H Is for Hawk

By: Helen Macdonald

Narrated by: Helen Macdonald

The instant New York Times bestseller and award-winning sensation, Helen Macdonald’s story of adopting and raising one of nature’s most vicious predators has soared into the hearts of millions of readers worldwide.

One of the New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of the Year
One of Slate’s 50 Best Nonfiction Books of the Last 25 Years
ON MORE THAN 25 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR LISTS: including TIME (#1 Nonfiction Book), NPR, O, The Oprah Magazine (10 Favorite Books), Vogue (Top 10), Vanity Fair, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Seattle Times, San Francisco Chronicle (Top 10), Miami Herald, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Minneapolis Star Tribune (Top 10), Library Journal (Top 10), Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Slate, Shelf Awareness, Book Riot, Amazon (Top 20)

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.

©2014 Helen Macdonald (P)2014 Isis Publishing, Ltd. UK

CATEGORIES

“H Is for Hawk” fails to fit a specific category of writing. It is partly memorialist; partly biographic, and partly naturalist (in a call-of-the-wild sense). It seems a perfect book to be awarded a Samuel Johnson literary prize. Johnson’s scatological mode of writing about everything from word definitions (Johnson wrote the first comprehensive English’ dictionary) to Shakespearean literature is evident in Helen Macdonald’s interesting book.

Macdonald’s book reviews the life of T. H. White. White is an English author admired by modern writers like J. K. Rowling and Neil Gaiman. White wrote “The Once and Future King” and “The Sword in the Stone”, two magical stories about the legends of King Arthur. Interesting thoughts about White’s life are weaved into Macdonald’s view of herself, the recent death of her father, and her experience as an austringer (one who keeps goshawks).

Like White, Macdonald feels she has to prove her human’ competence. In contrast to White’s goshawk’ experience, Macdonald is quite successful as a trainer and keeper. This is not a story that will resonate with all who listen to it. However, Macdonald is a very good writer. Among other categories, “H Is for Hawk” is an excellent manual on how to keep and train a goshawk. Any fault in the book is in its subject; not it’s writing.

English Literature

I feel you need to love birds to enjoy this story, most certainly, raptors. I listened to the entire book though at times it went on and on, with descriptions of landscapes, falconry vocabulary and the hawk trainer's inner thoughts and fears as she worked through the early death of her father. There is also a story within a story about T.H. White, author of the Sword and the Stone, and his unsuccessful attempt at training a Goss Hawk. The book follows the difficulties he encountered in his life, the struggles within himself as well as weaving in the tale of a woman's psychological journey through the connection between humans and hawk.

Excellent

Wonderful job reading. Informative and thought provoking. I would love to watch this hawk hunt. I didn't think England was so wild.

Beautiful reading and beautiful book

Hypnotic, haunting, and beautiful. Macdonald's tale is sprawling, but simultaneously tremendously small. It's a deep deep dive into the humanity of grief and recuperation.

One of my favorite books ever

If you could sum up H Is for Hawk in three words, what would they be?

I will be honest: I bought this because Audible was having a sale and it cost $5. I'd heard it was good, but a memoir about grief sounded awful. I assumed I'd give it 20 minutes and then give up. Boy was I wrong.

The book grabbed me from the opening lines. MacDonald's incredible narration gives it a whole new dimension. And the way that she weaves together the different narrative strands,—about her experiences with falconry, White, and her father—are greater than the sum of their parts. It's truly an incredible literary skill, and the book is also immensely gripping (I would say entertaining but that seems wrong considering the content). For a book about grief, it is not maudlin or an excessive downer. Rather it is an incredibly moving meditation on our search for meaning in a totally not-sappy way. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Superb narration!

What a perfect pairing of flawless storytelling and captivating narration! I can't decide whether Helen is a better writer or narrator.

This book was so engrossing that I walked farther and farther every day just to hear more. I could see the English countryside, feel the rain, smell the mud, and touch the feathers of the goshawk through the words of the author.

I loved this book.

Stunning!

I don't really know how best to describe the feeling I had while reading this particular book, but simply "it's one of the best pieces of writing I've ever read."

Must read

H is for Hawk is absolutely a book not to be missed if you have ever touched the wildness in yourself. Read it or listen to it being read by the author. It will not disappoint.

Beautiful and Interesting, but,

Because the narration was spoken in hushed tones through out the entire book, there were many times where I had to adjust the volume, which detracted from the presentation. I also found Helen's accent, at times, difficult to understand. The subject matter was most fascinating, however, I would have preferred a different approach to the narration.

Loved the Narrator's Voice!

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Maybe someone who's interested in falconry.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Most interesting: Metaphor of hawking to (author's) life.Least Interesting: Details of hawking.

Have you listened to any of Helen Macdonald’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not. I would listen to another performance. She has a beautiful, melifluous voice.

Did H Is for Hawk inspire you to do anything?

No. Well, maybe look for more books narrated by Halen Macdonald.

Any additional comments?

I found my mind wandering. I liked the book; loved the narrator, but the story itself, while interesting, wasn't interesting enough for me.