Incredibly sensous book, imaginative ways of describing feelings and events in a way to make them seem so much more intense, sexy, inticing - brilliant stories, keeps you turning the pages, I absolutely loved it!

THE VANISHING PRINCESS - my first book by Jenny Diski, and it remained one of my favourites. When two men "invent" cubism before it actually came into existance, when a girl commits suicide on a tube station and a passer-by suddenly finds herself in an affair with the girl's ex-lover, when someone is obsessed with bath rooms and a princess makes Rumpel Stiltz forget his name...you're into a Jenny-Diski-book. Her unique way of describing things from points of view you would maybe never have thought of is just amazing. And so is her humour...

DON'T is a collection of reviews jenny diski has written for the LRB.
in each of the reviews you can find the unique jenny-diski-style and jenny-diski-humour which makes it GREAT fun reading!!!
check this out!

Floating sometimes inscrutably between the life of a young clothing designer damaged by her turbulent childhood and the life of an old homeless woman clinging to anonymity, this book develops the reader's curiosity but never delivers. Each of the storylines revolves around a romantic love relationship, and the reader finds herself entwined in the parallel plots despite their occasional obtuseness. Though the ride is entertaining, the climax never materializes and the ending leaves the reader disappointed and bitter.

An excellent story. Simply that. The dream mistress is about sleeping beauty, only in a different touch. Jenny Diksi has created a wonderful new look at what we normaly think, and does so with such skill. One of my very favorite authors, and one of my favorite books. Definately a talent worth knowing/reading.

I did like this book. It deals with a fairly harrowing subject - childhood abuse - both emotional and the hint of sexual. The latter is not dwelt upon, and this is in no way a "victimology"

In Diski's journey inside herself, and her physical journey, there is much to admire. I found myself gasping a couple of times at her reactions and descriptions about herself. Whilst I can share her love of indolence, and can happily spend a week's holiday in bed reading (!) I just cannot imagine the 30 years of lack of curiosity about her mother's whereabouts! What a very (to me) peculiar family! But then, Diski has brought it so evocatively to the page.

The scenes where she is finding out about her childhood from the three elderly women ('and the one remaining husband') who lived in her block of flats are fabulous - very witty. It takes a deft touch to write with such humour about events which were pretty monumental!

The physical journey - the travelogue - is beautifully written too, and is one of the more interesting travel stories I have read. In the observations about her companions it reminds me of Paul Theroux at his best.

Despite the tantalising title, I wouldn't have guessed how fascinating this book would be, even thought I've read some of Diski's excellent novels in the past. The author embarks upon a voyage to Antartica which turns out to be a journey into her own personal history. What could have been an painfully honest and difficult autobiography to read, the reading of this book is tempered by the delightful travel observations of someone who would have been happier staying in her own armchair at home. Although this sounds like a "women's" book, I am definately not of that gender, and truly enjoyed every chapter.

This is a stimulating novel. Based on the covenant between God and Abraham, it brings the characters to life, gives them flesh and bone. What would it have been like to be Sarai (Sarah) and married to a guy who went around talking to God? How would a woman of that day react? What if we could read God's mind and understand what the thoughts were that lead to the chosen people? Diski weaves and intriguing dialogue between God and man, and addresses fundamental questions of existence within each of the human characters. The book is intelligently written, witty, and keeps you glued to the page. At only 215 pages, it goes by quick. I think you'll find it fascinating with an occasional splash of humor.

I received this book from a friend and...actually, I'm glad, because this subject is somewhat intriguing and now I have a decent glimpse of it. "Nothing Natural" is about a 30-ish woman, Rachel, who gets involved in a sado-masochistic relationship. Oh yeah, it's also about how Rachel struggles to exist in a world without getting emotionally close to anyone!

In terms of style, Jenny Diski writes very clearly, simply and bluntly. Her sex scenes are so stark, they're quite a turn-on. In terms of the story however, I formed opinions about Rachel's character early on, and the author pretty much validated my opinions halfway through. The character of Pete, a social service case of Rachel's, presented a promising story in which I hoped would be the experience that would help Rachel grow and progress into a whole person, but that was not so. After that, she went into a huge depression, and that section really dragged for me. Diski could have written that in about half as many pages. In the end, she half-heartedly, but successfully, took a step towards doing away with a self-destructive fantasy, facing life in all its convoluted, complicated and messy splendor.

For me I guess the problem would be that I didn't really like Rachel...she annoyed me after a while. That's not to say that she wasn't a complicated person with a whole mess of "issues." However, this was a really interesting look into the reality of a truly sado-masochistic relationship. It made me wonder, or rather, it answered the question of whether or someone would be able to truly separate sex from emotional attachment. Furthermore, would someone be able to separate a sexual fantasy from sexual reality? From the looks of it, it's not easy!