It seems that we've had quite a few popular authors passing through my town lately, and in April, Helen MacDonald gave a talk at our local Audubon center. Since my book club was preparing to discuss her book, we went together as a group. I had not read the book at this point, but I enjoyed her personality and her enthusiasm for her story. But I do wonder if I hadn't seen her, if I might have liked the book more?
H is for Hawk is a memoir written in the year following Ms. MacDonald's father's death. To get through her grief, she decided to buy a hawk which is evidently legal in England. Her father taught her about falconry and birding, and she felt the training and structure would help her out of her depressed state. The writing is beautiful; the author is also a poet. Whole paragraphs are devoted to describing a tree or the look in the hawk's eyes. But I was troubled as I read it. I don't believe hawks should be pets. So that was my biggest problem with the book. But I also had a hard time visualizing this devastated young woman when the woman I had seen was bubbly and almost giddy with excitement. It just didn't fit and made the story less believable for me.
I kind of gave up after I was halfway into it and skimmed the rest. I took the book to a British lady who is a huge birder and I'll see what she thinks. -June
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