Shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize * #1 bestseller in the UK When Helen Macdonald’s father died suddenly on a London street, she was devastated. An experienced falconer—Helen had been captivated by hawks since childhood—she’d never before been tempted to train one of the most vicious predators, the goshawk. But in her grief, she saw that the goshawk’s fierce and feral anger mirrored her … mirrored her own. Resolving to purchase and raise the deadly creature as a means to cope with her loss, she adopted Mabel, and turned to the guidance of The Sword and the Stone author T.H. White’s chronicle The Goshawk to begin her journey into Mabel’s world. Projecting herself “in the hawk’s wild mind to tame her” tested the limits of Macdonald’s humanity. By turns heartbreaking and hilarious, this book is an unflinching account of bereavement; a unique look at the magnetism of an extraordinary beast; and the story of an eccentric falconer and legendary writer. Weaving together obsession, madness, memory, myth, and history, H is for Hawk is a distinctive, surprising blend of nature writing and memoir from a very gifted writer.
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A remarkable experience for all nature-lovers
This promised to be my kind of book; grief and healing through immersion in the natural world, specifically through training a goshawk. Add to these ingredients a parallel rediscovery of T.H.White’s own book on training a bird of prey, ‘the Goshawk’ (which I haven’t read but as ‘The Once and Future …
This was some of the best nature writing I’ve ever read.
“The hawk was everything I wanted to be… numb to the hurts of human life.”
I’ve been sitting for some time staring at the review window on my screen, not sure what to write about this book.
It is sad, but also uplifting in its joyous moments. I knew nothing of the world of falconry going in and I was surprised at how much there is to it.
Very …
H is for Hawk is the true story of Helen Macdonald, who, rather than drown in grief and loss, decides to find an outlet for it by training a goshawk. Her initial plan is to [without her even realizing at first] just dissolve into the world of the hawk and lose herself completely, but so much more happens while she is training the hawk and she …
This is a delightfully slow and simple book that reads like a realistic & meditative focus on Hawk. Loved it!
The book is well written with many literate references, but the author really needs some kind of counseling. In her grief from the sudden death of her father she retreated from human relationships and projected her feelings onto a hawk, anthropomorphizing the animal.
For instance, she repeatedly calls the bird a murderer, way too much of a …
H is for Hawk tells Helen Macdonald’s journey through grief and the joy falconry brought her. As a young child, she and her father would watch for goshawks, and it sparked a fascination with birds of prey. Growing up, she learned all she could about falconry, determined she would one day have a bird of her own. Years later when she lost her …
I loved everything about this book, from the info about the author of The Once and Future King , T.H. White and his training manual — The Goshawk, t0 Ms. MacDonald’s failures and triumphs on her road to healing after the death of her father.
Macdonald’s account of trying to train a goshawk read like a novel and opened my eyes to the world of falconry.
I found this book to be an educational, fun read.
Some parts of the book are quite interesting but she often talks about this earlier falconer and gets lost in philosophical thoughts. It is an unusual hobby she followed and she also suffers from sadness about her father’s death.
fascinating
Beautifully written and personal tale about grief, goshawks, and the author T. H. White
A beautifully written book about a young woman who turns to falconry to help her process the grief of losing her beloved father.
When he dies, Helen, a promising academic, turns down a teaching job to devote herself to training a goshawk. It’s turns out to …
Helen Macdonald writes with exquisite confidence, clarity and authority in her masterwork, H is for Hawk this book fueled my love of nature, birds, and specifically, raptors. Worth a re-read. It’s that good!
I just wasn’t interested enough in the interaction of characters and the birds.
It’s a pretty slow burn. In the end I wanted to like it more than I actually did. You have to be in the mood for it (but all-in-all a well-written book).
If you can overlook some psychoanalytic bs it’s an exciting look into falconry
Who would have thought that a bird could soothe a grieving soul and open a woman’s heart to life. Beautiful and true.
Wonderfully descriptive of bird life and adaption to captivity by a talented author.
Not my favorite but interesting
Read as part of a book group and the rest liked it