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mainon 's review for:
H is for Hawk
by Helen Macdonald
Definitely not a #sundayquickreads. This is a grief memoir with a thick, textured jacquard fabric that forces you to slow down and pay attention to its complex weave.
Helen's father has just died, and in floundering, helpless, escapist grief, she decides to retreat from people and train a wild goshawk, whom she names Mabel.
She is, somewhat consciously, following in the footsteps of T.H.White, who also fled many of his responsibilities and holed up in a cottage to train a goshawk, an experience about which he also wrote a book. Helen's reflections on the similarities and differences in their experiences are surprisingly profound, as is the depth of her expressiveness about Mabel's attitudes, postures, desires, and behaviors. Even more surprising is how emotional all of these observations become in the context of Helens grief.
Helen's writing is also astonishingly rich, even lush at times, yet never baroque or overbearing. The descriptions of the English countryside are effortlessly detailed and evocative, and the renderings of Mabel's hunting efforts are bloodier but no less striking.
This is a book that will stick with me for a long time. It's slow-moving, so those looking for a fast and exciting plot will want to look elsewhere, but the rewards for patience are tremendous.
Helen's father has just died, and in floundering, helpless, escapist grief, she decides to retreat from people and train a wild goshawk, whom she names Mabel.
She is, somewhat consciously, following in the footsteps of T.H.White, who also fled many of his responsibilities and holed up in a cottage to train a goshawk, an experience about which he also wrote a book. Helen's reflections on the similarities and differences in their experiences are surprisingly profound, as is the depth of her expressiveness about Mabel's attitudes, postures, desires, and behaviors. Even more surprising is how emotional all of these observations become in the context of Helens grief.
Helen's writing is also astonishingly rich, even lush at times, yet never baroque or overbearing. The descriptions of the English countryside are effortlessly detailed and evocative, and the renderings of Mabel's hunting efforts are bloodier but no less striking.
This is a book that will stick with me for a long time. It's slow-moving, so those looking for a fast and exciting plot will want to look elsewhere, but the rewards for patience are tremendous.