PositiveNew ScientistThe book is most powerful in its articulation of ordinary anxieties ... The fatalism of its characters reads as a myopic retreat, one that privileges the individual over collective survival ... Offill’s Weather makes one consider the inevitable and accelerating encroachment of climate change on the foundations of what we consider normal life. It is a reminder that in a time of crisis, when climate emergency threatens to worsen into catastrophe, inaction is a moral failure.
Max Porter
RaveElectric LiteratureThe novel’s references are broad and eclectic; Porter himself is clearly an erudite man, and the result is a book that yields more with each subsequent rereading ... As tired as the term may be, 'postmodern' is the perfect descriptor for Grief is the Thing with Feathers. Unreliable narration obscures the distinction between reality and imagination, and metafictional awareness binds the book ... Layered with pathos, allusion, and humor, Grief is the Thing with Feathers is more than the sum of its composite elements. Pithy yet rich, the novel is a moving and astounding debut. Porter’s Crow is as vivid as Hughes’ original, and his writing no less memorable.
