An Abbreviated Life

A Memoir

Nonfiction, Health & Well Being, Psychology, Biography & Memoir
Cover of the book An Abbreviated Life by Ariel Leve, Harper
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Ariel Leve ISBN: 9780062269478
Publisher: Harper Publication: June 14, 2016
Imprint: Harper Language: English
Author: Ariel Leve
ISBN: 9780062269478
Publisher: Harper
Publication: June 14, 2016
Imprint: Harper
Language: English

“Sometimes, a child is born to a parent who can’t be a parent, and, like a seedling in the shade, has to grow toward a distant sun. Ariel Leve’s spare and powerful memoir will remind us that family isn’t everything—kindness and nurturing are.”

—Gloria Steinem

Ariel Leve grew up in Manhattan with an eccentric mother she describes as “a poet, an artist, a selfappointed troublemaker and attention seeker.” Leve learned to become her own parent, taking care of herself and her mother’s needs. There would be uncontrolled, impulsive rages followed with denial, disavowed responsibility, and then extreme outpourings of affection. How does a child learn to feel safe in this topsyturvy world of conditional love?

Leve captures the chaos and lasting impact of a child’s life under siege and explores how the coping mechanisms she developed to survive later incapacitated her as an adult. There were material comforts, but no emotional safety, except for summer visits to her father’s home in South East Asia-an escape that was terminated after he attempted to gain custody. Following the death of a loving caretaker, a succession of replacements raised Leve-relationships which resulted in intense attachment and loss. It was not until decades later, when Leve moved to other side of the world, that she could begin to emancipate herself from the past. In a relationship with a man who has children, caring for them yields a clarity of what was missing.

In telling her haunting story, Leve seeks to understand the effects of chronic psychological maltreatment on a child’s developing brain, and to discover how to build a life for herself that she never dreamed possible: An unabbreviated life.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

“Sometimes, a child is born to a parent who can’t be a parent, and, like a seedling in the shade, has to grow toward a distant sun. Ariel Leve’s spare and powerful memoir will remind us that family isn’t everything—kindness and nurturing are.”

—Gloria Steinem

Ariel Leve grew up in Manhattan with an eccentric mother she describes as “a poet, an artist, a selfappointed troublemaker and attention seeker.” Leve learned to become her own parent, taking care of herself and her mother’s needs. There would be uncontrolled, impulsive rages followed with denial, disavowed responsibility, and then extreme outpourings of affection. How does a child learn to feel safe in this topsyturvy world of conditional love?

Leve captures the chaos and lasting impact of a child’s life under siege and explores how the coping mechanisms she developed to survive later incapacitated her as an adult. There were material comforts, but no emotional safety, except for summer visits to her father’s home in South East Asia-an escape that was terminated after he attempted to gain custody. Following the death of a loving caretaker, a succession of replacements raised Leve-relationships which resulted in intense attachment and loss. It was not until decades later, when Leve moved to other side of the world, that she could begin to emancipate herself from the past. In a relationship with a man who has children, caring for them yields a clarity of what was missing.

In telling her haunting story, Leve seeks to understand the effects of chronic psychological maltreatment on a child’s developing brain, and to discover how to build a life for herself that she never dreamed possible: An unabbreviated life.

More books from Harper

Cover of the book Ami Ami Kittens by Ariel Leve
Cover of the book Complexity by Ariel Leve
Cover of the book An Egyptian Affair by Ariel Leve
Cover of the book The Patisserie Mysteries 4-Book Box Set Volume II: Books 5-8 by Ariel Leve
Cover of the book The Beautiful Indifference by Ariel Leve
Cover of the book The Once and Future Liberal by Ariel Leve
Cover of the book Collision by Ariel Leve
Cover of the book Shop Cats of New York by Ariel Leve
Cover of the book Three Days in April by Ariel Leve
Cover of the book I Spy by Ariel Leve
Cover of the book The Plague and I by Ariel Leve
Cover of the book Cane and Abe by Ariel Leve
Cover of the book Inside the Magic: The Making of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Ariel Leve
Cover of the book We Only Know So Much by Ariel Leve
Cover of the book Secrets of a Fashion Therapist by Ariel Leve
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy