“He was translucent and pink and very, very small, but he was flawless,” Levy wrote. It got worse, and she ended up delivering her extremely premature baby, alone, in her hotel room. Not long after arriving in Mongolia, Levy started to feel a pain in her abdomen. You’ll laugh, ugly cry, and finish it before the weekend’s over.This adventure, however, turned into tragedy. “Cheryl Strayed meets a Nora Ephron movie. You’ll laugh, ugly cry, and finish it before the weekend’s over.” - theSkimm She plumbs the commotion deep within and takes the measure of her have-it-all generation.” - The Atlantic And she deploys prose to match, raw and agile. “Levy has the rare gift of seeing herself with fierce, unforgiving clarity. Reading her deep little book is inspiring.” - San Francisco Book Review Being in her presence is energizing and ennobling. “Levy’s wise and poignant memoir is the voice of a new generation of women, full of grit, pathos, truth, and inspiration. It was so engrossing that I read it in a day.” - The New York Times Book Review This book is haunting it is smart and engaging. Ariel Levy has taken grief and made art out of it.” -David Sedaris “Every deep feeling a human is capable of will be shaken loose by this profound book. “Unflinching and intimate, wrenching and revelatory, Ariel Levy’s powerful memoir about love, loss, and finding one’s way shimmers with truth and heart on every page.” -Cheryl Strayed

In telling her story, Levy has captured a portrait of our time, of the shifting forces in American culture, of what has changed and what has remained. She would be a professional explorer-“the kind of woman who is free to do whatever she chooses.” Levy moved to Manhattan to pursue her dream, and spent years of adventure, traveling all over the world writing stories about unconventional heroines, following their fearless examples in her own life.īut when she experiences unthinkable heartbreak, Levy is forced to surrender her illusion of control. As a young woman, she decided that becoming a writer would perfectly channel her strength and desire.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BYĪll her life, Ariel Levy was told that she was too fervent, too forceful, too much. “This Year’s Must-Read Memoir” ( W magazine) about the choices a young woman makes in her search for adventure, meaning, and love.

Ariel levy the rules do not apply