Literary H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

[sun surfer]

This is the MR Literary Club selection for September 2015. Whether you've already read it or would like to, feel free to start or join in the conversation at any time! Guests are also always welcome.


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So, what are your thoughts on it?

[bfisher]

I'm 50 pages in now. I find that I can only read a few pages at a time. It's not the quality of the prose, which is very readable, and shines in places. It's just that there is so much going on this book. It's like eating a complex dish; I don't want to miss a lot of the flavours by eating it in big gulps.

[Bookpossum]

I have read about the same amount and have put it down for now for the same reason.

If this works, it is a short film clip showing how incredibly fast and agile the Goshawk is when hunting in woodland:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/2CFckjfP-1E

[Bookworm_Girl]

That was a great video, Bookpossum! Thanks for sharing!

[sun surfer]

I've started and am enjoying the writing although, heh, this could be an anxiety-inducing read for people with small dogs with the talk of attacks on small animals and describing dead prey bits et al. I once while driving had an owl fly down to the car and try to snatch my dog, who was leaning her head out the window on my arm. The owl's wing hit my arm in the attempt but luckily that was the extent of the encounter.

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

...If this works, it is a short film clip showing how incredibly fast and agile the Goshawk is when hunting in woodland:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/2CFckjfP-1E

Very interesting to watch; thanks!

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

I've started and am enjoying the writing although, heh, this could be an anxiety-inducing read for people with small dogs ...

Yes, there's that bit where she describes Mabel's second trip outside - “Children alarm her. She is unsure about dogs. Big dogs, that is. Small dogs fascinate her for other reasons.”

[poohbear_nc]

This is a fascinating mélange of disparate, yet related, topics -- rich swaths of personal grief, fascination with death, interspecies communication, literary biography, memory, a love story ... and that's only in the first 5 chapters. Rich, rich flavorful writing ... I envy the author the depth of her vocabulary -- and her word craftsmanship.

N.B. I usually cannot read books that contain vivid descriptions of brutality towards animals or amongst animals, etc. but have not felt the need to close this book ... yet ... the depth of understanding gained from the author's explanations helps to situate the brutal bits into the overall structure of the book.

[poohbear_nc]

Control - of death - a central theme here I think - makes me think of Alexandra Fuller's memoirs of Africa - where children are taught to field strip, load, and fire rifles as part of daily life - to control their own deaths as well as others

Controlling & directing a goshawk makes up for the unexpected, uncontrolled death of her father?

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by bfisher

I'm 50 pages in now. I find that I can only read a few pages at a time. It's not the quality of the prose, which is very readable, and shines in places. It's just that there is so much going on this book. It's like eating a complex dish; I don't want to miss a lot of the flavours by eating it in big gulps.

I understand what you mean. I have read six chapters now in bite-size chunks. Going slowly to appreciate the complexity and the emotional layers.

[issybird]

A heads up: today, September 16, the audiobook of H is for Hawk, read by the author, is Audible's Daily Deal, on sale for $3.95.

[BenG]

Great! I think I'll listen to this book and read White's The Goshawk.

[Bookpossum]

I love this book, but am still making myself read it slowly. I am breaking my heart over T H White's goshawk and I like the way she is telling that story in parallel with her own.

I agree with you poohbear (great you could join us by the way!) about controlling death. She describes on page 147 killing the caught rabbit quickly to stop it from suffering.

Hunting makes you animal, but the death of an animal makes you human. Kneeling next to the hawk and her prey, I felt a responsibility so huge that it battered inside my own chest, ballooning out into a space the size of a cathedral.

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

I love this book, but am still making myself read it slowly. I am breaking my heart over T H White's goshawk and I like the way she is telling that story in parallel with her own.

I absolutely agree with you, an amazing book; I know I will want to read this book again. I found myself going back over many passages, and when I did I always got some new nuance from the passage.

I'm planning on reading T.H. White's The Goshawk and The Sword In The Stone soon, while her text is still in my recent memory.

I love the way she uses the lines and threads analogies, and how she brought it all together.

[BenG]

The Sword in the Stone has a lot of medieval falconry and hawking in it including a chapter where Wart spends the night in the Mews as a merlin.

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by BenG

The Sword in the Stone has a lot of medieval falconry and hawking in it including a chapter where Wart spends the night in the Mews as a merlin.

I was fascinated by her discussion of The Sword In The Stone as a projection of T.H. White's tortured childhood.