Jenny Diski’s memoirs of life with Doris Lessing
The current issue of the New York Review of Books features a lengthy review, by Hermione Lee, of Jenny Diski’s memoir, In Gratitude, which was published earlier in 2016. Diski died of cancer this spring, just days after the book saw publication in the UK.
Much of the memoir focuses on Diski’s complex relationship with Doris Lessing. After breaking with her parents, Diski lived several years in Lessing’s care, in the author’s London home during the 1960s. Diski went on to a successful writing career from the 1980s forward. On receiving her cancer diagnosis in 2014, Diski began in the London Review of Books a series of essays that in large part explored her memories of Lessing. Published as In Gratitude, the collection is the most substantial literary reflection on Doris Lessing to appear since her death in 2013.
For those interested in the reception of Diski’s book — particularly its perspective on Lessing — below are links to a range of notices and reviews, in reverse chronological order. Feel free to submit reviews you think should be listed here by contacting us.
Hermione Lee, “The Triumph of Jenny Diski,” New York Review of Books
Andrea DenHoed, “Jenny Diski’s Way of Seeing Beyond the Story,” New Yorker
Heidi Julavitis, “Jenny Diski’s In Gratitude,” New York Times
Martin Rubin, “Book Review: In Gratitude,” Washington Times
Anne Enright, “Writing against the clock,” Irish Times
Hester Abrams, “Review: In Gratitude,” Jewish Chronicle Online
Marion McLeod, “Book of the Week,” The Spinoff (New Zealand)
Jane Shilling, “Life with Doris: the lesser of two evils,” Daily Mail
Tim Adams, “On death … and Doris,” The Guardian
Writer Jenny Diski dies aged 68, BBC News
Jenny Diski interview by Lynn Barber, The Sunday Times (subscription required)
Doris Lessing Society 