I am halfway through and really enjoying the book. It is quite an ambitious task with the various threads of biography and history that she is weaving with her own story of dealing with grief. I don't feel that it comes across as false or exaggerated but occasionally maybe like she is trying too hard if that makes sense. I think it is interesting that she has had a passion for birds and nature since childhood.
I found this great article from the perspective of another falconer and his review of the books (no spoilers are in it).
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/a-falco...h-is-for-hawk/
Quote:
All falconers are stoics - or at least we try to be. We train ourselves to hide our innermost feelings. We have to, or we'd never get anywhere in the training of a hawk. To these birds, we must always present ourselves as an unshakable rock - an impassive, immovable presence in their lives. Emotions make raptors nervous. They're the only ones in this relationship who can show their feelings. Unfortunately, I think we falconers sometimes carry this impassivity into our human relationships, holding our feelings in check, hiding our emotional and spiritual anguish from everyone in our lives. In the darkest nights of our soul, we all too often stand alone - with a fierce, unloving raptor on our fist.
This is where Helen Macdonald was mentally and emotionally in the months following her father's death.
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