A review by foggy_rosamund
Skating to Antarctica by Jenny Diski

4.0

This memoir follows Diski's journey to Antarctica, and describes her childhood with her dysfunctional family. I love Diski's narrative voice: spare, wry, bitter, she captures a range of feelings I rarely see expressed. She is a reluctant traveller, unimpressed by both the people she meets on the ship to Antarctica, and by much of the scenery. She is happiest alone in her cabin, enjoying the sight of sea, grey skies, and the occasional iceberg. Her descriptions of her childhood are similarly detached: her parents were deeply dysfunctional, abusing her both emotionally and physically, constantly living beyond their means, and both repeatedly attempting suicide. Diski describes her experiences with a chilling lack of self-pity, but a detachment and understanding that renders her accounts insightful and imaginative. Reading Diski is both a journey into the dark places of the mind, and also a refreshing look at modern life and social norms. I enjoy her work and particularly recommend this book.