Dear Great Book Guru,  Every Thursday throughout July and August you will find me at my favorite Sea Cliff spot enjoying my favorite Sea Cliff summer series:   Sunset Serenades at Memorial Park, and on July 14  one of my favorite groups is performing: Hunt and Hughes. Heidi Hunt and Joe Hughes will be leading the concert off at 7pm. While I am waiting for the music to begin, is there a book you would recommend? 

Super Fan of Sunset Serenades

Dear Super Fan, Sunset Serenade is a huge favorite of mine also, and we all have Petrice Kaider  to thank for organizing these concerts for the last fifteen years. Yesterday I read a very short, very unusual, very moving novel: GRIEF IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS by Max Porter.  Narrated in three voices: Dad, the Boys, and the Crow, this book chronicles the aftermath of a young wife/mother’s sudden, accidental death and how her husband and young sons deal with it over the years.  There are the expected moments of deep grief yet there are also bits of humor as the family struggles to adjust, but the most astonishing thing about this book is the role of Crow- the voice that embodies their collective grief.  Joining its literary avian ancestors, Poe’s Raven, Hitchcock’s the Birds, and Coleridge’s Albatross-  Porter’s Crow becomes the family’s metaphorical caregiver.  Eventually, as the Crow flies- so does grief…. Recommended!