H Is for Hawk

"H Is for Hawk ( public library ) by Helen Macdonald is one such book — the kind one devours voraciously, then picks up and puts down repeatedly, unsure how to channel its aboutness in a way that isn’t woefully inadequate."

"U.K. writer Helen Macdonald’s breathtakingly beautiful account of training a hawk after her father’s death also tells the gripping parallel story of great English writer and falconry aficionado T.H. White, whose series of Arthurian novels established him as a sort of spiritual patriarch for British writers interested in their country’s pre-Christian mythology. But White was also a conflicted sadist whose passion for hawks was partly an attempt to control his own savage impulses. Who could have imagined a study of hawk-human communion could also be a brilliant reflection on nature, nationalism, loneliness and family tragedies?"

"Ditto Helen Macdonald's H Is for Hawk."

"Just as The Snow Leopard isn’t entirely about its titular predator, the raptor in Macdonald’s book is essentially a foil for a broader essay on grief. But raptors are certainly revealed in H is for Hawk . Macdonald’s descriptions and experiences raising goshawks are intimate, full of details that animate the focal predator as much as Sapolsky’s baboons. In other words, raptors have character in H is for Hawk . They are also, in fact, characters in the book: Macdonald gives her particular goshawk the name Mabel. I think Macdonald’s take on Mabel and her kin is surprising to most people because we tend to extol mammalian predators, which are most like us, over the scaly and feathery ones, which are more unlike than like. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . What happens in H is for Hawk is that raising a goshawk is an education for Macdonald; forging a connection across predators that are very distantly alike involves setbacks, insights, and achievements like any other learning experience. It’s also, of course, a way for Macdonald to process the grief of her father’s sudden death. That strong parallel is so much like to first person narratives of great science writing. While Macdonald isn’t a workaday scientist, her journey fits into the same universe of experiences from Matthiessen to scientist-authors such as Sapolsky. To me, the most striking aspect of this book is how an otherwise wild animal lived within domestic confines—Mabel occupied a place in Macdonald’s home anytime they weren’t tromping in a wood. That image is a hard one to substitute with a primate or a whale; even a crow would seem ill-advised as a roommate. But Macdonald never marginalised Mabel’s wildness; it was an idea that dominated most every aspect of their shared experience. The result is a text that is heavy with respect for that distance between us and other species—a distance that can be harrowing, perplexing, and a source of solace. I think what makes a book about predators durable is the degree to which the author successfully wrestles with that fundamental problem. H is for Hawk feels like the definitive statement on hawks for the modern times, and I think its success has a lot to do with how well Macdonald tied her inquiry into the life of a hawk with her own personal experience and journey."