LATEST DISCOUNTS & SALES: PROMOTIONS

Close Notification

Your cart does not contain any items

The Reactor: A Book about Grief and Repair by Nick Blackburn at Abbey's Bookshop,
The Reactor: A Book about Grief and Repair
— —
Nick Blackburn

The Reactor

A Book about Grief and Repair

Nick Blackburn

$27.99

Paperback

Paperback

In stock
Ready to ship
English
Faber & Faber
16 March 2022
Biography; Biography: arts & entertainment; Memoirs; Popular culture; Creative therapy (eg art, music, drama); Coping with death & bereavement
I tore the arse of my pyjamas one morning, about a year before he died, and my father sewed it up perfect in a few minutes, just like that. I was looking at them this morning actually, his line of white stitches. It's beautiful really. They've held.

The Reactor is a memoir about absence, loss and regeneration, written like the pieces of a puzzle. After the sudden death of Nick Blackburn's father, who suffered from manic depression, he embarks on a labyrinthine journey to excavate his grief. Without memories of a father-son relationship that held formative meaning, it is at times a desperately lonely mission. The only photograph that he possesses of him and his father is when they are both in McDonald's holding strawberry milkshakes. How do you create an existence when all you have to work with is a void?

Blackburn turns, instead, to the quixotic nature of destruction - both natural and human-made - and repair. He uses a repertoire of film, music and pop culture to locate, identify and accept emotional instability. The result is a shining, meditative and spirited account of the transformative qualities of grief. The Reactor represents a thrilling turn for narrative non-fiction - and is a work of lasting fragmentary beauty.
By:  
Imprint:   Faber & Faber
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Edition:   Main
Dimensions:   Height: 216mm,  Width: 135mm,  Spine: 29mm
Weight:   426g
ISBN:   9780571367740
ISBN 10:   0571367747
Pages:   416
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  ELT Advanced ,  Primary
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Out of Print

Nick Blackburn is a therapist who specialises in LGBTQ+ issues and completed a PhD in English Literature at Cambridge.

See Also

The Reactor: A Book about Grief and Repair

Applied Arts and Health

Building Bridges across Arts, Therapy,...

Ross W. Prior

Paperback

$65.95 

Not in-store but you can order this

ADD +
The Reactor: A Book about Grief and Repair

A Mindful Year

365 Mindful Writing Prompts

Emma Bastow

Paperback

$34.99 

Not in-store but you can order this

ADD +
The Reactor: A Book about Grief and Repair

Handbook of Expressive Arts Therapy...

Cathy A. Malchiodi

Hardback

$206 

Not in-store but you can order this

ADD +
The Reactor: A Book about Grief and Repair

Poe for Your Problems

Uncommon Advice from History's Least...

Catherine Baab-Muguira

Hardback

$29.99 

Not in-store but you can order this

ADD +
The Reactor: A Book about Grief and Repair

Before We Teach Music

The Resonant Legacies of Childhoods...

Lori A. Custodero (Professor of...

Hardback

$219.95 

Not in-store but you can order this

ADD +
The Reactor: A Book about Grief and Repair

Art Therapy and Health Care

Cathy A. Malchiodi

Hardback

$120 

Not in-store but you can order this

ADD +