Thursday, June 16, 2016

Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter



Grief is the Thing with Feathers is a new novel about a family wrestling with grief:

The poetry of this piece of prose demands a poetic response:

Gut-wrenching.

Challenging immediacy; chaotic raw pain.
Need for comfort; need to comfort; need to/forced to grow (up).
Immersive voice, language, rhythm gets in your head, gets in your speech.
Visceral; discomfort; pushing: vastness.
Supports: coping together, coping separately.
Feeling. GRIEF. ANGER. VIOLENCE. PAIN. Expressed through the body; expressed through the words in this book. 
Unlike any other novel or memoir on grief this text tells you nothing.  But it shows you everything.  The pain and anger and violence and chaos of grief is not told, but shown to you and felt by you.  

I have never felt less alone in my grief.  I hope it helps you feel the same.