Rfalconcam Forum

Hi gang.  I ran across this book yesterday while filling my Kindle with freebies.  I downloaded it but I have not read it, so aside from knowing that the theme is falconry, I know nothing about the contents.  I thought maybe some here might be interested.  If you don't have a Kindle, Amazon.com has a free Kindle reader app for your phone or desktop.

Jen S. in PA

http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Collection-Inspired-Lift-ebook/dp/B0056C3XOW/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1324601114&sr=1-2 (http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Collection-Inspired-Lift-ebook/dp/B0056C3XOW/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1324601114&sr=1-2)

Rise: A Collection Inspired by Lift [Kindle Edition]
Rebecca K. O'Connor (Author)

Product Description
In celebration of the Kindle version release of LIFT, an award-winning falconry memoir, author Rebecca K. O’Connor shares a complementary collection of essays, short stories and poetry that further examines life in the shadow of a raptor’s wings.

LIFT, Rebecca K. O’Connor’s arresting memoir of love, loss, relationships and one impossible peregrine falcon is further illuminated with this collection of writings on the world of falconry. The opening short story, “A Good Falconer Lets Go,” about a teenage boy and his red-tailed hawk is a classic coming-of-age tale with a falconry twist. If you are a dog lover, “Heart to Tear” and “About a Dog”, essays which read like O’Connor’s love songs to the dogs of falconry will resonate with you, if not evoke a few tears. In short essays such as “The Knife” and “Storytelling” O’Connor explores early moments in falconry in the icy-clear voice readers grew to love in LIFT. The collection also includes a glossary on falconry and a bonus excerpt of her novel in progress, a post-apocalyptic wilderness adventure. If you have read LIFT and loved it, this short collection will add to your experience. If you’ve yet to read O’Connor’s writing, RISE may encourage you to read more.

Thanks Jen!   :wave:

If anyone gets a chance to read this story please let us know what you think about it.

I'm getting a Kindle for Christmas!! Shhhh, I know this already!!  :secret2:

Lucky you Donna!  I want the Kindle Fire someday. 

Thanks!  I just downloaded it on my iPad via the Kindle for iPad app!  Can't wait to read it!

Thanks for the tip; I just sent it to my Kindle!

Patti

Thanks!
 
Amazon's also free Kindle application for Windows is quite cool.  I downloaded and installed it, and was reading Rise within a few minutes.  The e-reader works well, even without a Kindle tablet.

Now, the review:

O'Conner writes well.  I'd describe her prose as very University Creative Writing.  That's not a put-down - it means that went to scribble school (an MFA  from the University of California) and knows and uses all the tools.  Accordingly, her prose seems a a bit self-conscious. However, unlike most of the people who have studied the theory, she is also a fine storyteller. Let's put it this way -- in a game of rhetorical talon tag with the folks on the best sellers lists, she would win every time.  Her memoir, Lift, got good critical reviews, but only sold about 500 copies so far, and Rise is part of her effort to engage readers and introduce Lift to them.  I think it's a good strategy. I'm getting Lift, so it worked for me.

She reminds me a lot of the 19th century nature writers like John Burroughs. Like them, she writes gritty prose.  Probably too graphic for some readers -  death, blood, and so on.  After all, she's writing about raptors, and they kill. Her style is strong, immediate, direct.  In other words, she knows when to whack the adjectives.  Here's a sample:

Alone with my panting hawk, the jack rabbit in her feet, I ended the hare’s life and opened its chest so my hawk could begin to eat. The hare’s fur was coarse and dirty even though the rabbit was young. I wanted to think I had brought peace to a difficult life, but I knew it wasn’t that simple. I looked up with sweat stung eyes, stretching aching muscles and realized I was out of this time and yet a piece of the whole.