• 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 (17 ratings)

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The Cost of Living  By  cover art

The Cost of Living

By: Deborah Levy
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
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Publisher's 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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Excellent writing a writer gets to through introspection

I couldn’t stop listening to this audiobook. Deborah Levy reminds me of Karl Ove Knausgaard in her beautiful prose about her life experiences. I loved it.

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  • HeyDon't.
  • 05-06-19

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.

2 people found this helpful

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  • Bee
  • 04-14-18

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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  • Annoymous User
  • 07-26-22

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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  • Liam Lynch
  • 05-09-21

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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  • Anonymous User
  • 02-01-21

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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  • G
  • 04-01-20

An excellent part two

This is an excellent part two of Deborah Levy's autobiography. the writing is outstanding and atmospheric and it is read wonderfully.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 05-21-23

Highly recommended

“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.”

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  • Anonymous User
  • 04-18-22

Such a short book, so much to discover

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