The Dream Mistress

by Jenny Diski

When Mimi discovered an unconscious bag lady huddled behind a London cinema, a sense of duty prompted her to call an ambulance. Later, she wondered if the tramp, who could have been anybody, might not be somebody after all. Could she be her abandoning mother? Or Bella, a bomb-blast victim?

Genres: Fiction, British Literature

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Jenny Diski was a British writer. Diski was a prolific writer of fiction and nonfiction articles, reviews and books. She was awarded the 2003 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award for Stranger on a Train: Daydreaming and Smoking around America With Interruptions.

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

None of this hung together in any way, shape or form. It completely lacked sense. What a waste of a tree.

[Rita · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nou, dit was het niet. Of ik begreep het geloof ik allemaal niet zo. Een schrijver kan het ook te ingewikkeld maken.

[John Hills · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of this book were absolutely fantastic, mostly the sections relating to the Bella who became an agnostic nun. I could have done with more of that and less of Mimi and Jack, less of the final section with thr other Bella and the guy who was an awful character. The prose is undeniably wonderful and a joy to read, but the final 50 pages or so really let it down

[Jennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book.

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Jenny Diski's work, but equally I am incredibly frustrated by her books. Her lyrical prose - the word 'pellucid' comes to mind - and her stark, stunning imagery are compellingly unique. The last few pages of 'The Dream Mistress' are classic Diski - strange, melancoly, romantic, sublimely beautiful, unlike anything I've ever read before. But the story proceeding it is impenetrable and Diski offers no clues to the reader as to how to put the events and characters in the novel together. Perhaps that's the point: there is no meaning in life, just a series of ebbs and flows with no underlying direction or pattern. That may well be Diski's message, but just a little signposting, a little help for her (at times) bewildered reader would have made this a much more rewarding experience.

[Julie (73) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't finish this, depressing writing and gave up trying to understand what was going on.