PositivePloughshares[A] selection of 33 of the more than two hundred essays that Diski wrote for the LRB until her death in 2016, I see that in these essays we will encounter a writer who is able to see herself as a character ... This persona makes not only insight possible, but also pleasure; the pleasure of reading Diski’s essays, whatever their subject (two-thirds are book reviews) is in spending time with her persona—opinionated, funny, and endlessly curious ... Nevertheless, despite her expectation that both the fulfillment of wishes and the discovery of the truth bring one only to an impasse, Diski doesn’t stop trying to understand either herself or other people ... And of course, revealed in every essay, whether it be a personal essay or book review, is Diski herself.
