Leve’s memoir is filled with childhood trauma, damage, and consequences, but keeps the light at the end of the tunnel.
Ariel Leve
Memoir | 288 Pages | 5.5” x 8.25” | Reviewed: Hardcover
9780062269454 |First Edition| $26.99
Harper | New York City | BUY HERE
Ariel Leve’s An Abbreviated Life is the story of a young girl’s journey through childhood traumas as recollected by the adult woman seeking to understand the person she has become and wrestling with the question of whether it’s too late to heal. The memoir opens with a calming underwater visual of a person exploring distant sea depths, feeling free from the demands of a life restricted to the big city. This calm is soon pierced, however, by harsh words in an awkward setting indicating Leve’s experiences are far from feel-good.
“That same year, I stopped speaking for six months. My mother sent me to a psychiatrist. He put me on Valium and we played checkers.”
“IMAGINE SOMEONE LIES to you and about you. Imagine this person is your mother, whose job it is to provide safety, security, consistency, and love. ‘You’re my sunshine,’ she says. ‘The love of my life.’”
“I DIDN’T CHANGE my story because my story was real. I knew that at seven years old.”
Leve’s method of storytelling comes in the form of tiny bursts that unfold memories and anecdotes to the audience with few chapters longer than a couple of pages. This brevity contributes not only to a more compelling read, but makes the revealed experiences carry more pathos. In some cases, they become all the more heartbreaking since the most jarring happen to a child under 10 years old. Her calculated use of juxtaposition allows not only for stark contrasts in settings like that found in the opening, but also for the delivery of her paragraphs and chapters. Readers travel through Leve’s life via letters, memories, mental health sessions, and commentary, and in some chapters get to bounce through all of the above. While this style choice can seem like stream of consciousness or that it’s without order, it works.
“[…] often her guests would congregate during her parties, invading my space whether I wanted them to or not. My mother would enter to give an impromptu reading of her poetry. My bedroom was a sanctuary for everyone but me.”
“The roots are deep. I am compensating for what was absent. Seeking at the Lost and Found a missing childhood.”
It’s difficult to imagine a child needing to evaluate what aspects of her experiences are real or what feelings are valid or normal at such a young age in order to exist, yet many do. This becomes a constant reality for young Ariel, but throughout the memoir there are instances that reveal the strength of her character — that even though she’s still a child, she is someone able to make bold declarations in the face of constant scrutiny and deceit at the hands of her mother. The catch being that lasting consequences occur to child development because a child should not have to fight for peace or affirmation in her own home.
While the selected quotes may paint a more somber read, as the content is heavy, the book isn’t depressing or filled only with one blow after another in the negative feelings department. Interwoven are also pieces that reflect on several healthy and positive relationships that helped Leve “learn the damage was not irreparable” over time. An Abbreviated Life also does a good job of pulling back the proverbial curtain so readers can look into the lives surrounding an upper class “eccentric” and see how easy it is for others, and society, to enable harmful behaviors for the sake of fun, “art,” or appearances, as well as illustrating the complexities in trying to rid one’s life of toxic people and the harm they’ve caused.
“We tell our stories to be heard. Sometimes those stories free us. Sometimes they free others. When they are not told, they free no one.”
Challenging as it may be, An Abbreviated Life is definitely worth the read for those wishing to take a glimpse into what society passes off as eccentric, to understand the lasting impacts of emotional and psychological abuse, or simply to enjoy a uniquely told and well-written memoir. Unfortunately, it may be triggering, if not cathartic, for readers who have experienced similar abuse.
