Reviews

Grief Is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter

f_ketta's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

2.0

annamastorou's review against another edition

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dark funny reflective medium-paced

3.5

athenium's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

cathyjane's review

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

xaviergasper's review

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funny reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.0

I really wish I liked this more. It was too poetic for me and the core message went entirely over my head. When I do experience grief I would like to come back to this.

The book had me thinking more about love and grief arising as a consequence of having been deeply in love.

natashas_library's review against another edition

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hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

umrah's review against another edition

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dark emotional lighthearted sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Loss and pain in the world is unimaginable but I want them to try.


Short, yet emotionally heavy. Grief is the Thing with Feathers is about a dad and his two boys who've lost the Mum of their family. This book gave me a tingling, empty feeling, a kind of sadness yet not. The writing was lyrical and flowing, and frankly confusing at times. Like the confusion of life when you don't know what to do anymore, how to move on.

So, a crow comes to help. This book has a lot of references to Ted Hughes and his poetry, hence the crow is a kind of everything here. Thankfully, I personally haven't lost a loved one, so I don't know how accurate the portrayals of grief are. But you can really feel the lost, the forgotten, and the sadness. It's really there.

Beautiful and poetic.

lifeoffelipe's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.25

lachiemorris's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

An odd book on grief and loss. At times I found this book to be rather honest in its descriptions of losing someone you love, some passages were so beautiful I had to read them twice. But at times I found it disjointed and confusing. It’s a hard book to rate for this very reason, but alas I’m glad I read it 

katykirk28's review

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2.5

Mad but I think that's the point