Real Estate

“Domestic space, if it is not societally inflicted on women, if it is not an affliction bestowed on us by patriarchy, can be a powerful space. To make it work for women and children is the challenge. In fact, is it domestic space, or is it just a space for living? And if it is a space for living, then no one’s life has more value than another, no one can take up most of that space or spray their moods in every room or intimidate anyone else. It seems to me that domestic space is gendered and that a space for living is more fluid. Never again did I want to sit at a table with heterosexual couples and feel that women were borrowing the space. When that happens, it makes landlords of their male partners and the women are their tenants.”In the third and final instalment of her living autobiography, Levy is still single, about to turn sixty and is soon to be an empty nester. Work wise, things have been looking up and she has this intense wish for a grand old house with a pomegranate tree in the garden, a house where she could live and work and make a world at her own pace, situated near a lake or a sea so she could swim everyday. She calls this house her unreal estate.True to her style in previous books, Levy continues to question the political in recollections of her personal life, and while this particular instalment was more focused on the personal, it was a fitting conclusion to her living autobiography series.As for her quest for the house with the pomegranate tree, she concludes that her books are her real estate, and the royalties therefrom is what she will bequeath to her daughters. “They are not private property. There are no fierce dogs or security guards at the gate and there is no sign forbidding anyone to dive, splash, kiss, fail, feel fury or fear or be tender or tearful, to fall in love with the wrong person, go mad, become famous or play on the grass.” 🖤

Wonderful to read, explore and witness revelation of so many shared and illusory dreams. Life is different after reading this book.

Deborah Levy is a new author to me - she’s a fantastic writer - poetic and philosophical while being entertaining about her day to day life. I was captivated by this book and will buy her other 2 in this series.

I only discovered Andrea Levy's books three years ago and I have consumed them all greedily. Am so looking forward, already, to the next one....

A great, well written book!

Beautifully written. Gorgeous structure.You can hear, smell, touch and see as the descriptions unfold.I found myself putting in my notebook little pieces of prose that were meaningful to me to think about later or perhaps think about in a free/fluid context.