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emilybh's review
‘The real events that disrupt the everyday, even sometimes cataclysmically, so that it seems that nothing can ever be the same again, erode, weather, change the underlying landscape, but no matter how transparent the platform you stand on, showing nothing but the void below, it hadn’t yet actually broken and thrown me to the depths.’
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Jenny Diski’s dark, honest and funny essays examine the pain of ill-health, preparing to die and coming to terms with the debt we owe those close to us. I loved her dry tone and interrogation of her tricky childhood and adolescence, the domestic conflict she encountered and contributed to whilst living in Doris Lessing's house, contrasted with the warmth of her co-habitation with the Poet. The final poem and Afterword written by her daughter were moving.
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Jenny Diski’s dark, honest and funny essays examine the pain of ill-health, preparing to die and coming to terms with the debt we owe those close to us. I loved her dry tone and interrogation of her tricky childhood and adolescence, the domestic conflict she encountered and contributed to whilst living in Doris Lessing's house, contrasted with the warmth of her co-habitation with the Poet. The final poem and Afterword written by her daughter were moving.
tildafin16's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
First Jenny Diski I’ve read, I immediately loved her voice and simple prose for complex , dark issues. Will seek out her earlier work
eleanormarierose's review
3.0
- author who was taken in by another author as a child
- diagnosed with cancer
- a 'cancer diary' but not?
- honest, funny
- author died week after publication
- preferred the first half
- would have liked more chapters/split up
- diagnosed with cancer
- a 'cancer diary' but not?
- honest, funny
- author died week after publication
- preferred the first half
- would have liked more chapters/split up
schopflin's review
4.0
Having read the original LRB articles, I wasn't expecting the impression this book made on me. The writing is brilliant and the honesty powerful, especially in the memoirs of her teens and twenties. I enjoyed less the ponderings about death, illness and existence, although more than I have from other writers. The topping and tailing by Anne Enright, by her partner and her daughter are great additions.
sanyabeck's review
4.0
I'll preface this by saying I won this book in a goodreads giveaway but this review is entirely my own.
When I discovered this book I had never heard of Jenny Diski nor have I ever read any of her other works. What I found is that her writing is incredibly pleasing to me.
It is so truthful and she doesn't work to please others with the comprehension of her life - currently and in the past.
Although she almost dubs this a "cancer memoir" I feel that this is more of a diary, a mash of thoughts she felt needed to be written down before her passing.
I'm not going to get in to specifics or the dreaded spoilers but I will say I thoroughly enjoyed the book, the language and the spirit of Jenny Diski.
I don't usually write reviews so I am sorry if this isn't the most helpful, but to put is simply - if you appreciate honesty and direct writing style you will like this book. If you like memoirs you will like this book. If you like to read stories on understanding the dying process you will like this book.
When I discovered this book I had never heard of Jenny Diski nor have I ever read any of her other works. What I found is that her writing is incredibly pleasing to me.
It is so truthful and she doesn't work to please others with the comprehension of her life - currently and in the past.
Although she almost dubs this a "cancer memoir" I feel that this is more of a diary, a mash of thoughts she felt needed to be written down before her passing.
I'm not going to get in to specifics or the dreaded spoilers but I will say I thoroughly enjoyed the book, the language and the spirit of Jenny Diski.
I don't usually write reviews so I am sorry if this isn't the most helpful, but to put is simply - if you appreciate honesty and direct writing style you will like this book. If you like memoirs you will like this book. If you like to read stories on understanding the dying process you will like this book.
tjoliverbooks's review
5.0
Such a powerfully written memoir of life lived in open rebelion against so many significant people and forces in her life. A wild thing, she was called. One of my favorite passages:
"Well here I am at last. Comfy, with friends, not alone. Only I didn’t know anyone’s name, or who they were. But perhaps that didn’t matter either. That was when Doris crossed me off her Christmas list. Or thereabouts. Wild, dangerous, a woman with an active uterus that might do anything, and drugs as well. Hopeless. A terrible letdown. An experiment gone wrong."
"Well here I am at last. Comfy, with friends, not alone. Only I didn’t know anyone’s name, or who they were. But perhaps that didn’t matter either. That was when Doris crossed me off her Christmas list. Or thereabouts. Wild, dangerous, a woman with an active uterus that might do anything, and drugs as well. Hopeless. A terrible letdown. An experiment gone wrong."