The Cost of Living cover art

The Cost of Living

Living Autobiography 2

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The Cost of Living

By: Deborah Levy
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
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About this listen

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

A Guardian Best Book of the 21st Century

'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 Essays Gender Studies Grief & Loss Personal Development Relationships Social Sciences Nonfiction
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“It requires skill, time, dedication and empathy to create a home that everyone enjoys and that functions well. Above all else, it is an act of immense generosity to be the architect of everyone else's well-being.”

Highly recommended

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Plan to listen to again very soon, as there is so much in this book to take in.

Such a short book, so much to discover

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Deborah levy is a genius, her writing is simple but extremely emotional

Had such a good time reading

Beautiful book about independence and loneliness

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I so enjoyed this story that weaves and dips from humour and pathos into larger thoughts and shared experience.

Considered and touching

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