Grief Is the Thing with Feathers

A Novel

By: Max Porter

Narrated by: Jot Davies

Here he is, husband and father, scruffy romantic, a shambolic scholar - a man adrift in the wake of his wife's sudden, accidental death. And there are his two sons who like him struggle in their London apartment to face the unbearable sadness that has engulfed them. The father imagines a future of well-meaning visitors and emptiness, while the boys wander, savage and unsupervised.

In this moment of violent despair they are visited by Crow - antagonist, trickster, goad, protector, therapist, and babysitter. This self-described "sentimental bird", at once wild and tender, who "finds humans dull except in grief", threatens to stay with the wounded family until they no longer need him. As weeks turn to months and the pain of loss lessens with the balm of memories, Crow's efforts are rewarded and the little unit of three begins to recover: Dad resumes his book about the poet Ted Hughes; the boys get on with it, grow up.

Part novella, part polyphonic fable, part essay on grief, Max Porter's extraordinary debut combines compassion and bravura style to dazzling effect. Full of angular wit and profound truths, Grief Is the Thing with Feathers is a startlingly original and haunting debut by a significant new talent.

©2015 Max Porter (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"[A] remarkable debut…. Like a prose poem in its splendid language but with its own swift flow, this is highly recommended for ambitious readers." ( Library Journal Starred Review)

It feels like grief

It’s hard for me to describe in words what this work of poetic narrative accomplishes. I have never read anything like this, but it is familiar to me in the confusion of emotions it invokes. I found myself relating to the strangest moments.

Incredible reader!!

I taught this book in a course in love and loss-a student recommended the audio book version to supplement and it is such a great listen. The reader changes his voice slightly for Dad, Crow and The Boys-but it is his articulation of Crow’s sounds that really make this magnificent. This is a book to have in both editions and read more than once in each.

Like a beautiful, surreal poem of love and loss

As someone who lost her dad at a very young age, growing up in a home crippled with grief, this is one of the few books I've encounted that describes that surreal, heart wrenching experience. The performer is outstanding. I tried to read the book a couple of years ago, but found it too hard. But the reader performs so extremely well, it's like I got a new layer from the book. So, so grateful for this gem of a book – I love you, I love you, I love you.

Hauntingly lyrical meditation

It's not just a story; it's a hauntingly lyrical meditation on loss, love, and the strange, surreal ways grief moves through a life.
It’s fragmented, poetic, visceral—and somehow tender, even in its darkest moments.
The narrator was absolutely brilliant as well.

Awesome !

This piece is too warm for me to describe. I've listened to it twice now, and look forward to reading/listening to it again in future days. The narration by Jot Davies makes Max Porter's writing come alive and gives this brilliant work all that it deserves. I didn't know about this novel until I looked into reading Lanny, and a reviewer suggested that if I hadn't read Grief is the Thing with Feathers that I read it now. I'm so grateful to that reviewer !!!