I may be one of the few people who didn't love this book. A more accurate rating for me would be 2.5 stars.

I was very excited to read this memoir by Helen Macdonald as I am a birder and was drawn to the idea that the author turned to raising a goshawk as a way to channel her grief over the sudden death of her father. The book starts off promisingly, and much of the language is lyrical and just beautiful to read. However, I found myself less and less interested while reading -- to the point where finishing the book seemed more like a chore than a pleasure.

Macdonald spends quite a large portion of the book analyzing the life an writings of author TH White, who wrote a book titled "The Goshawk." For me, I found the constant flashbacks to White to be a drag on the book. Frankly, I think I would have liked the book much better had she only focused on her experience instead making parallels to White's book.

For those interested in the subject matter, and the patience for a slow-moving book, I would recommend H is for Hawk. Others should probably skip it. ( )

All the reviews say that this is a wonderful book beautifully written. And that may be. But I took a strong dislike to the author almost as soon as I started reading and that feeling never went away. This has never happened to me before. Maybe it was my mood. But I think it had to do with two things. One was what felt to me like an overly exaggerated grieving for her father. The other was the dawning awareness that those who train wild raptors to hunt and kill prey are not concerned about being cruel -- not to the prey and not to the bird. ( )

This beautiful book just blew me away. A powerful and deeply emotive memoir on grief, a fascinating primer on falconry, a treatise on the nature of relationships between humans and other species, and so much more. My heart is a little bit more cracked after finishing H is for Hawk, but that's alright. I feel like I'm also wiser for it, and with more capacity for kindness, and that is everything that I love about being a reader. ( )

This book is a bit depressing, but I guess if I read reviews before choosing a book, I'd have known that going in. After unexpectedly losing her father, the author decides to add 'goshawk' to the list of birds she has trained--apparently a bird less favored among falconers for it's less tamable, blood-lusty attitude. So the book is a rumination of the parallels between herself; her new bird, Mabel; T. H. White (also a falconer); other authors; and the experiences she has training the bird. I enjoyed how well read she is and learning a bit about falconry, and this is one of the cases where an author reads her own work quite well (surprisingly, in my opinion, many authors don't). ( )

I almost never don't finish a book, but I just couldn't read this one after the first half. There are just too many great books out there to read one I am not enjoying at all. ( )