When she turns thirty-five, Levy starts to feel the pressure to become a mother, hearing the tick of her own biological clock. The two women spend an evening together planning their life and their goals for their future together. Levy refers to their wedding day as one of the few perfect days of her life. When gay marriage becomes legalized, they plan a wedding, discussing the future of their relationship. Levy and Lucy proceed to live life to its fullest, every experience feeling richer as they share it together. Lucy eventually decides to end her other relationship, and she and Levy take road trips down the West Coast, drinking and celebrating their love. Levy feels that their love is far more legitimate than the relationship between Lucy and her partner, given that they clearly were not happy together.

Over time, Levy and Lucy’s relationship develops to the point that the other woman becomes a non-issue. The only problem is that Lucy is already in a serious relationship with a live-in partner. Older and ambitious, she is certain that they are perfectly suited to one another. After being invited over to a friend’s house, she meets Lucy, whom she feels she has been searching for her entire life. During a citywide blackout, Levy makes an acquaintance that changes her life forever. She instills in her daughter the importance of being self-reliant, of making her own money, and never depending on a man to support her. Growing up, Levy’s mother, a very health-conscious woman, made it a point to cook balanced meals for her family every night.

Levy reflects on the role her mother has played in shaping her perceptions of a woman’s place and responsibilities in the world. This leads her to examine the limitations of womanhood and femininity, and what is expected of modern women. Levy wonders whether succumbing to motherhood would mean giving up the role of protagonist in her own life, worrying that attaching herself to a child would mean giving up her life of travel and adventure, the very essence of who she is, though she admits that becoming a mother would be an adventure in itself. This desire conflicts with the concept of motherhood that plagues her and her friend group as they move into their 30s.

From a young age, Levy is determined to be a writer and the type of woman who does what she wants, when she wants. She makes it a point to work on her own writing, determined not to allow her mundane day job to permeate her sense of self and the talent of which she is so certain. Levy launches straight into the debut of her career at New York Magazine, where she works as a typist. The Rules Do Not Apply is a memoir by Ariel Levy, a lonely child raised to resist societal norms, setting her on a path of resistance from an early age.

The rules don t apply ariel levy