“H Is for Hawk” by Helen MacDonald
Updated List:
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
The Overstory by Richard Powers
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
H Is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon.
Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
No, I am not losing steam. I am still working my way through the New York Times Top 100, Thomas the Tank Engine style.
That’s not fair. It sounds like I’m not enjoying it. I am for the most part. Some of these books have really opened my eyes to what contemporary literary fiction can be, and I appreciate that. Because yeah, I’m a snob.
I really wanted to like H Is for Hawk. I love birds, I love nature, I can like a memoir.
It’s nothing against Helen MacDonald. Her writing is great. Some books are just not for everyone.
Actually, scratch that. No book is for everyone. I made it a little more than half way through and I just had to put it down. It was getting a bit repetitive, and really intense at the same time. But not in the way I thought.
This short memoir follows Helen after her father passes away. In order to deal with her grief, feel closer to her dad and to nature, and to maybe cultivate the wild part of herself that she doesn’t always recognise, she buys a goshawk to train. It of course becomes much more than simply training a wild animal. Helen learns things about herself and what it means to be truly wild, as well as tamed. I liked aspects of it and again her writing is quite beautiful.
I had a hard time reading about what happens to these hawks as they are trained. At some point I realised I was becoming a bit depressed and not in a fun “Wow this book really affects my emotions” way (like Kate Atkinson). No, this was just depression. It’s also, of course, a lesson in grief and losing a parent. So, as someone who lives far away from her aging parents, this was just a bit too much for me. Maybe I can return to it, maybe not. I’m listening to the audio book here and there (narrated by MacDonald, which is nice) but for now I’m going to leave it. The sun is out, the birds are chirping. Let’s leave it at that.
Pacing: Pacing is ok, but as I said it gets a little repetitive. Also, the bits in between about T.H White were kind of interesting, but took away from her story a bit and I did not enjoy them. Or him.
Language/Style: Writing is beautiful, and she is able to evoke feelings of pain and beauty simultaneously. If you’re a fan of nature writing, you’ll love this. Maybe just not for me.
What was the aftertaste? This seems a bit unfair, as I didn’t finish, but it just left me bummed out. Which is the point, I understand. She’s tackling a colossal emotion. But mostly I just wanted to give a hawk a hug, which they would not appreciate. I know that.
Did it teach me anything? I did learn a bit about the history of hawking, and a lot about T.H White, which was interesting, even though when it came to his hawk, he was a huge piece of shit. But he had his own demons. I think it would be good for me to finish, since it’s a book so far outside my comfort zone.
Anyway, thanks for sticking around and happy reading!
Bryanna
Next up: Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead