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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
A story about nature and loss, about connecting with animals and reflecting on life. A tale teaching us about falconry and the English landscape, introducing us to the life of author T.H. White (whose works are known to child all around) and the autobiographical struggles of the author.
This is excellent books that is an interesting mix of memoir and nature writing. One, it details the author's journey of training a goshawk named Mabel. Second, it is a memoir about overcoming grief. And third, it is a discussion of the author's T. H. White's experiences training his goshawk. Beautifully written and engrossing.
When I started reading this book which is about a woman training a hawk and also a parallel biography of another author who tried to do the same, I thought it was an incredibly niche book and wasn't sure if it would be for me. However, the slowness of it all (especially in the audiobook) ended up hypnotizing me and I was sold by the time the author discovered she could play with her hawk (a wonderful moment). It is definitely not for everyone: there are endless description of landscape, animal behaviour and, above all, a lot of feelings, a lot of musings, a lot of speculation about the other writer that trained a hawk. It is gloomy and wintery (the season for hunting with hawks) and yet there is something enchanting in this, even if you find that you would never in a million years hunt with a hawk.
H is for Hawk is a deeply personal and poetic memoir by Helen Macdonald. While grieving the death of her father, Macdonald adopts a goshawk. Macdonald patiently tames her goshawk, Mabel.
"The hawk was a fire that burned my hurts away. There could be no regret or mourning in her. No past or future. She lived in the present only, and that was my refuge. My flight from death was on her barred and beating wings. But I had forgotten that the puzzle that was death was caught up in the hawk, and I was caught up in it too."
The memoir parallels the story of the life of T.H. White amateur falconer and author of The Sword and the Stone and The Goshawk. H is for Hawk is blended with history and ethics. Macdonald copes with what falconary has historically signified from elite English society to Nazi Germany. She also explores questions of wildness against descriptions of the English countryside. Macdonald tells her story is rich and honest language. She is a natural writer.
"The hawk was a fire that burned my hurts away. There could be no regret or mourning in her. No past or future. She lived in the present only, and that was my refuge. My flight from death was on her barred and beating wings. But I had forgotten that the puzzle that was death was caught up in the hawk, and I was caught up in it too."
The memoir parallels the story of the life of T.H. White amateur falconer and author of The Sword and the Stone and The Goshawk. H is for Hawk is blended with history and ethics. Macdonald copes with what falconary has historically signified from elite English society to Nazi Germany. She also explores questions of wildness against descriptions of the English countryside. Macdonald tells her story is rich and honest language. She is a natural writer.
H is for Hawk is not my normal type of book, but I truly enjoyed it. The enjoyment was enhanced by the author's reading and her word choice and her lovely accent. Helen Macdonald, an experienced falconer, who has been somewhat obcessed with these birds for much of her life, adopts Mabel, a goshawk. Throughout this process, Macdonald is also mourning the unexpected death of her father. In additon, she somewhat parallels her experiences with those of author T.H. White. Along with wanting t know more about goshawks, I also want to read some of T.H. White's works that MacDonald referenced. I wil also look for more of Macdonald's writings.
Helen Macdonald is a fantastic writer. She is a crafter of words for sure. But, I only got half way through this book. I was reading it for my book club and after attending our meeting, I decided I didn't want to read more about the training process of this animal. I think that falconry in England is a tradition with a rich history. I don't, however, like reading about the process of taming a wild animal.
Favorite quote: “The archaeology of grief is not ordered. It is more like earth under a spade, turning up things you had forgotten. Surprising things come to light: not simply memories, but states of mind, emotions, older ways of seeing the world.”
I listened to this book rather than reading it in print form and that made all of the difference for me. My first attempt to read it was in print and I did not stick with it. Listening to the author read it was mesmerizing.
I listened to this book rather than reading it in print form and that made all of the difference for me. My first attempt to read it was in print and I did not stick with it. Listening to the author read it was mesmerizing.
The base plot is very simple, but the execution is extraordinary. This is an autobiography about grief, a reading of White's The Goshawk, a critical reading of many other books about hawking, a history of hawking, a history of England's fauna, a scathing sociological analysis, and so much more. It is so different from everything else I would know how to qualify it.
- Elusive, spectacular, utterly at home, the fact of these British goshawks makes me happy. Their existence gives the lie to the thought that the wild is always something untouched by human hearts and hands. The wild can be human work. -
- And when I think of the U2 pilot up there reading a book about King Arthur...I can't help but think of a line written by the poet Marianne Moore: The cure for loneliness is solitude. And the solitude of of the pilot in the spy-plane, seeing everything, touching nothing, reading The Once and Future King fifty thousand feet above the clouds - that makes my heart break just a little... -
- Sometimes a reckoning comes of all the lives we have lost, and sometimes we take it upon ourselves to burn them to ashes. -
- There is a time in life when you expect the world to be always full of new things. And then comes a day when you realise that is not how it will be at all. You see that life will become a thing made of holes. Absences. Losses. Things that were there and are no longer. And you realise, too, that you have to grow around and between the gaps, thought you can put your hand out to where things were and feel that tense, shining dullness of the space where the memories are. -
- Hands are for other humans to hold. -
- And when I think of the U2 pilot up there reading a book about King Arthur...I can't help but think of a line written by the poet Marianne Moore: The cure for loneliness is solitude. And the solitude of of the pilot in the spy-plane, seeing everything, touching nothing, reading The Once and Future King fifty thousand feet above the clouds - that makes my heart break just a little... -
- Sometimes a reckoning comes of all the lives we have lost, and sometimes we take it upon ourselves to burn them to ashes. -
- There is a time in life when you expect the world to be always full of new things. And then comes a day when you realise that is not how it will be at all. You see that life will become a thing made of holes. Absences. Losses. Things that were there and are no longer. And you realise, too, that you have to grow around and between the gaps, thought you can put your hand out to where things were and feel that tense, shining dullness of the space where the memories are. -
- Hands are for other humans to hold. -
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death