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emotional
funny
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent
Minor: Alcohol
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I've had this little booklet on my shelves forever and randomly picked it up last night. I'm not entirely sure about it.
The writing is emotional and well-done, sometimes beautiful. The last pages are definitely the strongest of them all. I sometimes felt the described grief tangibly. But oftentimes it also felt a little chaotic and strange - but maybe that is also part of the point?
I feel like this book is probably either a hit or miss and probably also very much depending on time and context when it's read.
There were scenes that expressed a hint of weird perspectives on women or gender generally. Those weren't fleshed out at all but there were several scenes in which different characters commented weirdly which I didn't particularly enjoy.
The writing is emotional and well-done, sometimes beautiful. The last pages are definitely the strongest of them all. I sometimes felt the described grief tangibly. But oftentimes it also felt a little chaotic and strange - but maybe that is also part of the point?
I feel like this book is probably either a hit or miss and probably also very much depending on time and context when it's read.
There were scenes that expressed a hint of weird perspectives on women or gender generally. Those weren't fleshed out at all but there were several scenes in which different characters commented weirdly which I didn't particularly enjoy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Strange and invigorating. Beautifully written, despite the slightly eccentric approach. Thought provoking and sad, oddly nurturing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
dark
funny
hopeful
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Minor: Cursing, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
You've lived a long time and been a crow through and through, but you still can't take a joke.
It struck me, reading Grief is the Thing with Feathers, how odd it is that this book has spawned not one but two major adaptations featuring Big Name Actors™: first a stage play by the Irish playwright Enda Walsh, starring Cillian Murphy, then a film - titled simply The Thing with Feathers; I suppose they lost the "Grief is" because it was cleaner - that premiered at Sundance this year, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. I say that because the book, Max Porter's first, is, pardon the pun, a truly odd bird. An elliptical observation of grief and recovery, it takes for its subject Dad, a scruffy academic, and his two Boys. When we meet them, they're mourning the sudden loss of their mother; one day, in the early stages of their sorrow, a Crow arrives at the door, a mysterious figure who finds humans "dull except in grief." He tells Dad that he'll stay in their flat until they no longer need him. As the years elapse, the Boys grow up, Dad writes a book about the poet Ted Hughes (perhaps best known for his series of poems written after the death of Sylvia Plath, collectively known as - wait for it - the Crow poems), and Crow offers his own sardonic, foul-mouthed commentary as they try to move on with their lives.
That last paragraph represents an attempt to impose a proper narrative structure on a book that is sometimes doggedly determined to avoid one, to both its credit and to its occasional detriment. There's a clear inciting incident and a clear ending, but in between those two poles (in the book's very slim 114 pages), Porter scrambles the chronology, jumping to accounts from his three narrator figures that could come at any point on their road to acceptance. In that way I suppose it mirrors its subject matter, and Porter has a knack for casting a spell with his prose, particularly when playing his differing narrative voices off of one another. One striking example finds Dad giving a brief, heartfelt monologue about the intensity of his grief, concluding with a truly gutting phrase: "the whole city is my missing her." Crow, not missing a beat, responds, "Eugh, you sound like a fridge magnet." It's in this exchange where what Porter is doing in Grief is the Thing with Feathers is most gripping, plunging the reader into the depths of sorrow, then blindsiding them with pitch black humor with the control of an orchestra conductor.
I'll admit that some passages - particularly when the Boys have the spotlight - either went a bit over my head or felt like padding, which sticks out all the more sorely in a story this brief and which explains the score being what it is. However, the novella's brevity is also what gives it its strange, beguiling power. Porter judged its length well: any longer and the prose's incantatory effect would start to wane, any shorter and the already slight narrative might entirely dissipate. As it is, Grief is the Thing with Feathers is a carefully polished jewel of a story, curious and intelligently observed and, in many ways, truly unlike anything I've read before.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Grief, Death of parent
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I cried reading this book and I cried again reading my notes on it.
The love for the mother is so palpable on all pages without her ever showing up. And seeing the boys (and the father) grow up throughout the book and the love remain and grow with them, amazing, heartbreaking.
The character of the crow is really good with its two sides. The animalistic side reminded me a bit of Dr. Seuss with its onomatopoeias and small rhymes. The way the crow is very prominent in the first part and usually in its animalistic side, and in the later parts usually shows up in its more therapist side and shows up less and less towards the end of the book, very nice way to show the grieving and healing process.
The love for the mother is so palpable on all pages without her ever showing up. And seeing the boys (and the father) grow up throughout the book and the love remain and grow with them, amazing, heartbreaking.
The character of the crow is really good with its two sides. The animalistic side reminded me a bit of Dr. Seuss with its onomatopoeias and small rhymes. The way the crow is very prominent in the first part and usually in its animalistic side, and in the later parts usually shows up in its more therapist side and shows up less and less towards the end of the book, very nice way to show the grieving and healing process.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Death
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I don't typically read short, mixed and matched writing style books but I am glad that I did. It is a very interesting experience. At first you think it’s an easy read, but you realise, whilst reading, that some of the monologue is very tricky to wrap your head around and even with multiple readings of the same paragraph you might not understand the meaning. I would have preferred if I had read this book slower, with more thinking involved and I hope to read this book again with more understanding and clarity. I would give this book a 3.5/5 only because I feel like I could not wrap my head around bits of the writing and got confused with the dialogue and references.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death