Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

10 reviews

emilyandthewhippet's review against another edition

slow-paced

4.0

It's a beautiful book, largely about the author's grief around loosing her father, closely followed by a retelling of the biography of a horrible, flawed man and his hawk from the past. The passages about her hawk are so real you feel she's preening her feathers in front of you but these are third to the aforementioned.

Perhaps I'd built this book up too much in my head. After all, it's on a subject I find so interesting and I've had it on my shelf a good four years before it was read. It was slow and I found myself disappointed that the book neatly finished, only to start yet ANOTHER chapter. I wouldn't read it again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Depression, antidepressants, hunting, hunting of animals, guns, misogyny

ashenlar's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

The author's relationship with birds and rural England/nature tied together with her relationship with her dad and her emotions around his death make for a powerful memoir reflecting on grief and depression - a tough, emotional read but incredibly rewarding with beautiful, precise prose

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, and Death of parent

r_lumbrix's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

mandkips's review

challenging emotional reflective sad

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, and Mental illness

Minor: Blood

youngsk's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Homophobia, Mental illness, and Death of parent

shreyavolety's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

"I’d look down on the world below, basking in the fierce calm that comes from being invisible but seeing everything. Watching, not doing. Seeking safety in not being seen. It’s a habit you can fall into, willing yourself into invisibility. And it doesn’t serve you well in life. Believe me it doesn’t."

I could either write a review that spans thousands of words, or I could say nothing to at all, and it still wouldn't really capture how much this strange memoir impacted me. This deserves a re-read, and the only reason it's at 4.5 stars is because I intend to come back some time again later this year, to bump that to 5. I am novice to nature writing, and I never expected a book about losing a father and FALCONRY, of all things, to be my entry point. But here we are. I may have highlighted almost everything in this book. Helen Macdonald is a treasure, and so is Mabel, her glorious hawk. I never expected to learn this much T.H. White, Goshawks, Arthurianian legend, and human isolation from one memoir, but I have. And it was a complete delight.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Violence

Moderate: Mental illness

jenlovesbooksandcoffee's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pedophilia, Antisemitism, and Abandonment

jessthanthree's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Homophobia

Minor: Animal death

magickshop's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring slow-paced

5.0

If I could rate this book 20 stars I would. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Pedophilia

Significant, non-graphic discussions of T.H. White’s pedophilia; the tone is academic.

janice_sumka's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness and Grief