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Will recommend to everyone

It feels harsh giving this 2 stars considering the trauma she went through & how warts and all she writes about herself but I found her relationship pretty dull to read about (& that seemed to be the focus of most of the book), obviously it‘s a memoir and that‘s what must feel important to her but I didn‘t connect with it or get anything from it. I did feel for her in the latter chapters and I think some might find comfort in her words. ⭐️⭐️

I like to read memoirs - to be a fly on the wall of a cathartic journey where the writer is better at the journeys end for having put pen to paper while discovering who they are in the craziness that is life. Ariel explains upfront she lost her unborn child, spouse, and home in too short a time, but I felt the tell of who she became on the other side of that journey was lacking because she remained clouded by blame she placed on her ex-wife.

Blech. Levy‘s memoir covers tough topics, but she just comes across as entitled and whiny. It‘s hard for me to be sad about your marriage falling apart when you keep cheating. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I wanted to use this for #mongolia for #readingasia21 but only like two very small chapters are set there. I don‘t want this terrible book to be nothing for though. Thoughts on counting or not counting it anyway?

A memoir on grief and marriage. At times, Levy is deeply unlikeable, her privilege frustrating. However, Levy shows moments of raw reflexivity and self-awareness. Her writing is beautiful and the book is a quick read.

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Audiobook plus big bar of chocolate = lots of chocolate shavings to top a black forest cake and a slightly sore hand. Also chocolate everywhere

Happy Friday/Saturday!
I‘m working on a Ravenclaw scarf for the kids (one done already) and listening to The Rules Do Not Apply by Ariel Levy

The kids‘ school has a festival later today and my 6yo is going as a Ravenclaw student (the 8yo is a ninja) but of course I have to make two scarves to make it fair!
Are you all ready for Halloween?
#audiocrochet

Ariel Levy lost her spouse, son, and house in short order. At least she tells us so in the opening of this memoir. She then gives a lot of back story that felt superficial and empty to me. When she gets to the loss of her son, the story is brutal, harrowing, and graphic, then back to her self-absorbed, self-righteous self all too quickly. This book is a missed opportunity.

I'm #currentlyreading this memoir by journalist Ariel Levy. It was gifted to me by a friend last year (!) for my birthday and I'm just now getting around to it 😅. I'm a little more than halfway through so far and I'm not a fan of Levy as a human being... hoping that changes toward the end! 🤞🏽

Intense, honest, heartbreaking, tragic, straight forward. Her writing style feels short and clean. Don‘t really know what else to think or say about it... #ariellevy #memoir

It was interesting enough to keep me reading it but really it was a lot of unchecked priviledge. Ariel also doesn't show a lot of empathy for others, she tends to be selfish. It was good writing but also awkward and I feel like that's just herself in the writing.

I should be sleeping because I work tomorrow, but I don't want to leave my happy place. #onemorechapter

I wanted what we all want: everything.

#boutofbooks #book2

Read this with my book group and was slightly underwhelmed. I‘ve heard Ms Levy interviewed several times and was looking forward to this, but it just didn‘t impress me as I had hoped. It was still a powerful memoir of grief and evolution. It just didn‘t leave me with any stunning insights.

Erm, got to the end of this and have no strong opinions either way. Levy is a great writer and her story is heartbreaking at times, but the book has left me feeling ‘meh.‘ I liked her honest feelings, sharing things we all feel, but maybe aren‘t brave enough to say, but overall I just wasn‘t too interested, which makes me feel awful, but also is true.

A heart-breaking but thought-provoking memoir! It‘s a quick read and great for book clubs!

Love this cover! I am super looking forward to reading this but think it might be an emotional read, so am preparing myself for a tear or two. Great writing so far...

I have mixed feelings. The writing is really terrific. But I found it so difficult to relate to her, or to find her view of the world at all appealing in any way. Her experiences don‘t seem to lead her to any real growth, and her self absorption is relentless and unchanging. I guess I am looking for something different in a memoir, some sense that there is something transformative that compelled the author to share their story with the world.

Boy that was heart wrenching. Definitely a winding path in the world of relationships. It made me nervous about fertility and I‘m not even in my 30s yet! The narrative was confusing at times with back and forth in time but very good overall.

Memoirs without any embellishments, with frank brutality of someone who has realized that certain rules in life do apply to all. I wished that she would explained more about her judgments and give them some deeper connotation. It‘s not a perfect story, but I recommend it, because this is a story about all the wrong decisions/losses/wrongness, but Levy doesn‘t seek for any kind of understanding/forgiveness, it is just a story about bad choices.

Change of the book and venue. It‘s time for audiobook and some exercises ... #readathon

Has anyone read this? Is it good?

Sunshine. Iced Tea. Reading on the deck!!

Levy accomplished a meaningful, honest memoir here, amid the raw sadness of compound losses in her young life.

Though not perhaps as seasoned or profound as Joan Didion‘s, this is a very fine grief memoir, wry and honest and even funny at times. 🧡🧡🧡🧡 and a half.

Lunch reading 📚💜😔. (Yes, you may feel sorry for my students, but this book !💜!💜)

Omg. I‘m standing here in my classroom waiting ‘til it‘s time to teach again and wiping away tears. I was browsing my Book Bub #temptations and decided to check this out (had to go over to Google Books b/c the Kindle “sample” is just blurbs). The reviews are def mixed, but read the Preface. It‘s devastating. Yes, I clicked “buy.”

The ebook is on sale today and I highly recommend it. It‘s a gut punch of a story. I remember being impressed with the levels and depths she revealed in this memoir. I found her complex, at times infuriating, at others funny and tender, and very open throughout the book. There is a very real trigger warning about miscarriage. It‘s not a spoiler, but it needs to be declared. She is a tough lady.

This one didn‘t do anything for me. A fast read but I felt it was a bit self indulgent.

Currently listening to #TheRulesDoNotApply

A little similar to The Argonauts. Also kind of a travelogue? Very good!

I really liked parts of this memoir, especially the naive central tenet that we go through life thinking the rules do not apply to us - we won‘t get sick, we won‘t be infertile, we won‘t be stopped from achieving our goals. (Much easier to think this way when you are born with privilege, of course). Some of this felt disjointed and unrealized though, especially the end. Overall a pick - the audiobook is good and a really quick read.

When reporter Ariel Levy went to Mongolia to write a story she was married, pregnant, and financially secure. A month later, none of that was true. “The Rules Do Not Apply” is a brilliant memoir thinking you have it all-and then losing everything. Highly recommend.

I loved this book it‘s heartbreaking and so honest. Levy really bares her soul here. The way she talks about love, sex, and grief is unlike anything I‘ve read recently!! I wish it was longer!!!!

I was afraid to read this because of the excellent essay "thanksgiving in Mongolia," but I'm glad I did. Levy is a superlative writer.

It's funny to read this & think "oh yeah, I know about that lesbian separatist... because I read an article about her in the New Yorker... which must have been written by Levy!" I only knew I'd read one article by her going into this book.

“Grief is another world. Like the carnal world, it is one where reason doesn‘t work.” Levy was lucky in life… until she wasn‘t. She lost her pregnancy, her home and her wife in a short time, and so was forced to reach inside herself and search her soul. #Audiobook narrated by the author. Compelling, sometimes melodramatic, raw and strong writing that captures a time and place in queer white America. #LGBTQ #bisexual

Lots of love for this memoir at book club tonight. Also, we laughed at a bunch of Goodreads reviews. ie: “Who is this Ariel Levy anyway? It‘s always a risk to read a memoir by someone you‘ve never heard of or who isn‘t a blogger with lots of creds.” & “Did not enjoy, only finished because I like to hear about women‘s travel adventures but she did not have many.” & “Ms Levy blames her lack of control, and her inability to have it all, on feminism.”

Starting a new book this lazy Saturday morning!

The sentence-level writing in this is EXTREMELY GOOD. It‘s a heart breaking and hopeful read.

I had tried to slide casually in a dykeward direction without attracting too much attention from my skeptical friends.

(Internet photo)

She said, “Every time someone calls her my wife I am furious.”
They had been together for more than 40 years.
“You can say she‘s my spouse or you can say she‘s my butch, but you cannot say she‘s my wife. It‘s a fucking insult.”
I felt the same way.

One of their vows is to make life a party. It‘s not hard to guess that Levy‘s lesbian relationship is not going to last.

(The cake topper in the photo is available from Amazon, if you are looking for one.) #LGBTQ #Bisexual #Alcoholics

Is she gonna fuck the doctor or not I need to know!!! lol

I listened to this one, slowly over a couple of weeks. What a heartbreaking memoir. I had some issues with sensitivity but ultimately, it‘s Levy‘s life and I believe people should be able to tell their story true to how they felt throughout it.

Ariel Levy has the material to go into the deep end of the pool, but she never leaves the shallow waters. Levy reminds me a lot of Andrea from All Grown Up. I think if you loved All Grown Up you would enjoy this but if you loathed it, then this isn‘t for you. It‘s the same kind of re-shaping of the narrative to make it fit your story. The ends always justify the means.

You can knock this out in a day - so that‘s a plus.

Looks like she‘s setting up her wife to blame her for everything and avoid taking responsibility for her own crap. Honestly, if you ignored red flags, that‘s on you. Says the Queen Of Ignoring Red Flags Land. 👸🙋‍♀️

Not gonna lie - I may have dated someone while in my 20s solely because he lugged an air conditioner through NYC and back to my fifth floor walk up. Do y‘all know how difficult it is lugging a window air conditioner through NYC, up and down subway stairs, only to have to confront a staircase to Heaven at your apartment?

This why I shouldn‘t judge the person writing the memoir. I‘ve been just as shitty a person.