Grief is The Thing With Feathers ★★★☆☆

Grief is The Thing With Feathers (Click Here To Buy)

★★★☆☆

Grief is The Thing With Feathers by Max Porter is a fiction book about a man and his two sons grieving the loss of their wife/mother. I bought this from a used book shop in NYC. It hasn't been much time since his wife died when the Dad starts noticing the Crow coming around. One night, it seems like someone is breaking in when really it is Crow. Crow moves in, taking up space in ways that are impossible to ignore. Dad is a writer and trying to write about Ted Hughes, a poet who was married to Sylvia Plath, while battling his grief. The Boys like to play violently in ways where they try to ignore the fact that their mother is dead. Slowly, within the details, this new family structure begins to deal with this grief. Crow is there through it all from days after when no one knows what to do, to years later when they are able to spread her ashes and Crow is no longer needed.

The story is told from the perspectives of the Dad, the Boys, and the Crow. There are multiple layers of literary devices to unfold, from the Emily Dickinson poem, "Hope is the thing with feathers" to Ted Hughes book of poems, "Crow." The story feels very allegorical intermixed with glimpses and memories. I feel like a lot could be unpacked with this book, and maybe I just didn't fully understand it or maybe I just didn't have someone to talk to about this book - but for some reason it didn't quite do it for me. I'm passing this book along to my bestie to read so we can unpack it together, but have any of yal read it? Interested in your thoughts.

If you liked Grief is The Thing With Feathers, I also recommend Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Beautiful Things by Hunter Biden, Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner, and A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis.

Happy reading, xo.

Ms.Bjork