Reviews

Grief Is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter

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burgsandbeans's review

4.0

I quite honestly struggle with poetry or poetic prose, but I think this was done in a way that everyone can understand without being overt. A really lovely compact portrayal of what is ultimately a life long emotion. I think the message in here is really positive and encouraging and read at the right time for me.

celestialempress's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

congressbaby143's review against another edition

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4.0

My lack of understanding of poetic language did not hinder me from liking the poetry inside this. Grief. It was a journey with no end in sight and I don’t admit to relating to most of these things but the emotions were too tangible not to feel. I wonder where the self-insert is. I feel for the boys. For dad. For mum. For the crow. It made me remember how grief is so isolating and how people outside of your grief don’t feel real at all. And I felt the anger and annoyance at the people who were there because they felt bad if they weren’t. And I felt the helplessness of being told to be good and move on and can’t you all let me wallow in grief. I will always be in pain, the question will always be how much pain I will be in in a matter of time.... I feel for so much of this. I’m glad I only get to read this now at a time when I’m past my grief being magnified. This would have killed me.

kkdelrey's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

beachybookstack's review against another edition

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3.0

A quick read at just over one hundred pages, and unconventionally written. Some bits were witty, most other parts were solemn as I would expect. I like the way Porter uses the bird as both a mythical hallucination but also as literal grief possessing the father and the boys at times. It gets riled up and odd but it makes sense to me, visceral.

Biggest mindfuck is the ending note about the author, "this is his first book. He lives with his wife and children." I just stared at that a moment, realizing that the author didn't write this from or as his lived experience. Alright, alright. *tips hat*

Only gets 3 starts because I expected something more, perhaps more of Crow, I'm unsure.