Real Estate
Remarkable
Original
Dry

Real Estate

Deborah Levy2021
'Three bicycles. Seven ghosts. A crumbling apartment block on the hill. Fame. Tenderness. The statue of Peter Pan. Silk. Melancholy. The banana tree. A Pandemic. A love story.' From one of the great thinkers and writers of our time, comes the highly anticipated final instalment in Deborah Levy's critically acclaimed 'Living Autobiography' 'I can't think of any writer aside from Virginia Woolf who writes better about what it is to be a woman' Observer on The Cost of Living Following the international critical acclaim of The Cost of Living, this final volume of Deborah Levy's 'Living Autobiography' is an exhilarating, thought-provoking and boldly intimate meditation on home and the spectres that haunt it. 'I began to wonder what myself and all unwritten and unseen women would possess in their property portfolios at the end of their lives. Literally, her physical property and possessions, and then everything else she valued, though it might not be valued by society. What might she claim, own, discard and bequeath? Or is she the real estate, owned by patriarchy? In this sense, Real Estate is a tricky business. We rent it and buy it, sell and inherit it - but we must also knock it down.' 'Wise, subtle and ironic, Levy's every sentence is a masterpiece of clarity and poise... A brilliant writer' Daily Telegraph on The Cost of Living 'Extraordinary and beautiful, suffused with wit and razor-sharp insights' Financial Times on The Cost of Living
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Reviews

Photo of Sarah Christine Gill
Sarah Christine Gill@Gilly
4 stars
Jan 2, 2023

I want to drink Calvados with Deborah Levy.

+4
Photo of Laura Gill
Laura Gill@gillybookworm
5 stars
Apr 8, 2022

Just beautiful. Deborah Levy makes me feel hope, inspiration, pride, passion and a lust for life - to reflect and stay present.

+2
Photo of Molly Bridge
Molly Bridge@mollyb
4 stars
Dec 25, 2024
+3
Photo of Sara Holman
Sara Holman@saralovesbooks
4 stars
Jul 11, 2022
Photo of Gabe Cortez
Gabe Cortez@gabegortez
3.5 stars
Jul 6, 2022
Photo of Imie Kent-Muller
Imie Kent-Muller@mythicreader
4 stars
Apr 30, 2022
Photo of Stephen Schenkenberg
Stephen Schenkenberg@schenkenberg
3 stars
Mar 28, 2022
Photo of Duarte
Duarte@duarte
5 stars
Apr 3, 2024
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Eve@vitah89
3 stars
Mar 29, 2024
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Karolina Klermon-Williams@ofloveandart
5 stars
Jan 14, 2024
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Tina ok@tlo
3 stars
Jan 9, 2024
Photo of Carolina Storm
Carolina Storm@carolinastorm
4 stars
Dec 30, 2023
Photo of Rachel O.
Rachel O.@ongrchl
5 stars
Dec 24, 2022
Photo of Hellboy TCR
Hellboy TCR@hellboytcr009
5 stars
Oct 18, 2022
Photo of Jacob Mishook
Jacob Mishook@jmishook
4 stars
Oct 16, 2022
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Cristina P Miclea @cristinapmiclea
4 stars
Sep 8, 2022
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Nicole Vanderbilt@nmvandy
4 stars
Sep 2, 2022
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Regan O’Neill@onereg
3 stars
Aug 13, 2022
Photo of Klaudia Nörenberg
Klaudia Nörenberg@klaudianoerenberg
4 stars
Nov 18, 2021
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Dana@righteouscloud
4 stars
Sep 5, 2021
Photo of Jen Taylor
Jen Taylor@jen_n_taylor
5 stars
Aug 3, 2021
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Marielle de Geest@Marielle
3 stars
Aug 1, 2021

Highlights

Photo of Laura Gill
Laura Gill@gillybookworm

Maybe it is a good thing for us to keep a few dreams of a house that we shall live in later, always later, so much later, in fact, that we shall not have time to achieve it. Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of pace

Photo of Laura Gill
Laura Gill@gillybookworm

Never again did I want to sit at a table with heterosexual couples and feel that women were borrowing the space. When that happens, it makes landlords of their male partners and the women are their tenants.

Photo of Laura Gill
Laura Gill@gillybookworm

There is a great deal of pain in life, and perhaps the only pain that can be avoided is the pain that comes from trying to avoid pain. R. DLaing, The Divided Self(196o)

Photo of Laura Gill
Laura Gill@gillybookworm

And we talked about a line by the Bengali philosopher, poet and composer Rabindranath Tagore: It is very simple to be happy, but it is very difficult to be simple.

Photo of Laura Gill
Laura Gill@gillybookworm

Some people feel crazy when they try to deal with two contradictory thoughts at the same time, as if they fear they have done something wrong and need to purge the intruding thought before it muddies the water. The point of thinking is that it will always muddy the water. So how do we live with our free thoughts and the mud?