'Grief Is The Thing With Feathers' is a postmodern novel about grief, and it's so damn sad and so damn perfect

Toward the end of Max Porter's novel Grief Is The Thing With Feathers,' Porter is tasked with explaining what grief is:

"Grief? ... It is everything. It is the fabric of selfhood and beautifully chaotic."

And in a way, that is the perfect way to describe Grief Is The Thing With Feathers — a postmodern novel that details one family's intense grieving process.

The book follows three perspectives after a family's mother dies: Dad, Boys (a combination of the family's two children), and Crow (who is the maybe real, maybe imaginary incarnation of grief who resides with the family while they grieve). Through a series of vignettes told from the viewpoint of each character, Grief explores just what happens when we lose someone and what it means to heal.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Porter's Grief Is The Thing With Feathers. Join us as we talk about what makes this book different than other grief books, what makes it so compelling, and what makes it so perfectly, beautifully, unforgettably heartbreaking.

Then, as always, we close the show with recommendations:

• First and foremost, we recommend you watch this video of Max Porter talking about Grief Is The Thing With Feathers himself.

• Matt Petronzio, Mashable's Social Good editor who joined us for the episode, recommends VS Podcast, a poetry podcast from the Poetry Foundation. "They talk about what it's like to be poets and humans, especially in 2017. And it's honestly just so enjoyable."

• MJ recommends listening to the Longform Podcast's interview with Maggie Haberman, who covers the White House for the New York Times. "It's just an amazing, thoughtful interview from someone who is at the top of her game is doing incredibly important reporting right now." He also recommends Joan Didion's essay collection Slouching Towards Bethlehem.

• Peter recommends the album A Crow Looked A Me by Mount Eerie. "[The album] is so immaculately beautiful. It is so caring and sweet and soft and sad. There could not have been a better pairing [with Grief Is The Thing With Feathers.]"

Next week we are reading Devil In The White City by Erik Larson. And don't forget to follow MashReads on Facebook and Twitter for the latest, greatest book news.