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Chargement... H Is for Hawk (original 2014; édition 2014)par Helen Macdonald (Auteur)
Information sur l'oeuvreM pour Mabel par Helen Macdonald (2014)
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All the reviews say that this is a wonderful book beautifully written. And that may be. But I took a strong dislike to the author almost as soon as I started reading and that feeling never went away. This has never happened to me before. Maybe it was my mood. But I think it had to do with two things. One was what felt to me like an overly exaggerated grieving for her father. The other was the dawning awareness that those who train wild raptors to hunt and kill prey are not concerned about being cruel -- not to the prey and not to the bird. This beautiful book just blew me away. A powerful and deeply emotive memoir on grief, a fascinating primer on falconry, a treatise on the nature of relationships between humans and other species, and so much more. My heart is a little bit more cracked after finishing H is for Hawk, but that's alright. I feel like I'm also wiser for it, and with more capacity for kindness, and that is everything that I love about being a reader. This book is a bit depressing, but I guess if I read reviews before choosing a book, I'd have known that going in. After unexpectedly losing her father, the author decides to add 'goshawk' to the list of birds she has trained--apparently a bird less favored among falconers for it's less tamable, blood-lusty attitude. So the book is a rumination of the parallels between herself; her new bird, Mabel; T. H. White (also a falconer); other authors; and the experiences she has training the bird. I enjoyed how well read she is and learning a bit about falconry, and this is one of the cases where an author reads her own work quite well (surprisingly, in my opinion, many authors don't).
Helen Macdonald’s beautiful and nearly feral book, “H Is for Hawk,” her first published in the United States, reminds us that excellent nature writing can lay bare some of the intimacies of the wild world as well. Her book is so good that, at times, it hurt me to read it. It draws blood, in ways that seem curative. Appartient à la série éditorialeEst un commentaire de texte dePrix et récompensesDistinctionsListes notables
When Helen Macdonald's father died suddenly on a London street, she was devastated. An experienced falconer 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 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 Once and Future King 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. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)598.944Natural sciences and mathematics Zoology Birds Raptors, birds of prey Accipitridae HawksClassification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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I was very excited to read this memoir by Helen Macdonald as I am a birder and was drawn to the idea that the author turned to raising a goshawk as a way to channel her grief over the sudden death of her father. The book starts off promisingly, and much of the language is lyrical and just beautiful to read. However, I found myself less and less interested while reading -- to the point where finishing the book seemed more like a chore than a pleasure.
Macdonald spends quite a large portion of the book analyzing the life an writings of author TH White, who wrote a book titled "The Goshawk." For me, I found the constant flashbacks to White to be a drag on the book. Frankly, I think I would have liked the book much better had she only focused on her experience instead making parallels to White's book.
For those interested in the subject matter, and the patience for a slow-moving book, I would recommend H is for Hawk. Others should probably skip it. ( )