grief is the thing with feathers book review

The Boys grieve for the Mum in their own unique ways. So to assuage his grief he tells the boys what a wonderful Mum they had. For example, the Dad gets very upset when he starts to forget everyday, mundane things about his wife. There are some truly exceptional, short passages that beautifully capture the grief of Dad who loved his wife dearly and was very close to her. They say about the Mum’s death: “We guessed and understood that this was a new life and Dad was a different type of Dad now and we were different boys, brave new boys without a mum.” Throughout the book the boys are not only brave, but astute at analyzing their feelings as well as their Dad’s. Children oftentimes understand serious things more than we give them credit. It is natural that adults want to protect children from misfortune but Dad can only keep the truth from the Boys for so long. The children, who are two small boys, and whom the author simply calls “Boys,” say that they first can’t get a straight answer about where Mum is. I love that the author includes the point-of-view of the children since grief affects them very differently than adults. When he enters the home he notices that “The whole place was heaving mourning, every surface dead Mum, every crayon, tractor, coat, welly, covered in a film of grief.” Crow notices that there is not an inch of the home that is unaffected by the Mum’s sudden death. When Crow speaks the story takes on a poetic tone. But he also gives advice, babysits and entertains. The Crow is there to easy the grief for Dad and the children. The rest of this short book alternates between Dad, Crow and the Children narrating the story. When he answers, Dad is accosted by feathers and describes his strange experience, “There was a rich smell of decay, and moss, and leather, and yeast.” A crow appears and tells Dad, “I won’t leave until you need me anymore.”

At this point all of the mourners have departed and the children are asleep and the doorbell rings. When the book begins the character who is simply called “Dad,” is wandering around in his flat only five days after his wife has died. But crows are also know for their intelligence and resilience, so what better animal to use than this bird to personify grief. Crows are also birds of carrion which swoop down and eat the remains of decaying animals.

Crows are oftentimes associated with bad luck or evil omens, which is appropriate this book in which the Mum dies from a strange accident. It is not a mystery why the crow is the perfect symbol of grief. All of us deal with grief in different ways and in this short book Max Porter presents us with grief in the form of a crow.

Grief is the thing with feathers book review