Books › Grief is the thing with feathers
Grief is the thing with feathers
128 pages
A surreal, poetic, and darkly funny exploration of the chaotic shape that mourning takes in a shattered home.
What it feels like
Reading this feels like stepping into a house turned upside down by loss, where the air is thick with both sorrow and unexpected, jagged humor. The narrative moves briskly through fragmented, poetic bursts, shifting between the bewildered tenderness of a widowed father, the innocent resilience of his sons, and the chaotic, trickster energy of a giant crow who has moved in to supervise their mourning. It is a deeply visceral experience, capturing the absurdity and physical weight of grief without ever dipping into cloying sentimentality. The prose is sharp, musical, and genre-defying, demanding to be read aloud. It will profoundly resonate with readers who love experimental, emotionally raw literature that finds light in the darkest, strangest corners of human survival.
- Mood
- intimate
- melancholic
- chaotic
- feverish
- bittersweet
- Tone
- raw
- darkly comedic
- tender
- surreal
- unsentimental
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- the physical weight of grief · the absurdity of mourning · fatherhood and boyhood · the healing power of myth · living with absence
- The writing
- A genre-defying blend of poetry, script, and prose that is sharp, visceral, and deeply musical.
- The arc
- Moves from the suffocating, chaotic shock of sudden loss to a tender, bittersweet acceptance of a new, scarred reality.
- Who it's for
- Readers who appreciate experimental, poetic fiction and are looking for a visceral, unsentimental exploration of loss.
Content notes
- sudden death of a spouse and parent
- profound grief
- depression
About the book
In a London flat, two young boys face the unbearable sadness of their mother's sudden death. Their father, a Ted Hughes scholar and scruffy romantic, imagines a future of well-meaning visitors and emptiness. In this moment of despair they are visited by Crow - antagonist, trickster, healer, babysitter. This sentimental bird is drawn to the grieving family and threatens to stay until they no longer need him. As weeks turn to months and the pain of loss gives way to memories, the little unit of three starts to heal. In this extraordinary debut - part novella, part polyphonic fable, part essay on grief - Max Porter's compassion and bravura style combine to dazzling effect. Full of unexpected humour and profound emotional truth, Grief Is the Thing with Feathers marks the arrival of a thrilling new talent.--
Description from Open Library.
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