Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Much has been written in praise of this original, lyrical memoir about a historian and falconer who decides to train a goshawk in the dark days after her father's death. I sometimes loved it very much and always appreciated her ability to bring history, nature, animal literature to vivid life. I also felt it dragged, especially toward the end, and I was dispirited by her dysfunction, especially when she turns down a decent teaching job in Germany because she's training the hawk even though she has no money and no job. It's probably a tribute to her writing I had to keep reading even though she started to annoy me: "Oh, I'm so strange and different from everyone, I have to hike in the pewter-frosted woods with my HAWK. But wait, going to a party might be FUN! What a revelation." Not that she isn't perfectly sincere in her hermitage and her grief and her devotion to the hawk, but her depression is difficult to deal with. But of course depression is very difficult to deal with. So reading the book is almost like having a depressed friend who is a very good writer and, of course, trains hawks.
P.S. I tried to listen to it but since I wasn't very interested in her discussion of TB White's The Goshawk, I kept having to skip ahead and it wasn't as good. She really is a wonderful writer though.
P.S. I tried to listen to it but since I wasn't very interested in her discussion of TB White's The Goshawk, I kept having to skip ahead and it wasn't as good. She really is a wonderful writer though.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
I adore nature writing, and I adore melancholy. This book fit me perfectly. I'm still processing, but there's so much here that relates to working with fearful dogs, too. Noted for a future post.
2 1/2 stars. Beautiful prose but story is disjointed and hard to get through . Jumps around between her dad, some author dude named white and her hawk Mabel. So much of book is just describing the flights and behaviour of the hawk. Was glad to be finished. The short chapters helped a lot.
2.5 stars. I started this book not knowing it was a memoir. So it was a little jarring and confusing trying to figure out the story with the author as the main character. Once I realized it was a true story of her life I enjoyed the parts with her and the hawk. But there were long passages about a book she read during her childhood that shaped her view of life that were very tedious and slow going.
I had looked forward to reading this book for years and it was… not the book I expected. That’s ok! I knew it would be a reflection on much more than just falconry, but I didn’t expect quite as much on grief and I didn’t expect anything on T. H. White, and there was a LOT of that. It was well done but there were sections where my eyes glazed over and I’m feeling a bit disappointed overall.
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced