The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Diski, Jenny. Why Didn’t You Just Do What You Were Told? Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020.

Jenny Diski wrote hundreds of essays and book reviews in her life. Why Didn’t You Just Do What You Were Told? Is a collection of 33 of these essays. All of the essays are written in the first person point of view from Diski’s perspective, but the essays vary in content and the degree to which they either provide narrative insight into Diski’s own life and the degree to which she editorializes in her reviews as she summarizes.

Some of the essays rely heavily on personal narrative. One of these is “A Feeling for Ice.” This is one of the first essays in the book, and it describes portions of Diski’s childhood as well as her own mental health. This is the longest essay in the book and provides the most insight into the character of Diski and her attitudes and history.

Some of the essays, particularly those dealing with Judaism, are largely summative. One of these is “Did Jesus Walk on Water Because He Couldn’t Swim?” In this essay, Diski discusses Jewish attitudes and stories about water and seafaring. In another such essay, “The Khughistic Sandal,” Diski discusses a compilation of essays concerning Jewish people and feet. She summarizes some of her findings, but she also uses this essay to make statements against anti-Semitism and also against the erasing of Palestinian people in the Promised Land.

Diski discusses mental health at length in these essays as this is a topic that affected her personally. She describes how she spent time in mental hospitals in England, and she compares these to the experiences of Barbara Taylor in “I Haven’t Been Nearly Mad Enough.” Diski provides her own perspectives and opinions to more or lesser degrees in all of the essays, but in this essay in particular, she states that she made no attempt at partiality. She admits to reading the book she reviews while comparing her experience to that of the author throughout the entire reading. She then uses this essay to point to some problems with the state of mental healthcare in the past as well as in the present.

Diski reviews numerous celebrity biographies, often relaying judgments about the subjects of the biographies. She is most critical of those who use positions of privilege without noticing their privilege. She discusses celebrities such as Princess Diana, whom she believes was not much different than anyone else in her struggles; Princess Margaret, whom she believes too much has been said about; Piers Morgan whose story makes her despondent about the world; Anne Frank, whom she calls a Jewish saint of sorts; Keith Richards, whom is portrayed as a bad father; and Dennis Hopper, whom is portrayed as a man who is trying to live up to the idea of the tortured artist. The book ends with an essay about Diski’s cancer diagnosis.

Major themes presented in the book are inauthenticity, the inhumane nature of political conservatism and libertarianism, attitudes about death, the lasting effects of childhood trauma, and the ethics of treating the mentally ill.