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The Ticking Is the Bomb: A Memoir Paperback – January 3, 2011

by Nick Flynn (Author)

42

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"A beautiful, intelligent book that renders pain both ordinary and extraordinary into art."―Susanna Sonnenberg, San Francisco Chronicle

In 2007, during the months before Nick Flynn’s daughter’s birth, his growing outrage and obsession with torture, exacerbated by the Abu Ghraib photographs, led him to Istanbul to meet some of the Iraqi men depicted in those photos. Haunted by a history of addiction, a relationship with his unsteady father, and a longing to connect with his mother who committed suicide, Flynn artfully interweaves in this memoir passages from his childhood, his relationships with women, and his growing obsession―a questioning of terror, torture, and the political crimes we can neither see nor understand in post-9/11 American life. The time bomb of the title becomes an unlikely metaphor and vehicle for exploring the fears and joys of becoming a father. Here is a memoir of profound self-discovery―of being lost and found, of painful family memories and losses, of the need to run from love, and of the ability to embrace it again.

Print length

283 pages
Language

English
Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company
Publication date

January 3, 2011
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.9 x 8.3 inches
ISBN-10

039333886X
ISBN-13

978-0393338867
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"What does it mean that America tortures? . . . This is the question that haunts Nick Flynn's devastating new book . . . the best passages here are simply astonishing. Flynn writes with great tenderness about the terrors and joys of fatherhood . . . a disquieting masterpiece."
― Steve Almond, Los Angeles Times

"[Flynn's] search for the meaning of fatherhood in the era of terror is remarkable not only for the nimbleness with which he pulls these threads together―observations of former prisoners are woven with meditations on loss―but also for its empathy and unshrinking honesty."
― Elissa Schappell, Vanity Fair

"[Flynn's] efforts to reconcile the tattered pieces of his life―his determination to find love and redemption in a world gone mad―feel gutsy, hard won, and utterly true."
― Time Out New York

About the Author

Nick Flynn is the author of This Is the Night Our House Will Catch Fire and three previous memoirs, including the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award–winning Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, and four volumes of poetry. A professor on the creative writing faculty at the University of Houston, he lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; First Edition (January 3, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 283 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 039333886X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393338867
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.3 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,744,469 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #9,086 in Author Biographies
- #49,714 in Memoirs (Books)

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Nick Flynn

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Nick Flynn is the award-winning author of Some Ether, Blind Huber, The Ticking is the Bomb and Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, winner of the PEN/Martha Albrand Award. He divides his time between Texas, where he teaches at the University of Houston, and Brooklyn, New York.

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4.5 out of 5

42 global ratings

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TLC

Read, and read again

Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2012

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Nick Flynn's THE TICKING IS THE BOMB is one of the best memoirs I've read this year. You'll read it slowly because you want to, because you'll want to take the time to make the connections, and then you'll go back later and read it again. Flynn connects life with his single mother to his own troubled adult life, his unwillingness to settle down in one place, his reluctance to commit to one woman, and what he learns about torture after seeing the Abu Ghraib photos. It's a story you've never seen before, written by one of today's most brilliant and accessible poets. Buy this book and keep it on your shelf.

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Kelly D Giles

the author knows trauma!

Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2013

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even though the images of torture at abu ghraib inspired this memoir, descriptions of that only makes up about 5% of the memoir...the rest of this amazing memoir is a meditation on the nature of trauma, and how even the torturers and/or enablers and/or authorizers of torture could somehow have had their worldviews so warped by trauma as to actually see themselves as doing something heroic...and that when we remain silent about torture, we are complicit!

One person found this helpful

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Amy Waltch

Nick Flynn’s writing is incredibly soulful

Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2019

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This is the second memoir of Flynn’s that I have read. I love his writing. It is sensitive and very intuitive. I’m looking forward to the next memoir to come out.

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AmazonCustomer

I really enjoyed the stories

Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2015

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I worked with dysfunctional families for over 30 years. I really enjoyed the stories, thoughts, philosophies, and life experiences of Mr. FLynn. He captured perfectly the life of a person influenced by dysfuntion and the struggles a person finds while seeking norms. I loved the book.

One person found this helpful

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Lynn Whitford

One of the best books I have ever read.

Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2014

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I had read Flynn's first autobiographical book and liked it, so wanted to read more by him. This one is a real gem. Spare, poetic and both introspective and perceptive about the world. He combines the personal and political in this volume, as in the first one, and I would recommend it to anyone.

3 people found this helpful

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Annmarie Ortega

Great book, brilliant author

Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2012

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I discovered Nick Flynn in a creative nonfiction writing class. Loved Another Bulls*** Night in Suck City so I read this right after. Just as good if not better.

Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2017

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SPEEDY SHIPPING! EXCELLENT QUALITY!

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ignacio f.

The author constantly congratulates himself and expects us to do the same

Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2019

Verified Purchase

I soon found myself just really disliking the author and wishing I hadn't bought this book. He poses, strikes an attitude, is always too aware of we captive readers watching his pseudo-tormented soul. I didn't believe him when he described a dream he supposedly had -- it felt like he just felt this would've been a cool dream to have had, or rather, to have been seen dreaming. His anecdotes and "thoughts" all sound inauthentic, made up, a means of self-display.

3 people found this helpful

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