halfshook 's review for:

Grief Is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter

4.0

dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

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i've been in a bit of a reading slump these past few weeks as i've been dealing with a pretty severe depressive episode so i walked myself into waterstones on a whim yesterday and chose a book at random. a book i had never heard of and that i was unfamiliar with the author of. 

this was that book. 

i'm glad to know that i have good taste if only by accident but i very much enjoyed this book. if you can enjoy a novella about grief that is. around this time last year my own mum nearly died and i'm happy to say that she's alive and doing as well as she can be now but it means i've spent a lot of the last year really trying to process my emotions around the topic and failing. this book helped a little with that process and i'm sure it's one i will come back to with time. and i'm also sure it's one i will increase my rating of on the reread but i guess only time will tell. 

this book is weird and experimental. it's almost abrupt in nature at times and doesn't let you linger for long enough. the narrative is not exactly linear and it's hard to keep track of what's going on but so is grief and i think the reading experience mimics that process. it's not one i would recommend to anyone but i think it's a interesting exploration of a family dealing with the fallout of the death of their mum and wife. if you think that would appeal to you i would definitely give it a go.