Grief Is The Thing With Feathers - Tapa dura

Grief Is the Thing With Feathers shows us another way of thinking about the novel and its capabilities, taking us through a dark and emotionally fraught subject, one airy page after another, as though transported by wings. (Kirsty Gunn Guardian)

Dazzlingly good . . . Anyone who has ever loved someone, or lost someone, or both, will be gripped by it. It's very sad and very funny. (Robert Macfarlane)

Amazing and unforgettable, and exactly as long as it needs to be. (Kate Saunders The Times)

One of the most surprising books of the year, full of vitality and freshness . . . Part prose and part verse, the drama of a father and sons coping with loss and an outsize corvid in the house is comic, moving, and ultimately uplifting. (Philip Marsden Spectator)

A luminous reading experience. (TLS)

A blast and a breeze and, strangely, a delight. (Jonathan Gibbs Independent)

Less a novel than a totally new and feathered thing - hilarious, poetic, cheeky, postmodern, I guess, but in the most earnest and emotionally forthright way. I was as gripped as I was stunned by Porter's linguistic daredevilry, his intelligence, his emotional go-for-the-gut-ness. I loved this book. (Heidi Julavits)

A beguiling literary hybrid. (Lucy Scholes The Observer)

In this slyly funny and thrillingly original work, Max Porter somehow pulls a brand new story out of the darkest despair. (Jenny Offill)

An agile, life-affirming account of mourning. (Sunday Times)

Winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize 2016. Short-listed for The Goldsmiths Prize 2015. Short-listed for the Guardian First Book Award 2015. "Dazzlingly good ...Anyone who has ever loved someone, or lost someone, or both, will be gripped by it. It's very sad and very funny." (Robert Macfarlane). "In this slyly funny and thrillingly original work, Max Porter somehow pulls a brand new story out of the darkest despair." (Jenny Offill). "I'm not sure I've read anything like Max Porter's book before. It stunned me, full of beauty, hilarity, and thick black darkness. It will stay with me for a very long time." (Evie Wyld). In a London flat, two young boys face the unbearable sadness of their mother's sudden death. Their father, a Ted Hughes scholar and scruffy romantic, imagines a future of well-meaning visitors and emptiness. In this moment of despair they are visited by Crow - antagonist, trickster, healer, babysitter. This sentimental bird is drawn to the grieving family and threatens to stay until they no longer need him. As weeks turn to months and the pain of loss gives way to memories, the little unit of three starts to heal. In this extraordinary debut - part novella, part polyphonic fable, part essay on grief - Max Porter's compassion and bravura style combine to dazzling effect. Full of unexpected humour and profound emotional truth, Grief Is the Thing with Feathers marks the arrival of a thrilling new talent.