Grief is The Thing

Books where grief is personified, given a body, a voice, or a shape, to explore how loss lives alongside us.

đŸ‘č
⚰
🐩

created by elliet

last updated August, 2026

50
22 books
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Shark Heart

Shark Heart

Emily Habeck

Devil Is Fine

Devil Is Fine

John Vercher

Swim Home to the Vanished

Swim Home to the Vanished

Brendan Shay Basham

Ovid's Metamorphoses

Ovid's Metamorphoses

Ovid Ovid

The Impossible Resurrection of Grief

The Impossible Resurrection of Grief

Octavia Cade

The Buried Giant

The Buried Giant

Kazuo Ishiguro

The Leveret: The beautiful and lyrically haunting novel about grief and queer love

The Leveret: The beautiful and lyrically haunting novel about grief and queer love

Anna Goldreich

The Jellyfish Problem

The Jellyfish Problem

Tessa Yang

The Melody

The Melody

Jim Crace

The Raven

The Raven

Edgar Allan Poe

The Friend

The Friend

Sigrid Nunez

Crossroads

Crossroads

Laurel Hightower

The Thing About Jellyfish

The Thing About Jellyfish

Ali Benjamin

A Fig For All The Devils

A Fig For All The Devils

C.S. Fritz

Bad Cree

Bad Cree

Jessica Johns

H Is for Hawk

H Is for Hawk

Helen Macdonald

Ultramarine

Ultramarine

Mariette Navarro

Grief is the Thing with Feathers

Grief is the Thing with Feathers

Max Porter

It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over

It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over

Anne de Marcken

A Monster Calls

A Monster Calls

Patrick Ness

Monstrilio

Monstrilio

Gerardo SĂĄmano CĂłrdova

Lincoln in the Bardo

Lincoln in the Bardo

George Saunders

Comments

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celinewyp

I’m not sure this is what you’re going for but there’s one middle grade book called The Thing about Jellyfish where a young girl’s grief manifests as an obsession about jellyfish.

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ellietOP

I think that counts!

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celinewyp

Awesome! It's a very good book, I'm glad to bring more attention to it.

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bbyoozi

Ooh would Crossroads by Laurel Hightower fit here?

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fedelegge

Second this, I absolutely think it would fit very well with the list!

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bbyoozi

Yey! It was such a heavy story with a depiction of someone drowning in their grief đŸ™‚â€â†•ïž

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ellietOP

Love the premise and the cover! Thanks for the recommendation!

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leylines

ooh bad cree by jessica johns is perfect here!

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ellietOP

Omg you’re fast! I will get it added đŸ€—

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leylines

i love this niche LOL thank you for making a list!!

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amanda_the_tangerine

Oh helllll yeah!

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ellietOP

Calling all fellow sad folks: please tell me all your favorite books about grief existing.

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beeisreading

A Fig for All the Devils by C.S. Fritz would fit here!

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ellietOP

Thank you!!!

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RexGertSpud

Love this list đŸ„°

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ellietOP

đŸ«¶đŸ«¶lmk if you have any recs!

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Nadiiia

Oh Monstrilio really was made for this list đŸ–€ was that the inspiration?

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ellietOP

Yes!!! Looooove monstrillio and it was definitely a major muse for this list. BUT It Lasts Forever and Then It’s Over has a similar vibe where the main character (a zombie) keeps a dead bird in her chest cavity after losing her wife
.and I won’t spoil anything but it’s another fav of mine.

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Nadiiia

Oh đŸ„č I hate zombies but this sounds so beautiful I might have to give it a shot!

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ellietOP

The book is really funky and there is only 1 explicit zombie moment if I remember correctly. If you like weird books I highly recommend!!

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Nadiiia

Love weird books! Will be taking the rec then, thank you â˜ș

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