Reviews tagging 'Blood'

H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

8 reviews

wordswithjustine's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

As a fan of The Once and Future King and nature writing and as someone whose dad died less than 2 months ago, this was the right book at the right time for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, and Death of parent

As a bit of a T.H. White fan because of The Once and Future King, I was disturbed to learn many challenging things about him that I never knew before. It was interesting, but not always in a good way for me.

rcsreads's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

3.5

It's part memoir, part about hawks and part a biography of T.H. White. The writing is beautifu,  and I liked how it dealt with grief. On the other hand, Hawking seems incredibly cruel to the animals and T.H. White sounds like a horrible person!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, Animal death, Blood, and Death of parent

Minor: Injury/Injury detail

mandkips's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Mental illness, Animal cruelty, and Death

Minor: Blood

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

Moderate: Antisemitism, Pedophilia, and Abandonment

_haggis_'s review against another edition

hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Animal death, and Blood

Moderate: Death of parent

dianahincureads's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

“There is a time in life when you expect the world to be always full of new things. And then comes a day when you realise that is not how it will be at all. You see that life will become a thing made of holes. Absences. Losses. Things that were there and are no longer. And you realise, too, that you have to grow around and between the gaps, though you can put your hand out to where things were and feel that tense, shining dullness of the space where the memories are.” (p. 171)

“H is for Hawk” is unlike anything I read before. It mixes genres effortlessly, eluding all labels. Is it a nature book? Is it a memoir? Is it a deep dive into T. H. White’s work (the author of “The Sword in the Stone”)? Is it an exploration of grief? For me, it’s all of the above plus the bonus that it reads like a journal. It does not have the form of one but I kept thinking of journals whilst reading. I felt like I was trespassing, witnessing the author’s deepest thoughts. Helen loses her father unexpectedly and her grief is palpable. The book is about loss, healing, humanity, and goshawks.

The writing is dense, full of vivid imagery. It demands attention. I was so absorbed by it, I finished it in 2 days. It left me floating, in a sort of a stunned daze. It made me want to travel, learn more about goshawks (I knew nothing about them before reading the book), keep a journal, pay attention to my surroundings. I’m pretty sure I’ll reread this one.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Blood and Animal death

annablume's review against another edition

adventurous reflective relaxing

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: Child abuse and Pedophilia

miles's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Minor: Death and Blood