Grief is the Thing with Feathers is the debut novella of Max Porter. Published in 2015, it lead Porter to win the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. The magic of this short book lies in its form. Written in what could be described as prose poetry with intermittent verse, this book is easy to read and shockingly well paced considering the weight of the themes, namely loss, and all the pain and questions it carries.
I was first introduced to the grump that is Ove by my aunty who’s a librarian and has dedicated most of her working life to encouraging teenagers and young adults to read more books. I hadn’t heard of A Man Called Ove before, nor the author and columnist Fredrik Backman; both had completely bypassed my radar when the novel was first published back in 2012. I picked it up in my *ahem* early 30s and I wasn’t disappointed with the recommendation.