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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
slow-paced
A woman with a hawk writes about a man who had a hawk a long time ago.
I really wanted to like this book but it was too slow and just not engaging
I really wanted to like this book but it was too slow and just not engaging
The momentum of the book slams to a slow crawl when she shifts gears to discuss White. Her story is interesting; some of White's story is interesting, but not as much as is included. I am on the fence about recommending this to others. It is well written, sometimes using vocabulary that a reader (me) had to look up. I wanted more of her story and less of White's. I think that the period of time that is covered in the book is a lot shorter than it seems. I am not sure if I would have finished it if it weren't for book club. I liked her and Mabel and the limited people in her world. White on the other hand can be interesting but... (and he isn't always interesting).
The story was just okay, and I thoroughly disliked her writing style. A bit droning in places and somewhat redundant... I would give it 2.5 stars.
As a way of dealing with the grief of her father's death, Helen Macdonald seizes upon the idea of training a goshawk she names Mabel. T H White enters the story because his memoir titled The Goshawk is one of her inspirations. This book is part memoir, part biography, and part naturalist guide. Even in a context unfamiliar to me, Helen Macdonald's beautiful writing captures the emotions in a familiar and recognizable way. Therein lies the appeal of this book.
Read my complete review at: http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2016/01/h-is-for-hawk.html
Read my complete review at: http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2016/01/h-is-for-hawk.html
It's a book of extended comparisons more than metaphors - tracking her own hawking experience alongside an old book on a troubled man's ragged training dramas; comparing the world of the wild with the world of the human; comparing herself in pain to the world on its daily rotation. If you're not into analysis, you may not love all of it. I love analysis and I found it both dense and gorgeous. And it made England seem kind of exotic, which is cool, I guess.
How much did I love this book? I am not sure exactly how to articulate it but I feel it. The juxtaposition of grief and transition, moving on, being present, her life, her bird. It was stunningly beautiful. I cannot recommend this enough. I listened to the audiobook and it was perfection. I am just sorry I didn't read this when I first added it to my TBR several years ago.
I read H is for Hawk for book club; otherwise, I would not have finished. All the worst things I associate with memoirs: self importance, humorlessness, and pretension. The last few chapters managed to redeem it somewhat, though.
This is 2 parts a book about falconry, 1 part a book about Helen Macdonald's depression after the death of her father, and 1 part biography and literary analysis of T.H. White (best known as the author of The Once and Future King).
The parts about training the hawk were most interesting to me… and then the rest of the story I mostly found boring and hard to get through. I am baffled as to why so many people adored this book because it really didn't speak to me at all.
The parts about training the hawk were most interesting to me… and then the rest of the story I mostly found boring and hard to get through. I am baffled as to why so many people adored this book because it really didn't speak to me at all.