Macdonald's descriptions of the English countryside are so amazing, it will make you want to chase a hawk across the landscape. Great discussion about grief, loss, recovery and raptor birds.

Although there are some beautifully written sentences/paragraphs we could not get past the story line. If we wanted to read White's book then we would have chosen that for our selection. Perhaps a falconer would enjoy it. The author working through her grief for the loss of her Father just didn't translate for us.

This was the most boring book I have had to read for book club. Too much description. It did not go anywhere. I had to force myself to read it, and then I skipped large chunks. It is not a book club book. There was not too much to discuss.

Our club read this. 2 finished but found it to be extreme work with more story devoted to a book the writer read than her own story. Tedious detail about training a Hawk. Multiple members did not finish. Our worst book choice of the year.

One of the most memorable books Iâ??ve ever read.

Wonderful style of writing where the author feels like you, but expressed so much more eloquently and emotively than I ever could. I loved it and it left me feeling hopeful.
I am hoping I can find a next book that I can enjoy as much as I did this.
I am reading in a woodland, smelling of smoke and wild garlic- feeling part of the intention of the book.

H IS FOR HAWK is Helen Macdonald's book about herself and her hawk, a goshawk. This is why I wanted to read it. I didn't realize that it is also about her mourning over the death of her father and about T.H. White, writer of, among other well-known books, THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING and THE SWORD IN THE STONE. I enjoyed Macdonald's wonderful descriptions of her goshawk, Mabel, and her need for Mabel upon her father's death. But I could have done without all her critique of T.H. White's training of his own goshawk, which he described in THE GOSHAWK.

White's training of his goshawk was mostly failure. It was difficult to read Macdonald's retelling of the failures because White unknowingly tortured his goshawk. Plus, it sounded to me like he was full of psychological problems. H IS FOR HAWK devotes too much time and space to White.

I found this book depressing. At least, unlike most books about animals, Macdonald doesn't end H IS FOR HAWK with death.