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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
I liked the interplay between Helen, her dad and T H White’s lives. It was an interesting window into a very different and privileged world. I did not know much about goshawks before reading and it was a good insight into falconry and its various links to nature/history (including to Nazi Germany).
Some threads could have been woven more satisfactorily:not many updates about continuing to take antidepressants or how she found work again .
Some threads could have been woven more satisfactorily:
A most unusual but arresting book in which the author relates how falconry, and specifically the taming of a Goshawk called Mabel, helps her to come to terms with the sudden death of her beloved father. In the process the author retreats from the world and almost becomes a hawk, seeing the outside from that perspective and providing us with some wonderful descriptions of nature in the process. But eventually, the healing process of the extreme grief sets in and she is able to readjust to human company. Mabel herself is a star of the story and the reader rejoices in her playfulness and is even able to accept her relish at the kill, such is the empathy of Macdonald with the hawk. What is really clever is that Mabel is never anthropomorphised but retains her raptor nature and this is perhaps the key to the fascination of this story.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
fast-paced
The book is full of beautiful language and interesting connections between people from different eras and places. The descriptions of Mabel, the author's hawk, are warm and affectionate. Mabel sounded cat-like and was interesting throughout. But there were undertones of the book that were heavier than I was expecting. This has no bearing on the work or the author...I just don't think that now was the right time for me to read those items. That falls on me. Great work and I can see why it's well loved!
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This one put me off at times.i was fascinated by the details of falconry, but less enthralled with the author's obsession with T.H. White and his experiments with hawks and how they related to his own psyche. I wish she'd spent more time showing me the twists and turns of her relationship with her own father. I felt the enormous depth of her grief over his death, but really didn't know him very well or understand why he meant so much to her. And what about her mother who is barely mentioned?
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Did not expect to enjoy a non fiction book but was fascinated by the bizarre world of falconry and the dive into the psyche of TH White.
I felt her grief over the death of her father more deeply than I could grieve for the death of my own, that's powerful writing and I'm glad I read it.
I felt her grief over the death of her father more deeply than I could grieve for the death of my own, that's powerful writing and I'm glad I read it.
I really enjoyed this book. Such beautiful imagery and Helen MacDonald is most certainly gifted with words, as well as birds. It hit home as I lost my father suddenly last year to cardiac arrest and could relate to the intense grief and devastation. Honestly, I would have liked to hear more stories of her father and less of TH White, however. While I found White interesting and it was thematically related, I found myself speed reading some of the White descriptions as they got a bit tedious to me.
Nevertheless, Ms MacDonald is quite talented and I enjoyed immersing myself in her world and story for a couple days. I recommend!
Nevertheless, Ms MacDonald is quite talented and I enjoyed immersing myself in her world and story for a couple days. I recommend!
Reeling from the death of her father, Helen Macdonald withdraws further from human experience by buying a baby goshawk, a bird notorious for its wild temperament and resistance to training. Her discussion of T. H. White’s book about training a goshawk shadows her own experience.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced