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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
reflective
Mulle tää ei jotenkin uponnut. Siis luulen näkeväni, miksi monet pitävät tästä, mutta mä en vaan ole yksi heistä.
The most interesting bits were about her actually training her goshawk. That's why I read it. I couldn't relate to other aspects of the memoir and found the historical interludes about generally unlikeable falconers to be a distraction. Maybe those with a deep appreciation for English history would enjoy this more.
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
I recognize the grief MacDonald writes about here. Not a grief of pretty, diamond-shaped tears, nor a grief of cathartic chest-wracking sobs. It's an angry thing, small and caustic, and it lodges in the ribs and leaches lead into the blood stream. It changes you irrevocably, makes you mean, wears you down.
MacDonald clearly sees this part of themself in the young, mercurial goshawk they train. They learn first-hand how other falconers have misunderstood the nature of the goshawk, and while learning patience and love for the hawk, learns patience and love for their own self. In embracing the hawk's nature, they embrace their own nature, and become more whole for it.
It was validating to read. That I am not the only person who gets angry instead of sad when grieving, and that even despite that darker version of my nature that I can still find and make connections. That there is a home waiting for me, that the poison in my system can be shaken off with the proper care. That there can still be love, even after a world-ending loss.
MacDonald clearly sees this part of themself in the young, mercurial goshawk they train. They learn first-hand how other falconers have misunderstood the nature of the goshawk, and while learning patience and love for the hawk, learns patience and love for their own self. In embracing the hawk's nature, they embrace their own nature, and become more whole for it.
It was validating to read. That I am not the only person who gets angry instead of sad when grieving, and that even despite that darker version of my nature that I can still find and make connections. That there is a home waiting for me, that the poison in my system can be shaken off with the proper care. That there can still be love, even after a world-ending loss.
I really don't understand what the deal is with this book. I was bored out of my mind 90% of the time, couldn't care for anything she said nor the annoying interpretations of TH White's book. I don't care about hawks and she didn't make me feel any different after reading the book... The only good think about this book is the writing, but it's not extraordinary either. It did nothing to me, her grief annoyed me more than anything and this story is way to personal for someone to relate to it. Not a good read.
A very good book about the author's relationship to nature and how that shapes her relationship to herself, and vice-versa. Wonderful, would read again.
Between 3 and 4 stars. Beautifully written and an unflinching take on grief and loss, the book lost a bit of its edge in the last quarter as it seemed to meander and retread the same ground without any forward movement or new insight, and the sidebars about T.H. White were only intermittently successful for me throughout. Lots of interesting stuff about the history and practice of falconry.
I listened to this on audio and it is a stunning work. Memoir and nature writing combine to tell a story unlike anything I have encountered. This book will make you cry, chuckle and possible think that you too can train a goshawk. I however will leave that to someone much more patient than I. This is free to stream on Audible right now if you are a member.
3.5 stars. Loved Helen and Mable. Could have done without White and Gos.