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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
Helen Macdonald has been passionate about birds of prey ever since she was a little girl. She'd had many years of experience as a falconer prior to the death of her father, an event that put her into a tailspin and motivated her to take on the training of a goshawk. The goshawk is a particularly fierce and challenging animal to raise. Helen isolates herself from friends and family using her grief as the catalyst to bond and empathize with, almost inhabiting the mind of the bird she has named Mabel. The story of T.H. White an author of the Arthurian novels The Once and Future King and The Sword in the Stone among others, as well as a novice goshawk trainer is interwoven throughout the book. White's trials and inept attempt at goshawk ownership were recounted in his book The Goshawk which Helen had read as a child. Macdonald's portrayal of White is both sympathetic and ghastly. Her migration through grief is told with palpable emotion and graceful exposition that allows her story to soar.
This is quite an extraordinary book, perhaps more poetry than prose in parts. The mingling of mourning, falconry and a reflection on TH White is initially strange but merges into a seamless series of reflections on our relationship to the dead, the living and wild nature. In some ways it emerges both as a critique of poor White, a tortured soul if ever there was one, and the excesses of Romanticism, timely because I happen to be teaching the Romantics at the moment. McDonald has a gift for the whammy simile that never deserts her: her descriptions of Mabel the goshawk and other raptors are bold and memorable. It will be read again – but so will White.
I listened to this and it was read by the author. I’m not sure if I would have enjoyed reading it as much as I did listening. It’s a strange book for sure- but her interweaving of grief, falconry, and an expose of the author TH White was fascinating.
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Beautifully written; raw enough to sink your talons in bone deep
I think I have a problem with grief memoirs. They just make me feel inadequate. Do I not miss my mother enough to hike the Pacific Crest Trail and then write a book about it? Do I not grieve for my father enough to train a hawk (and then write a book about it)? Hmmm. A moving immersion in grief and (to me) a rather awkward juxtaposition of a personal hawk training journey and that of TH White, who pretty much screwed it up big time.
An introspective writer mixes her emotional journey through a sad time in her life with her efforts to train a hawk who seems equally unhappy. Together they transcend their history. I received this book as a gift because of my interest in falconry and learned a lot about the ancient practice of taming raptors. Loved it.
A memoir of a woman who decides to cope with the pain from the death of her father by training a goshawk. I find it interesting because the author Helen MacDonald describes vividly the relationship with her family and how her father encouraged her initial interests in falconry.
If you enjoyed "Wild" by Sheryl Strayed, you will love H is for Hawk as the prose and the writing ability of MacDonald far surpasses that of Strayed, in my opinion.
Overall, a sad, but interesting memoir that peaked my interest in falconry and later made me realize that I will most likely never train my own hawk. It is expensive, takes a lot of time, and unless you absolutely love it not worth the effort. I did get to live the experience vicariously thru HM and for that I am grateful.
If you enjoyed "Wild" by Sheryl Strayed, you will love H is for Hawk as the prose and the writing ability of MacDonald far surpasses that of Strayed, in my opinion.
Overall, a sad, but interesting memoir that peaked my interest in falconry and later made me realize that I will most likely never train my own hawk. It is expensive, takes a lot of time, and unless you absolutely love it not worth the effort. I did get to live the experience vicariously thru HM and for that I am grateful.
dark
funny
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Moving, lyrical, and beautiful. The prose is so crisp. Writing about nature so evocatively would be a life goal of mine. Plus hawking sounds so cool?!?!