The Cost of Living
Complex
Profound
Honest

The Cost of Living A Working Autobiography

Deborah Levy2018
A searching examination of all the dimensions of love, marriage, mourning, and kinship from two-time Booker Prize finalist Deborah Levy. To strip the wallpaper off the fairy tale of The Family House in which the comfort and happiness of men and children has been the priority is to find behind it an unthanked, unloved, neglected, exhausted woman. The Cost of Living explores the subtle erasure of women's names, spaces, and stories in the modern everyday. In this “living autobiography” infused with warmth and humor, Deborah Levy critiques the roles that society assigns to us, and reflects on the politics of breaking with the usual gendered rituals. What does it cost a woman to unsettle old boundaries and collapse the social hierarchies that make her a minor character in a world not arranged to her advantage? Levy draws on her own experience of attempting to live with pleasure, value, and meaning--the making of a new kind of family home, the challenges of her mother's death--and those of women she meets in everyday life, from a young female traveler reading in a bar who suppresses her own words while she deflects an older man's advances, to a particularly brilliant student, to a kindly and ruthless octogenarian bookseller who offers the author a place to write at a difficult time in her life. The Cost of Living is urgent, essential reading, a crystalline manifesto for turbulent times.
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Reviews

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zahra@zoeahra
4.5 stars
May 19, 2024
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hileahrious@hileahrious
4 stars
Jan 12, 2024
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Molly Bridge@mollyb
4 stars
Oct 2, 2023
Deep
Unique
Honest
Complex
Profound
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Jeannette Ordas@kickpleat
4 stars
Jan 5, 2023
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Angbeen Abbas@angbeen
5 stars
May 23, 2022
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Alishba Ali@shezal
5 stars
Jan 3, 2022
Touching
Emotional
Intelligent
Contemplative
Unforgettable
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marketa@market333
5 stars
Jul 1, 2024
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khaoula@snrio0
3.5 stars
Mar 23, 2024
Profound
Remarkable
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Totoread@shijin_krishnan
3.5 stars
Jan 31, 2024
Photo of Leo Renee
Leo Renee@leonierenees
4 stars
Jan 28, 2024
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Amalie@amalien
5 stars
Jan 26, 2024
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Mariam Abdel-Razek@mariamabdelrazek
5 stars
Dec 26, 2023
Photo of Marián Blaha
Marián Blaha@blahamari
5 stars
Dec 8, 2023
Unique
Honest
Charming
Original
Refreshing
Fascinating
Photo of Elias Seidenberg
Elias Seidenberg@eliasseidenberg
3.5 stars
Jun 22, 2023
Photo of MK
MK@easyfriday
4.5 stars
May 18, 2023
Complex
Meaningful
Photo of Adriana Coppola
Adriana Coppola@adrianaa
2.5 stars
Sep 9, 2022
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Maisie MacDonald@cottagereading
3 stars
Aug 11, 2022
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Sara Holman@saralovesbooks
4 stars
Jul 9, 2022
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Gabe Cortez@gabegortez
4 stars
Jul 6, 2022
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Stephen Schenkenberg@schenkenberg
3.5 stars
Mar 25, 2022
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Fien Visser@fvisser
3.5 stars
Jan 2, 2022
Bold
Meaningful
Inspirational
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Pola Schwöbel@fraupola
4 stars
Oct 18, 2021
Honest
Contemplative
Photo of LC
LC@lower_colon
4 stars
Jul 5, 2024
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Louisa@louisasbookclub
4 stars
Jun 30, 2024

Highlights

Photo of aileen
aileen@aintimating
Photo of Marián Blaha
Marián Blaha@blahamari
Page 108
Photo of Marián Blaha
Marián Blaha@blahamari
Page 34
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Marián Blaha@blahamari
Page 25
Photo of Elias Seidenberg
Elias Seidenberg@eliasseidenberg
Photo of Elias Seidenberg
Elias Seidenberg@eliasseidenberg