An Abbreviated Life

A Memoir

By: Ariel Leve

Narrated by: Martha Plimpton

A beautiful, startling, and candid memoir about growing up without boundaries, in which Ariel Leve recalls with candor and sensitivity the turbulent time she endured as the only child of an unstable poet for a mother and a beloved but largely absent father, and explores the consequences of a psychologically harrowing childhood as she seeks refuge from the past and recovers what was lost.

Ariel Leve grew up in Manhattan with an eccentric mother she describes as “a poet, an artist, a self-appointed 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 topsy-turvy 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 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.

Very rich

Explores all the nooks and crannies of a deeply distrupted and painful childhood. I did not want it to end. I was totally immersed and absorbed in her struggle.

Wanted to know what she meant by “abbreviated”.

Loved this book. I cannot relate to all of it, but I can relate to some of it. Beautifully written from a place a both purity and rawness. Thank you so much for sharing your story.

Wished it was longer

The story and Martha Plimpton as the narrator were simply incredible. I couldn't put it down. Hoping Ariel Leve has written more and I will listen to ANYTHING by Martha.

Amazing!!

If I could give a million stars to the performance, I would. Martha was the perfect narrator to give voice to Ariel’s story, and it’s a voice that needs to be heard.

Martha Plimpton, If You're Reading This...

Any additional comments?

Martha Plimpton needs to read all the audiobooks. ALL OF THEM.

I started journalist Ariel Leve’s gorgeous, riveting memoir on a plane and didn’t remove my earbuds once during the five-hour flight and one-hour commute home. Her larger-than-life mother (an unstable poet given to fits of alternating sweetness, uncontrolled rage, and disappearance) is as alluring a character as you’d find in a great novel. As Leve probes her chaotic childhood and subsequent struggle toward trust and stability, the super-talented Martha Plimpton elevates the material with intelligence, humor, and conviction. When I am super rich, I will have her read absolutely everything to me.