Like many of Didion's previous essay collections, the pieces in the book represent a mixture of reporting, memoir and criticism.

[8] Let Me Tell You What I Mean was met with widespread critical acclaim, with reviewers praising the quality and perceptiveness of Didion's writing, as well as the diversity of the topics covered.

Writing for The New York Times Book Review, Durga Chew-Bose said, "Didion's pen is like a periscope onto the creative mind – and, as this collection demonstrates, it always has been.

[10] The Washington Post praised "the clarity of Didion's vision and the precision with which she sets it down", although it noted the absence of material written after 2000.

[13] In The Observer, Peter Conrad wrote, "A sentence by Didion, whether it sticks to 39 characters or articulates possibilities in multiple dependent clauses, is always a marvel of magical thinking".