One word seemed to sum up the book for us all- boring! Megan called it all "self indulgent twaddle". We all struggled to empathise with Helen as she pushed humankind away and locked herself into the house with Mabel (her baby Goshawk). Helen isolated herself from the world and from us, the readers. Apparently the book is based on her diary entries, and was written years later. We agreed that her diary was a suitable place to express her crippling sadness whilst she was struggling with her grief, but felt that It ultimately wasn't really for public consumption. It got in the way of us feeling any personal connection with Macdonald- her only personality trait seemed to be grief.
On the plus side, we all learned something about hawks and falconry! I didn't even know what a goshawk was prior to reading this book and found her descriptions of Mabel quite endearing. Most of us didn't understand or enjoy the constant references to TH White and his similar struggle to tame a hawk, although Anna has since emailed in her reactions and did enjoy those sections of the book. Annette didn't end up finishing, but those of us who did found the ending anticlimactic.
Scores:
Anna- 6
Annette- 2
Carmel- 3
Kristy- 3
Megan- 3
Average- 3.4
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