someone karen can never, ever visit. Her house is full of birds. (Source)
So much of this book is about grief and grieving and I love the novel way in which it is explored though hawks.
In the beginning the author's father dies - suddenly and unexpectedly. And all that happens afterwards has direct parallels to this huge sadness she is trying to process.
The tales of falconry and her work with a young Goshawk are fascinating. It was truly absorbing to read about her attempts at understanding her goshawk as she also wrestled with her grief.
What I could've used much, much less of was her inclusion of the author T. S White's own attempts to tame a goshawk decades before.
IMO the book doesn't need his story. Helen Macdonald's own story is enough.
Part of a five book series with the theme of birds/flight from my TBR list:
Book 1: Bluebird, Bluebird
Book 2: H is for Hawk
Book 3: Alchemy of a Blackbird
Book 4: Better Living Through Birding: Notes From a Blackman in the Natural World
Book 5: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
In the beginning the author's father dies - suddenly and unexpectedly. And all that happens afterwards has direct parallels to this huge sadness she is trying to process.
The tales of falconry and her work with a young Goshawk are fascinating. It was truly absorbing to read about her attempts at understanding her goshawk as she also wrestled with her grief.
What I could've used much, much less of was her inclusion of the author T. S White's own attempts to tame a goshawk decades before.
IMO the book doesn't need his story. Helen Macdonald's own story is enough.
Part of a five book series with the theme of birds/flight from my TBR list:
Book 1: Bluebird, Bluebird
Book 2: H is for Hawk
Book 3: Alchemy of a Blackbird
Book 4: Better Living Through Birding: Notes From a Blackman in the Natural World
Book 5: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
A very informative book about birds of prey and a certain author who had trouble with his goshawk. What really resonated with me though is their reflection on grief and the troublesome journey of having to live on when someone you love passes.
Based on the title, I thought this was a mystery novel. Instead, it is a memoir and a meditation on grief. The book is an interesting mix of this examination of wildness and an analysis of the author T.H White. Macdonald explores his experience attempting to train a goshawk (just as she is doing), and she reads his novels as evidence of his struggles with sadism and homosexuality, which are not related to her struggles at all. I can identify with the need to be analytical and cerebral when facing difficult things, but it does leave the book unbalanced in a way that reminded me of Alison Bechdel's [b:Are You My Mother?|11566956|Are You My Mother?|Alison Bechdel|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388205192s/11566956.jpg|16507555].
reflective
Mulle tää ei jotenkin uponnut. Siis luulen näkeväni, miksi monet pitävät tästä, mutta mä en vaan ole yksi heistä.
The most interesting bits were about her actually training her goshawk. That's why I read it. I couldn't relate to other aspects of the memoir and found the historical interludes about generally unlikeable falconers to be a distraction. Maybe those with a deep appreciation for English history would enjoy this more.
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
I recognize the grief MacDonald writes about here. Not a grief of pretty, diamond-shaped tears, nor a grief of cathartic chest-wracking sobs. It's an angry thing, small and caustic, and it lodges in the ribs and leaches lead into the blood stream. It changes you irrevocably, makes you mean, wears you down.
MacDonald clearly sees this part of themself in the young, mercurial goshawk they train. They learn first-hand how other falconers have misunderstood the nature of the goshawk, and while learning patience and love for the hawk, learns patience and love for their own self. In embracing the hawk's nature, they embrace their own nature, and become more whole for it.
It was validating to read. That I am not the only person who gets angry instead of sad when grieving, and that even despite that darker version of my nature that I can still find and make connections. That there is a home waiting for me, that the poison in my system can be shaken off with the proper care. That there can still be love, even after a world-ending loss.
MacDonald clearly sees this part of themself in the young, mercurial goshawk they train. They learn first-hand how other falconers have misunderstood the nature of the goshawk, and while learning patience and love for the hawk, learns patience and love for their own self. In embracing the hawk's nature, they embrace their own nature, and become more whole for it.
It was validating to read. That I am not the only person who gets angry instead of sad when grieving, and that even despite that darker version of my nature that I can still find and make connections. That there is a home waiting for me, that the poison in my system can be shaken off with the proper care. That there can still be love, even after a world-ending loss.
I really don't understand what the deal is with this book. I was bored out of my mind 90% of the time, couldn't care for anything she said nor the annoying interpretations of TH White's book. I don't care about hawks and she didn't make me feel any different after reading the book... The only good think about this book is the writing, but it's not extraordinary either. It did nothing to me, her grief annoyed me more than anything and this story is way to personal for someone to relate to it. Not a good read.