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  • The Cost of Living

  • Living Autobiography 2
  • By: Deborah Levy
  • Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
  • Length: 3 hrs and 13 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (181 ratings)
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The Cost of Living cover art

The Cost of Living

By: Deborah Levy
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
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Summary

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy. 

'Life falls apart. We try to get a grip. We try to hold it together. And then we realize that we don't want to hold it together...' 

Picking up where Things I Don't Want to Know left off, this short, exhilarating memoir shows a writer in radical flux, facing separation and bereavement and emerging renewed from the ashes of a former life. Faced with the restrictions of conventional living, she dismantles her life, expands it and puts it back together in a new shape. Writing as brilliantly as ever about mothers and daughters, about social pressures and the female experience, Deborah Levy confronts a world not designed to accommodate difficult women and ultimately remakes herself in her own image.

©2018 Deborah Levy (P)2018 Penguin Audio

What listeners say about The Cost of Living

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wonderful

I loved this. It is beautifully read, so superior to many audio book readings. If you have ever separated from a long term love then this is for you.

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Long Poem?

This book is not the sort of memoir that deals in dates, it doesn't for example dish the dirt on what exactly wwnt wrong in the author's marriage. It is a series of memories that cleverly conjure up a feeling.



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poignantly uplifting

beautifully evoked the first 5 mins had me floored. struck so many resonances for the first time in my life.. I am not alone

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Honestly

A strong woman who we can all aspire to be. I know very well the situations she describes.

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Fluidity

What a wonderful book. Deborah Levy's flow of memories is touching. Her self as a young girl, South Africa, her parents, the "diaspora" they went through and her relationship with her mother. So beautiful and sometimes painful to read.

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Beautifully written, tender and thoughtful

I love the way Deborah Levy writes, her poetic use of language. I enjoy how her story is threaded through with her rejection of the patriarchy - very empowering for women trying to start again

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Love it

Short but every sentence is good one of the best quite moving facts of life

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she is my hero

I am obsessed with how Deborah Levy writes and I will buy anything that Juliet Stevenson narrates. For me this was a dream combination.

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The tedious ramblings of a white middle class woman

Yeh, pretty much covers it. Was recommended this and found it hugely self-involved and dull. Sorry. Love Juliet Stevenson, but the book itself is a waste of my life.

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the best autobiographical writing I've read

a beautiful telling about a difficult time in Levy's life. genuine, real like blood, life

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