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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
I had a hard time getting into this book. It was not what I expected, and it wasn't a quickly moving as I'd like. That being said, the writing was incredibly beautiful, and having the author read it was a big plus as it dealt with such a beautiful and emotional topic.
this book was wasted on me, no focus after breaking my ankle and taking pain meds, but I could follow it enough to know it was very good
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
A Masterpiece
There's nothing new under the sun, it's said, but H Is for Hawk is an exception. Helen McDonald weaves beautiful prose about her recovery from the grief of her father's death, the art and science of being an austringer (like a falconer but with a hawk), and the tortured life of T.S. White, author of The Once and Future King and Sword in the Stone. These unlikely themes all come together to create something remarkable. I look forward to re-reading all the many passages I highlighted for their insights about being human, their descriptions of nature, or simply the beauty of their composition. Side note: I love Helen McDonald's vocabulary. The Scrabble player in me delightedly looked up all the never-before-seen words and was crushed to realize that the Kindle app doesn't remember looked-up words the way my Kindle reader did.
There's nothing new under the sun, it's said, but H Is for Hawk is an exception. Helen McDonald weaves beautiful prose about her recovery from the grief of her father's death, the art and science of being an austringer (like a falconer but with a hawk), and the tortured life of T.S. White, author of The Once and Future King and Sword in the Stone. These unlikely themes all come together to create something remarkable. I look forward to re-reading all the many passages I highlighted for their insights about being human, their descriptions of nature, or simply the beauty of their composition. Side note: I love Helen McDonald's vocabulary. The Scrabble player in me delightedly looked up all the never-before-seen words and was crushed to realize that the Kindle app doesn't remember looked-up words the way my Kindle reader did.
Overy sentimental, mawkish, overwritten, diffuse. Yet, full of insight about the nature, culture, England, landscapes, White... You will never look at a bird in a same way.
Was really enjoying the audiobook, read by the author, but didn't finish before the due date. I hope to return to it (was about 60% of the way through). Love the descriptions of the goshawk, Mabel, well-woven with Macdonald's grieving her father's death, and juxtaposing her emotional journey with TH White's misadventures in training "Gos." White and Macdonald have very different, yet resonant, stories.
Can be interesting if this is a topic you're into. Incorporates a fair amount of unrelated observations + the tone wobbles a bit and veers off into the awkwardly comedic at times just enough to detract from the dramatic tension of the moment but not enough to make the text properly funny/entertaining. The last 1/3rd is better than the rest, imo. Worth a read if you think you'd be interested, but I personally enjoyed it more once I started skimming the page instead of reading it line by line.
In a previous life I was the editor of a bird magazine and often commissioned articles about falconry, so I was keen to read H is for Hawk, which explores Helen Macdonald’s attempt to train a goshawk following the death of her photojournalist father. The book is actually three books in one: it’s an entertaining account of the ups and downs of training a bird of prey; it’s a moving portrait of a woman’s grief; and it’s a detailed biography of T. H. White, a troubled man who wrote a controversial book about training a goshawk in the early 1950s. These three threads are interwoven into a seamless narrative that is both compelling and illuminating.
The story is infused with a bare and sometimes confronting honesty as Macdonald comes to grips with her own failings and frustrations brought about via the clash of wills between her and Mabel, the £800 goshawk she bought especially for this project. At times it is quite an emotional book, but it’s lightened by moments of humour and it’s hard to feel anything but admiration for the dedication that Macdonald devotes to the task of taming a wild creature. H is for Hawk is probably one of the most unusual non-fiction books I’ve read, but it’s also, happily, one of the most heartfelt and intriguing ones.
The story is infused with a bare and sometimes confronting honesty as Macdonald comes to grips with her own failings and frustrations brought about via the clash of wills between her and Mabel, the £800 goshawk she bought especially for this project. At times it is quite an emotional book, but it’s lightened by moments of humour and it’s hard to feel anything but admiration for the dedication that Macdonald devotes to the task of taming a wild creature. H is for Hawk is probably one of the most unusual non-fiction books I’ve read, but it’s also, happily, one of the most heartfelt and intriguing ones.
slow-paced