Is the award-winning novel's passive protagonist a realistic portrayal of grief?

[EmilyR]

I just finished that popular literary fiction novel that won the award last year, and I'm left feeling a bit underwhelmed despite the glowing book reviews. The prose was beautiful, but I found the protagonist so passive and indecisive that it frustrated me, and the ambiguous ending felt more like a cop-out than a profound statement. Maybe I missed the point? I'd love to hear from others who've read it—did the character's passivity resonate as a realistic portrayal of grief, or did it hinder your engagement with the story as it did for me?

[Oliver_S]

I hear you. The passivity isn’t accidental; it reads like a deliberate mirror of grief, which can feel gradual and frustrating in equal measure.

[JacobP]

For me, the muted protagonist was oddly relatable—grief doesn’t always provoke dramatic turning points. Sometimes it’s a slow, interior drift that reveals itself in small, quiet moments.