The Art Of Not Falling Apart

By (author) Christina Patterson; By (author) Patterson Christina
Short description/annotation
What do you do when you feel you''ve messed it all up and your friends seem to be doing just fine?
Description

New Statesman''s Best Books of the Year, 2018
Mail on Sunday, Books of the Year, 2018

When life threw journalist Christina Patterson an involuntary-redundancy shaped curveball she decided to tear up the rulebook. Dreaming of revenge and irritated by self-help books, she set out to interview others who had found themselves picking up their own pieces. The result is a joyous, moving and honest celebration of life as an adventure, one where you ditch your expectations, raise a glass and prepare for a rocky ride.

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One of the best columnists around.
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A clear and important voice in British journalism.
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A wonderful, gutsy writer.
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A tender, beautiful exploration of how we survive pressure, from a tender, beautiful writer.
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Brilliant, poignant and also very funny.
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A page turner! Insightful, sad, funny and so well written.
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I thoroughly enjoyed it - a kind of war reporter''s dispatches from the barricades of modern life.
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Tender and funny.
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Poignant and very funny
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Patterson invests her case histories with such intelligent passion and cracking candour that you feel as if you are listening to your cleverest, funniest, and, above all, kindest friend. This is a manual on how to survive in the 21st century.
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[Patterson] puts her marvellous empathetic talent to good use, interviewing other people whose worlds had collapsed. The Art of Not Falling Apart is the result, a surprisingly joyful book by a writer so good that the people who sacked her were clearly morons.
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Christina Patterson is a passionate, funny woman who refuses simply to struggle on. She believes in living. And throwing parties. And friendship. And sex. And buying a flat in a Tuscan watchtower from the internet on a whim. And also the power of anger. Like all good journalists, Patterson leaves her best story until last... the final chapter is a revelation.
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Funny and uplifiting.
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In this incredibly inspirational book, she reflects on the lessons she has learned since being made redundant, and highlights ways to deal with personal challenges, that range from domestic abuse and having a severely disabled child, to being publicly sacked at your employer''s AGM. This is not a typical ''how to'' guide that promises all the answers - readers may find some along the way, but they may also simply enjoy it as a witty and beautifully written memoir.
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The whole book was such a gripping read... The honesty is refreshing. It is also beautifully written... Everyone who works in healthcare would benefit from reading this book.
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[Christina''s] moving and funny book, The Art of Not Falling Apart describes with searing honesty what it''s like for a single woman in middle age to lose the one thing that was holding life together - her job.
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The Art of Not Falling Apart is required reading for all journalists past and present, and anyone else who has - at times - struggled to hold it together.
Biographical note
Christina Patterson is a journalist and broadcaster. A former columnist at the Independent and Director of the Poetry Society, she now writes for The S