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Skating To Antarctica [Paperback]

Jenny Diski (Author)
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
RRP: £9.99
Price: £6.89 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Book Description

Publication Date: 20 Jan 2005

This strange and brilliant book recounts Jenny Diski's journey to Antarctica last year, intercut with another journey into her own heart and soul...a book of dazzling variety, which weaves disquisitions on indolence, truth, inconsistency, ambiguousness, the elephant seal, Shackleton, boredom and over and over again memory, into a sparse narrative, caustic observation and vivid description of the natural world. While Diski's writing is laconic, her images are haunting.'

Elspeth Barker, Independent on Sunday

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Skating To Antarctica + My Place
Price For Both: £13.78

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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Virago; New Ed edition (20 Jan 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1844081516
  • ISBN-13: 978-1844081516
  • Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 19.7 x 1.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 34,231 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Jenny Diski
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Product Description

Review

Observer ('Skating to Antarctica is a fascinating, moving account of two voyages … Diski's book shines out for its wit, lack of self-pity and strong interest in survival. I relished her sketches of ship routine, solemn penguins and bored soldiers … Diski has a grea )

Helen Dunmore, Express ('A non-fiction masterpiece.’ )

She ('This extraordinary account of a journey to the most barren outer reaches of the planet becomes a beautiful, complex symbol: it's a voyage of self-discovery to the white emptiness that is painted as truth, despair, calm and madness - all at once.’ )

Book Description

Skating to Antarctica' is both an intimate memoir and a captivating travelogue of a journey to the bottom of the world.
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Therapy 12 July 2004
By Ms. A. Mclauchlan
Format:Hardcover
In Skating to Antartica Diski 'works out' a lot of the issues that she refers to with calm reflection in her later offerings. I read Stranger on a Train prior to this book and found her healthy detachment from her past quite fascinating. Now I have realised, by reading Skating, how she got to that place of healthy detachment. This book works through some horrific periods of her life with a touch of the blase; which can be shocking to those who picked this up as a travel book. This tremendous journey is interspersed with flashes from her past and the life she left back in England - This is a journey that took the author miles; emotionally and physically - and it will take you there too if you allow yourself to follow Diski's rather disorganised yet enchanting style of writing.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars An Introspective Travelogue. 4 Jan 2012
By Love my Kindle
Format:Paperback
An autobiographical account of a journey to Antarctica where the author also shares with us her battle with sanity. Honest, poetic and touching. I loved it; the way she laced together both the physical journey with her memories, her childhood and her own relationships. Visual and charming, loaded with symbols and layers of meaning. Thoroughly recommend.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Skating to Antarctica 16 Feb 2011
By Pauline Bowerbank
Format:Paperback
This is the first work of Diski's I have read and initially I thought the author was becoming too self-reflexive and I almost dismissed the book. However I persevered, and I'm pleased that I did. The relationships between mother and daughter, father and daughter, and daughter and parents are examined with a startling, and at times almost brutal honesty but Diski continually interweaves these shocking revelations with humorous descriptions of her fellow travellers - the ultra-orthodox Jewish couple; Big Jim and Less Big Jim; Butch, the tall thick-necked American with a walrus moustache. She observes Shackleton's endeavours, the mating process of Elephant Seals, and she produces particularly wonderful descriptions of the natural world. Diski's use of metaphor and simile may at times be a little heavy but she does create vivid pictures which draw the reader into the journey itself: "The wind was as strong as a fist, and the sea, under an eggshell grey sky, was an effulgent blue, like the contents of a bottle of royal blue ink, quinky blue, and choppy." This is a good read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Skating to Antarctica
Looking forward to reading this book which arrived in time and in good condition. Just finished reading her book
Strangers on a Train and really enjoyed it.
Published 1 month ago by jennifer steen
3.0 out of 5 stars Honest to God?
The travelling is about Jenny, Antartica is the background. The one important and useful aspect of this book is the author's honesty about her past and her parents. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Ce Moore
3.0 out of 5 stars Good but I wanted to know more!
I read this book in 2008 but have only just put the review on. I really enjoyed this book and the style of writing, however, I was left disappointed that I had half a travel book... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Amanda Green
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant piece of autobiography (not travelogue)
Reader beware: if you are looking for a travelogue, Diski is not the place to start. Skating To Antarctica goes to may places but the journey is far more about the journey than the... Read more
Published 12 months ago by RTY_
5.0 out of 5 stars Never listen to a Mixed Bag of Undergraduates
Nor should we listen too hard to somebody who was forced to read the book or for that matter anybody enrolled on a writing class.
Published on 19 Oct 2008 by Obscuratist
1.0 out of 5 stars A running commentary on how miserable the author's life was.
I had to read this book for my writing class. I do not reccomend it unless you like negativity. I don't know why the word Antarctica is in the title. Read more
Published on 4 Feb 2008 by DEE ZEE
1.0 out of 5 stars No-one in my creative writing group enjoyed this.
We're a fairly mixed bag of undergraduates in our second year but not one of us really enjoyed reading this book. We found it depressing and the author self-indulgent. Read more
Published on 29 Nov 2006 by S. Jackson
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