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H is for Hawk

Helen Macdonald

Start date: September 15, 2016

Finish date: October 1, 2016

Discussion: Reading List

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Reading List

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What Members Thought

Apr 07, 2017 Laura rated it really liked it

Shelves: viciados-em-livros, memoir-biography, e-books, kindle, british-literature, read-2017, animals, autobiography, mtbr-challenge-2017, non-fiction

A surprisingly good book.

I thought this book will be exclusively about bereavement due to her father's dead, but it was also in how the author found a way to overcome a difficult moment of her life.

My only criticism is the excessive citations of the book by T. H. White (1906 – 1964) – ”The Goshawk” which spoiled somehow the latter. To be checked.

3* The Falcon and the Hawk
4* Through the Wire
4* H is for Hawk ...more

32 likes · Like · see review

Mar 28, 2016 Ken rated it liked it

Shelves: finished-in-2016

The three is tagged on me more than Helen. Actually, this is a well-written book. Helen Macdonald's bio includes the word "poet" and it shows in the many, many descriptive accounts in this narrative. It's all about the buying and training of a goshawk. Behind that main plot, we have Helen trying to get over the death of her father. And behind that, a shadow account of author T.H. White's trials and tribulations training a hawk. I think the father riffs worked less and the White ones more.

My prob ...more

20 likes · Like · see review

Sep 25, 2017 Renata rated it really liked it

Shelves: abandoned

It took me a while to get through this, but I kind of fell in love with Mabel, so I kept going. It's not that I didn't enjoy the book, I just couldn't relate to Helen on so many levels. But that's the reason we read books I think - to get a glimpse into another's world, even if we can't relate or understand them. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

May 15, 2015 Jessica rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, memoir, animals

Don't let the superficial description of this one as a grief memoir of a woman who returns to her childhood obsession with falconry put you off - MacDonald is an exceptionally gifted writer who can turn these subjects into a richly described and fascinating exploration of issues both familiar and strange. Even as it seems that she's emotionally bereft and flattened by her father's death, she finds just the words to demonstrate the not-quite-pet, not-quite-working-animal companionship she develop ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Dec 13, 2015 Tensy (bookdoyen) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

This memoir by Helen Macdonald interweaves three story lines, the training of her goshawk, Mable, the story of the novelist T.H. White as he trains his own hawk, and the mourning period following the death of her father. She weaves these separate events into a beautiful description of the relationship between human beings and animals and with other people. It also depicts the process of training a hawk, with its attention to detail, and how this helps her deal with her own grief, and in White's ...more

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Dec 08, 2015 Linda rated it it was amazing

I'm still in the dark mood that this story created for me in spite of the ending. For anyone who has ever had to let go, and that's everyone, here's a struggle and reflection on that journey. Complexity abounds along with unknown details about falconry in England and some of the characters who are challenged and comforted by the pursuit. Also, beautiful writing that caused me to reread sections and paragraphs just so I could allow the wordsmith to force a deeper reflection or just enjoy the word ...more

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Mar 27, 2015 Alan rated it liked it

Shelves: biography-and-memoir, dogs-and-other-animals

About half the book is a reflection on T H White's Goshawk. I have a copy of that, and decided H wasn't for me, I woukd go to original, H is well enough written and I am interested in the hawk, if not deeply in hawking itself, but I found this somewhat unsatisfying. ...more

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Jul 18, 2019 Abbey rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, audio

This is a masterpiece. Highly recommend the audiobook, read by the author. The best meditation on the interweaving of grief + the natural world that I have ever encountered.

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