Grief is the Thing with Feathers

Porter is lovely with language. This book also, as with his 'Lanny', carries a lot of solace.

This amazing book creeps into you as you move through it. Three protagonists, "Dad", "Boys" and "Crow" show different views of grief at the loss of the boys' mother. Written like a disjointed play, the short book manages to be heartfelt and heartbreaking, hopeful and tearful all simultaneously. The poetic writing and the well defined, carefully crafted voices of each character ensure the book wraps its wings around you and holds you, firm but not constricting. And then it lets you go.

Spontaneous read induced by my inability to avoid anything in relation to crows...

Starts off a little weak and somewhat bland but progresses past that towards the middle of the book. I quite liked the scattered expression of the book as I do not think grief can be portrayed/described easily so the many "gaps" in the writing's structure were appreciated as they really allow you to fill in your experience with grief to compliment that of the family's and also avoids being superfluous.

All in all, this is one of those books that get better as they marinate in the back of your mind and dabble with your own ideas and experiences relating to grief.

3/5