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Easy Beauty
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Best Memoir & Autobiography (2022)From Chloé Cooper Jones—Pulitzer Prize finalist, philosophy professor, Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant recipient—a groundbreaking memoir about disability, motherhood, and a journey to far-flung places in search of a new way of seeing and being seen.
“I am in a bar in Brooklyn, listening to two men, my friends, discuss whether my life is worth living.”
So begins Chloé Cooper Jones’s bold, revealing account of moving through the world in a body that looks different than most. Jones learned early on to factor “pain calculations” into every plan, every situation. Born with a rare congenital condition called sacral agenesis which affects both her stature and gait, her pain is physical. But there is also the pain of being judged and pitied for her appearance, of being dismissed as “less than.” The way she has been seen—or not seen—has informed her lens on the world her entire life. She resisted this reality by excelling academically and retreating to “the neutral room in her mind” until it passed. But after unexpectedly becoming a mother (in violation of unspoken social taboos about the disabled body), something in her shifts, and Jones sets off on a journey across the globe, reclaiming the spaces she’d been denied, and denied herself.
From the bars and domestic spaces of her life in Brooklyn to sculpture gardens in Rome; from film festivals in Utah to a Beyoncé concert in Milan; from a tennis tournament in California to the Killing Fields of Phnom Penh, Jones weaves memory, observation, experience, and aesthetic philosophy to probe the myths underlying our standards of beauty and desirability, and interrogates her own complicity in upholding those myths.
With its emotional depth, its prodigious, spiky intelligence, its passion and humor, Easy Beauty is the rare memoir that has the power to make you see the world, and your place in it, with new eyes.
“I am in a bar in Brooklyn, listening to two men, my friends, discuss whether my life is worth living.”
So begins Chloé Cooper Jones’s bold, revealing account of moving through the world in a body that looks different than most. Jones learned early on to factor “pain calculations” into every plan, every situation. Born with a rare congenital condition called sacral agenesis which affects both her stature and gait, her pain is physical. But there is also the pain of being judged and pitied for her appearance, of being dismissed as “less than.” The way she has been seen—or not seen—has informed her lens on the world her entire life. She resisted this reality by excelling academically and retreating to “the neutral room in her mind” until it passed. But after unexpectedly becoming a mother (in violation of unspoken social taboos about the disabled body), something in her shifts, and Jones sets off on a journey across the globe, reclaiming the spaces she’d been denied, and denied herself.
From the bars and domestic spaces of her life in Brooklyn to sculpture gardens in Rome; from film festivals in Utah to a Beyoncé concert in Milan; from a tennis tournament in California to the Killing Fields of Phnom Penh, Jones weaves memory, observation, experience, and aesthetic philosophy to probe the myths underlying our standards of beauty and desirability, and interrogates her own complicity in upholding those myths.
With its emotional depth, its prodigious, spiky intelligence, its passion and humor, Easy Beauty is the rare memoir that has the power to make you see the world, and your place in it, with new eyes.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published April 5, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 786 reviews
March 30, 2022
Full disclosure: I'm the author's spouse. This review is written not under duress but of my own free will, though it may harbor some bias.
I love and truly respect this book. I watched the process of its creation, from a certain distance. I am very familiar with its contents, or at least my version of its contents. We have talked about these events for years. Even so, reading Easy Beauty was still like finding a new room in a house I've lived in for a decade. This book is incredibly honest in a way I think most people find very difficult and painful, and Jones is no exception to this. I have heard many people react to the book with things like, "surely some of these events have been exaggerated, people don't really say these kinds of things to you?" It is not exaggerated, and her and I still talk about real events that seem so ridiculous that nobody would believe them were they included.
One of Jones' many talents, which I'm sure has been honed over years of teaching, is rendering a complex concept or idea into much more digestible pieces, and this is something she does with great generosity throughout the memoir. Her story is a genuinely enjoyable read, even though at parts it caused my heart to ache. This is not an "eat your vegetables" story about being a mother with a disability. The book inspires, but not in a triumph-of-the-human-spirit bullshit kind of way. It inspires the reader to think about themselves, their interactions, about the lenses they view the world through. One of the most powerful aspects of the book is just how relatable it is. Easy Beauty will expand your empathy, your capacity to love and to view the world in its difficult splendor. Just think more, and think about why your first thoughts work they way they do. Live a more considered life.
I'm not somebody who speaks effusively, I'm pretty much the exact opposite. But I don't exaggerate when I say that I think that EASY BEAUTY is a book that can and will change the lives of some readers for the better, and I can't think of higher praise to give a piece of art.
I love and truly respect this book. I watched the process of its creation, from a certain distance. I am very familiar with its contents, or at least my version of its contents. We have talked about these events for years. Even so, reading Easy Beauty was still like finding a new room in a house I've lived in for a decade. This book is incredibly honest in a way I think most people find very difficult and painful, and Jones is no exception to this. I have heard many people react to the book with things like, "surely some of these events have been exaggerated, people don't really say these kinds of things to you?" It is not exaggerated, and her and I still talk about real events that seem so ridiculous that nobody would believe them were they included.
One of Jones' many talents, which I'm sure has been honed over years of teaching, is rendering a complex concept or idea into much more digestible pieces, and this is something she does with great generosity throughout the memoir. Her story is a genuinely enjoyable read, even though at parts it caused my heart to ache. This is not an "eat your vegetables" story about being a mother with a disability. The book inspires, but not in a triumph-of-the-human-spirit bullshit kind of way. It inspires the reader to think about themselves, their interactions, about the lenses they view the world through. One of the most powerful aspects of the book is just how relatable it is. Easy Beauty will expand your empathy, your capacity to love and to view the world in its difficult splendor. Just think more, and think about why your first thoughts work they way they do. Live a more considered life.
I'm not somebody who speaks effusively, I'm pretty much the exact opposite. But I don't exaggerate when I say that I think that EASY BEAUTY is a book that can and will change the lives of some readers for the better, and I can't think of higher praise to give a piece of art.
April 5, 2022
Easy Beauty by Chloé Cooper Jones has quickly made it to one of my top books of the year.
This memoir is about Chloé Cooper Jones’ life as a disabled woman, a mother, an academic, and her journey to finding herself. Jones discusses her experience living with sacral agenesis and its side effects, such as chronic pain.
She tells of an awful conversation with two men that led to her impulsively travelling to Italy. A place where she reflected on the Ancient Roman’s beauty standards and their constant desire for symmetry. Jones discusses her other travel experiences after Italy, from trips around the US to Cambodia.
She describes her relationship with her parents, partner, son, friends, and past romantic encounters. Jones shares many examples of how ableism is so inherent in society and how it can come from friends or strangers.
I cannot tell you how much I loved this book. How much I related to it. Although my disability is different, I’ve shared many similar experiences. It always blows my mind how many people can be so casually and audaciously ableist. When Jones recounted past conversations with people on eugenics, my blood started boiling at their sheer callousness.
Chloé Cooper Jones’ writing is impeccable. At first, I tried to read this slowly, but after a while, I found it to be completely unputdownable. Her writing style is so engaging. Her storytelling made me laugh, fume, and even emotional at times. There is a philosophical side to much of this narrative, and I’ll be honest, a lot of that went over my head.
I am so happy this book exists, and I hope to see more like it in the future.
I recommend this book to everyone. I’m sure other disabled people will find something to relate to here. And able-bodied people will get some insight into what it’s like living as a disabled person in an able-bodied world.
Many thanks to Avid Reader Press for a finished copy in exchange for an honest review.
https://booksandwheels.com
This memoir is about Chloé Cooper Jones’ life as a disabled woman, a mother, an academic, and her journey to finding herself. Jones discusses her experience living with sacral agenesis and its side effects, such as chronic pain.
She tells of an awful conversation with two men that led to her impulsively travelling to Italy. A place where she reflected on the Ancient Roman’s beauty standards and their constant desire for symmetry. Jones discusses her other travel experiences after Italy, from trips around the US to Cambodia.
She describes her relationship with her parents, partner, son, friends, and past romantic encounters. Jones shares many examples of how ableism is so inherent in society and how it can come from friends or strangers.
I cannot tell you how much I loved this book. How much I related to it. Although my disability is different, I’ve shared many similar experiences. It always blows my mind how many people can be so casually and audaciously ableist. When Jones recounted past conversations with people on eugenics, my blood started boiling at their sheer callousness.
Chloé Cooper Jones’ writing is impeccable. At first, I tried to read this slowly, but after a while, I found it to be completely unputdownable. Her writing style is so engaging. Her storytelling made me laugh, fume, and even emotional at times. There is a philosophical side to much of this narrative, and I’ll be honest, a lot of that went over my head.
I am so happy this book exists, and I hope to see more like it in the future.
I recommend this book to everyone. I’m sure other disabled people will find something to relate to here. And able-bodied people will get some insight into what it’s like living as a disabled person in an able-bodied world.
Many thanks to Avid Reader Press for a finished copy in exchange for an honest review.
https://booksandwheels.com
March 22, 2022
A gorgeously written memoir about disability, motherhood and finding yourself.
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July 18, 2022Reviewed in the July 2022 edition of Quick Lit on Modern Mrs Darcy:
"I am in a bar in Brooklyn, listening to two men, my friends, discuss whether my life is worth living." So begins Pulitzer finalist Jones's new memoir about living with a disability that is instantly recognizable and "other" to nearly everyone she encounters. Jones employs an interesting circular structure to portray what it's like to move through the world in her particular and unique body. Jones was born with a condition called sacral agenesis which affects her appearance and her ability to easily walk and move; physical pain is a near constant companion. Here she writes of self-consciousness and shame, of believing stories about herself that turned out to be all wrong, of learning to rewrite them. Along the way she tells stories about a a panoply of interesting topics I never expected to encounter here: tons of literary references, Bernini sculptures, Roger Federer, the Cambodian genocide, higher education, the Sundance Film Festival, Beyoncé(!). I'm glad I prioritized reading this in time for Disability Pride Month in July. Content warnings apply, including unexpected violence.
"I am in a bar in Brooklyn, listening to two men, my friends, discuss whether my life is worth living." So begins Pulitzer finalist Jones's new memoir about living with a disability that is instantly recognizable and "other" to nearly everyone she encounters. Jones employs an interesting circular structure to portray what it's like to move through the world in her particular and unique body. Jones was born with a condition called sacral agenesis which affects her appearance and her ability to easily walk and move; physical pain is a near constant companion. Here she writes of self-consciousness and shame, of believing stories about herself that turned out to be all wrong, of learning to rewrite them. Along the way she tells stories about a a panoply of interesting topics I never expected to encounter here: tons of literary references, Bernini sculptures, Roger Federer, the Cambodian genocide, higher education, the Sundance Film Festival, Beyoncé(!). I'm glad I prioritized reading this in time for Disability Pride Month in July. Content warnings apply, including unexpected violence.
May 17, 2022
I borrowed this book from my local public library after having read a brief blurb about it somewhere. I have a background in medical massage therapy, and I was quite interested in what life is like for a person born without a sacrum, the lowest, spade-shaped part of the vertebral column. I had never heard of sacral agenesis, nor have I ever treated anything like it. I was quickly disabused of the notion that I’d find out much about the condition in anything other than a meandering, highly cerebral way. Cooper Jones is an academic, and it shows. I saw no footnotes as far as I got, but hers is dense and highly allusive prose, which appeared to me to be deeply informed by identity/disability politics/ideology and marred by the attendant jargon.
There is a highly negative and embittered tone to the writing. I didn’t think I could stomach being marinated in it for pages on end. I’d hate to be a well-to-do, white, able-bodied male attempting to read this, although I suspect if you’re Woke enough this kind of writing is par for the course. The author appears to have tallied up every slight against her by Caucasian males born without an unusual condition. I say this matter-of-factly, not sarcastically. Cooper Jones may have good reason. The first chapter alone refers to a few instances in which men gauchely, insensitively, boorishly probe or argue about her condition. Two of the men are supposed to be her friends. I don’t know why she didn’t tell these guys off. For that matter, I don’t know why she’d consider such people friends.
It is unclear who Cooper Jones believed her target audience to be. I discovered quickly that it wasn’t going to be me. I see this book as a missed opportunity for the author to help others gain some insight into what life is like for those in chronic pain who look different or who move about in the world in a way that is different from most of us. I feel this book has limited appeal and based on what I read and ran from (well before its conclusion), I cannot recommend it.
There is a highly negative and embittered tone to the writing. I didn’t think I could stomach being marinated in it for pages on end. I’d hate to be a well-to-do, white, able-bodied male attempting to read this, although I suspect if you’re Woke enough this kind of writing is par for the course. The author appears to have tallied up every slight against her by Caucasian males born without an unusual condition. I say this matter-of-factly, not sarcastically. Cooper Jones may have good reason. The first chapter alone refers to a few instances in which men gauchely, insensitively, boorishly probe or argue about her condition. Two of the men are supposed to be her friends. I don’t know why she didn’t tell these guys off. For that matter, I don’t know why she’d consider such people friends.
It is unclear who Cooper Jones believed her target audience to be. I discovered quickly that it wasn’t going to be me. I see this book as a missed opportunity for the author to help others gain some insight into what life is like for those in chronic pain who look different or who move about in the world in a way that is different from most of us. I feel this book has limited appeal and based on what I read and ran from (well before its conclusion), I cannot recommend it.
December 28, 2021
"I've never met a person I wouldn't call a beauty." --Andy Warhol
This is a memoir exploring the idea of staying tender and vulnerable.
Read that again. Vulnerability is elusive. It's private. It's impossible to grasp. In order to find vulnerability, one must let go and radically, unconditionally meet circumstances. We must release control.
Falling in love can do this suddenly. Becoming a parent, also.
The author does something rare and refreshing in this memoir. She chooses not to apologize for or minimize the least likeable parts of herself. I'm not referring to her disability, for goodness' sake. I'm talking about having a superiority complex toward those who exclude her. Reacting smugly to microaggressions. "There it is." She reduces people to their reaction to her body.
It's fascinating, and invites us to examine parallel tendencies we might also have. She rejects people reflexively, keeps them at a distance, despite a tender longing to connect. Even her own family. I definitely do the same, to a different degree. I appreciated the author's skill in subtly holding up this mirror.
I was moved by the author's relationship with her dad. He reminded me a bit of the dad in The Glass Castle. More style than substance. Head in the clouds. Oblivious to the wreckage of family he leaves behind in his striving for the romantic ideal. Intelligent and unstable. I have a strained relationship with a parent, and the ache is familiar.
I'm not rating this book higher because, to be honest, the author isn't someone I would like to become more like. I didn't find I could learn from her. I was repelled by her academic ivory tower. She didn't bridge the gap of alienation. I respect her journey and wish her well.
This is a memoir exploring the idea of staying tender and vulnerable.
Read that again. Vulnerability is elusive. It's private. It's impossible to grasp. In order to find vulnerability, one must let go and radically, unconditionally meet circumstances. We must release control.
Falling in love can do this suddenly. Becoming a parent, also.
The author does something rare and refreshing in this memoir. She chooses not to apologize for or minimize the least likeable parts of herself. I'm not referring to her disability, for goodness' sake. I'm talking about having a superiority complex toward those who exclude her. Reacting smugly to microaggressions. "There it is." She reduces people to their reaction to her body.
It's fascinating, and invites us to examine parallel tendencies we might also have. She rejects people reflexively, keeps them at a distance, despite a tender longing to connect. Even her own family. I definitely do the same, to a different degree. I appreciated the author's skill in subtly holding up this mirror.
I was moved by the author's relationship with her dad. He reminded me a bit of the dad in The Glass Castle. More style than substance. Head in the clouds. Oblivious to the wreckage of family he leaves behind in his striving for the romantic ideal. Intelligent and unstable. I have a strained relationship with a parent, and the ache is familiar.
I'm not rating this book higher because, to be honest, the author isn't someone I would like to become more like. I didn't find I could learn from her. I was repelled by her academic ivory tower. She didn't bridge the gap of alienation. I respect her journey and wish her well.
February 12, 2022
I though this book was really beautiful. It was so interesting to read about and experience the world through the authors eyes. It was at times funny, philosophical, light, deep, relatable and un-relatable; I felt so many things throughout this book. The book covers many topics, such as parenthood and what defines beauty and relationships but focuses heavily on her disability and was unlike anything I have read before. It really makes you think deeper about how other people live and the struggles they have to deal with on a daily basis and how these things can effect you both physically and mentally. It will also shock and anger you how completely oblivious some people can be.
I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for and honest review.
I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for and honest review.
January 22, 2022
How many times in one work can single intentional sentences stop time for the reader, immediately sparking reflection deep in time and breadth? I lost count of these beautiful, involuntary moments where Jones’ prose yanked buried feelings and memories to the surface and insisted I explore them.
As effective as the works of Ann Patchett.
I received an advanced copy of this work through a giveaway from Avid Press / Simon & Schuster.
As effective as the works of Ann Patchett.
I received an advanced copy of this work through a giveaway from Avid Press / Simon & Schuster.
January 6, 2022
I tried to read this book slowly, so I could savor it. I was awed by what was on the page, so much so that I wanted to commit it to memory or at least commit myself to the memory of how I felt reading it. Sometimes, particularly after a bout of the author's philosophical wrangling, I'd purposely set the book down to allow those thoughts to linger and settle around me. I wanted to try them on, measure them against my own life. I was curious how they'd fit. This book made me curious about everything.
Reading Easy Beauty was an exercise in restraint and contemplation. But it was also a damn good narrative. At times, it was both cringy and laugh-out-loud funny. Several times my mouth flew open (literally) at the ridiculousness--and the callous cruelty--the author endured at the hands of seemingly average folks. I wanted so badly to believe people couldn't be that awful (even though I know better).
Cholé Cooper Jones isn't pulling any punches about how wretched folks can be. But that's what makes her whole exploration of philosophy, her world wandering, her recollections of her family history work so well. The world can be horrid... and still there is beauty. But we have to find it and define it for ourselves.
The philosophical exploration of beauty grounds this book, providing an analytical backdrop for the memoir against which the past and the present are measured. But there's so much real, everyday feelings, minutia, toils and joys that continuously bring this book back into the real, complicated world we all exist in. It's lofty and real, simultaneously. And I loved it for that.
Chloé Cooper Jones is a flawless, unflinching writer. The raw honesty of this book is staggering. I was in love with it from the first page through the last
Reading Easy Beauty was an exercise in restraint and contemplation. But it was also a damn good narrative. At times, it was both cringy and laugh-out-loud funny. Several times my mouth flew open (literally) at the ridiculousness--and the callous cruelty--the author endured at the hands of seemingly average folks. I wanted so badly to believe people couldn't be that awful (even though I know better).
Cholé Cooper Jones isn't pulling any punches about how wretched folks can be. But that's what makes her whole exploration of philosophy, her world wandering, her recollections of her family history work so well. The world can be horrid... and still there is beauty. But we have to find it and define it for ourselves.
The philosophical exploration of beauty grounds this book, providing an analytical backdrop for the memoir against which the past and the present are measured. But there's so much real, everyday feelings, minutia, toils and joys that continuously bring this book back into the real, complicated world we all exist in. It's lofty and real, simultaneously. And I loved it for that.
Chloé Cooper Jones is a flawless, unflinching writer. The raw honesty of this book is staggering. I was in love with it from the first page through the last
March 4, 2022
In “Easy Beauty” Chloe Cooper Jones shows us she has a gift for finding the words for the feelings and experiences in life that are usually indescribable. The way she writes about postpartum depression. Yes. The way she writes about the sizzling mystery of encountering an attractive stranger. Yes. The way she writes about the odd and uncomfortable status that comes from having struggled among people who haven’t. Yes. She describes every scene with a specificity that brings us to her side. The pain isn’t just hers- we feel it too. We can smell the aromas, feel the dripping sweat, see the fires appearing one by one in the dark. Jones opens her soul to us- she is honest, witty, vulnerable, clever and thoughtful. I closed this book feeling like I knew her.
I have never read a book so completely full of exceptionally crafted sentences and profound commentary on the human existence. As I was making notes to review later I found myself putting sticky notes on almost every page.
I would recommend this book to everyone. Everyone. Read it.
*My review is based on an Advance Reader’s Edition. All opinions are my own.
I have never read a book so completely full of exceptionally crafted sentences and profound commentary on the human existence. As I was making notes to review later I found myself putting sticky notes on almost every page.
I would recommend this book to everyone. Everyone. Read it.
*My review is based on an Advance Reader’s Edition. All opinions are my own.
January 10, 2022
Because I'm old and life is short, I rarely reread books. I will reread Easy Beauty. In the author's journey to redefining herself and her sense of real beauty, she propels the reader to do the same. Cooper Jones does this with achingly beautiful prose, unnerving honesty, and intellect that enlightens without feeling pedantic. She is also an engaging storyteller and travel writer. Her characters are her family, friends, and impactful strangers. Even the most flawed are revealed with clarity, humor, and compassion.
Though the author's painful physical disability is a powerful force throughout, the question asked is simply asked, "Who can you be and how will you get there?" This book demonstrates how amazingly successful Chloe Cooper Jones has been at answering that question. This is an important book.
Though the author's painful physical disability is a powerful force throughout, the question asked is simply asked, "Who can you be and how will you get there?" This book demonstrates how amazingly successful Chloe Cooper Jones has been at answering that question. This is an important book.
April 7, 2022
Getting to hear Chloé Cooper Jones read her memoir is revelatory, powerful enlightenment!
https://lplks.org/blogs/post/on-beaut...
https://lplks.org/blogs/post/on-beaut...
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March 19, 2023I have disabilities, so I went into reading this with a bias already. So I cannot give this book a rating or a review.
January 15, 2022
I am not a nonfiction reader. I can’t finish any book that doesn’t involve dragons or magic. But oh my wow this book was wonderful! Jones is so intelligent that I am nervous even writing a review for fear of embarrassing myself with words I don’t know. Her story is difficult, and there were times where I had to challenge myself to keep reading because this book held a mirror to myself when it comes to a few of the side characters. But this book was a way for me to really think about how I think of others, especially those who might have life a little harder than myself. I am not sure what else to say, I am just an average reader. But I am a reader who never reviews anything but absolutely had to come and review this book. This is one of the few books that I would give 6/5 stars.
April 3, 2023
Easy Beauty by Chloe Cooper Jones
Memoir.
A memoir about disability, motherhood and a search for a new way of seeing and being seen.
It’s a story of how the author has lived with a disability, how it shaped her outlook and how the public treated her in various situations. There is very little about her specific disability but more about her emotional journey and acceptance.
The story is a bit sad. It did open my eyes about certain aspects of living with a disability that the world can see.
I received a copy of this from the publisher.
Memoir.
A memoir about disability, motherhood and a search for a new way of seeing and being seen.
It’s a story of how the author has lived with a disability, how it shaped her outlook and how the public treated her in various situations. There is very little about her specific disability but more about her emotional journey and acceptance.
The story is a bit sad. It did open my eyes about certain aspects of living with a disability that the world can see.
I received a copy of this from the publisher.
May 17, 2022
I can truly say this book is absolutely unique. Not because the book is “about disability, motherhood, and a journey to far-flung places in search of a new way of seeing and being seen” — to quote the book’s description. It’s because of the very personal, unvarnished, and “call it the way they are” experiences that the author starkly shares with us that makes it so. Her blunt honesty on how and what she experiences everyday brings discomfit and shock — from what people say and do — knowingly or without malice, but nonetheless hurtful. Sadly yes, people’s reactions to disability or otherness are often clueless, cringeworthy, and hurtful. She made me stop and think and examine how what I might say would come across. Chloe Cooper Jones puts it all out there. She lives every day with sacral agenesis and the physical, emotional, mental, and psychological pain of it. She is an accomplished mother, partner, professor, traveler and much more. Most of all I was impressed by her determination and her gutsiness , especially her trips to Italy and Cambodia. I chuckled when she played her part real well and was ushered under the chain fence at a concert to a prime spot! This is a one of a kind book, which I highly recommend. Don’t read it if you’re looking to feel warm, fuzzy, and applaud an individual who has overcome so much. Read it to feel the pain, discomfit, and the hard truth about living with disability and more, the harsh realities of everyday life someone like Chloe Cooper Jones handles, and most importantly, how she succeeds in living her life. That’s what earned my 5-star rating. Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
January 19, 2022
Easy Beauty got me at that first fuckin whiz-bang sentence and absolutely held me until the last. This book has more moving parts than I anticipated; the word memoir set me up for certain (probably biased) expectations and Chloe Cooper Jones blew em out if the water. Frank, crisp, incredibly thoughtful. This is a memoir yes, but it’s also travelogue, a discussion of aesthetics, a meditation on disability, parenthood, and the spaces in which they intersect—all while exploring how best to exist in the world when hemmed in by both its expectations and your own defenses against them. And y’all, it is really charming.
I haven’t written so many notes in the margins of a book in a very long time. With pencil. I’m not a monster.
I haven’t written so many notes in the margins of a book in a very long time. With pencil. I’m not a monster.
April 6, 2022
Special thanks to Simon and Schuster for the physical copy of Easy Beauty. I was reluctant to read it because its a memoir, and memoirs aren't ever on the top of my list. But I gave it a go, and I'm so glad I did. I have several disabilities and when I found out it was about a woman, A mother with physical disability, I was all in. Its such a beautifully written book, that I am now following Miss Cooper Jones. I never thought a book would make me feel better, and that's not to mean I feel better because somebody has a worse disability, but in the way the author and her challenges, sometimes heartwrenching, sometimes comedic, could make me look at myself and be grateful for the things that are important.
What a beautiful story. 5 stars!
What a beautiful story. 5 stars!
August 20, 2023
Uskomattoman kaunis, taidokkaasti kirjoitettu essee/muistelma/eräänlainen henkinen kasvutarina kehollisesta vammaisuudesta, muiden antamista ja itse omaksutusta identiteeteistä maailmassa, joka on suunniteltu vammattomille, ”normaaleille”, vain yhdenlaisille. Jos on pitänyt Olivia Laingista, pitänee tästäkin.
4,5 tähteä.
4,5 tähteä.
April 11, 2022
I have very mixed emotions on this one. At times thought provoking but overall was boring and self indulgent. It did have some interesting travel segments. I listened to the Audible version.
January 5, 2022
This was the perfect book to kick off 2022 reading. I want all books to be like this one. Beautiful, honest, witty, and relatable analysis on philosophy, feelings, beauty, disability, and love. Stunning.
April 30, 2022
2.25-2.5. Read this 270 page book while on a several hour plane ride. The book caught my attention due to the authors self identification: strong female, surprise mom and visibly disabled. No doubt Chloe is sharp and smart but the most interesting portions of the book were on the back summary. I had hoped to read more of a memoir and use it to hone my views and treatment of the disabled (visibly or otherwise) but instead found myself skimming pages of philosophy snippets and prolonged meandering thoughts. Disappointing though I’m sure the author is more interesting in person.
March 29, 2022
“If love is the name of the pursuit of the whole, what is the name given to finding it? I close my eyes and focus on the feeling of the world getting a little wider.”
I had never heard or read any of Chloé’s writing before Easy Beauty, but I think there’s nothing I want more in this moment than to sit with her and talk for hours. She writes in a way that makes me think I could be her friend, as if reading her memoir has somehow enlightened me to her uncensored, unedited personality.
Chloé’s memoir jumps around to different stories and vignettes of her life, some brief glimpses and others detailed adventures or conversations. Each one offers another piece of the puzzle, another step toward understanding. Standout passages include her trip to Cambodia, the Richard Serra exhibit, and the magic show in Prospect Park.
The beauty of this book is that it while it exposes the rawness of Chloé’s disability, it ultimately whittles us all down to the fears, faults, and beauty we hold inside ourselves.
I really think Chloé expresses it perfectly in the final pages, “Beauty helped us be attentive to a world outside ourselves.” In a world where we are all so caught up in ourselves, our anxieties, our inadequacies, our fears… beauty allows us to step outside of that.
Reading Chloé’s words, I could feel my world getting a little wider.
I had never heard or read any of Chloé’s writing before Easy Beauty, but I think there’s nothing I want more in this moment than to sit with her and talk for hours. She writes in a way that makes me think I could be her friend, as if reading her memoir has somehow enlightened me to her uncensored, unedited personality.
Chloé’s memoir jumps around to different stories and vignettes of her life, some brief glimpses and others detailed adventures or conversations. Each one offers another piece of the puzzle, another step toward understanding. Standout passages include her trip to Cambodia, the Richard Serra exhibit, and the magic show in Prospect Park.
The beauty of this book is that it while it exposes the rawness of Chloé’s disability, it ultimately whittles us all down to the fears, faults, and beauty we hold inside ourselves.
I really think Chloé expresses it perfectly in the final pages, “Beauty helped us be attentive to a world outside ourselves.” In a world where we are all so caught up in ourselves, our anxieties, our inadequacies, our fears… beauty allows us to step outside of that.
Reading Chloé’s words, I could feel my world getting a little wider.
November 4, 2022
I usually like to give a book a few days before I write a review to really let it settle; but I just couldn't with this one.
The writing in this book is perfection and I am very picky. I would say the only caveat is that the author does jump from one topic to another frequently.
easy beauty is a memoir written by a woman who has a disability and her struggles/life situations that arise from it. We get insight into her family life, peer life, adult life, relationships, we get it all!
The philosophy engrained in this book is magical. The author is a philosophy professor so there is a lot of mention of famous philosophers and their theories in this book.
I highlighted almost half of this book because it is just so damn quotable! I actually bought this book to have with me always to reread. Who doesn't love a good quote?
Best book I've ever read in my life so far, hands down. I'm shook thank you.
20/10
The writing in this book is perfection and I am very picky. I would say the only caveat is that the author does jump from one topic to another frequently.
easy beauty is a memoir written by a woman who has a disability and her struggles/life situations that arise from it. We get insight into her family life, peer life, adult life, relationships, we get it all!
The philosophy engrained in this book is magical. The author is a philosophy professor so there is a lot of mention of famous philosophers and their theories in this book.
I highlighted almost half of this book because it is just so damn quotable! I actually bought this book to have with me always to reread. Who doesn't love a good quote?
Best book I've ever read in my life so far, hands down. I'm shook thank you.
20/10
January 8, 2022
The author was born with sacral agenesis, a rare congenital condition which affects her stature and gait. I thought the book was going to be centered around her life, how she coped and and how people reacted upon seeing her. It mostly takes place over a year and a half while she travels the world in search of standards of beauty and what makes someone desirable. While what she has accomplished is noteworthy this book just wasn’t what I expected.
June 25, 2022
like a 4.75! I absolutely love Chloe’s writing, it’s smooth, engaging even when it’s delving into philosophical concepts, often really funny, and brutally honest. This memoir really highlights the personal growth she’s done, and actively seeking community rather than shunning a world that has actively excluded you (in this case a community around disability), can be so freeing. Very excited to read more of her work
May 5, 2022
I read this twice, so I think I should be allowed to give it ten stars. Not one sentence passed without me thinking a new standard has been set, not just for literature, but for truth. I will be recommending and gifting this book for years to come.
June 21, 2023
A brilliant deeply insightful book, and one I am not sure how to categorize or describe. In simplest terms this is a memoir I suppose. Chloe Cooper-Jones, a philosophy professor and writer (covering everything from the murder of Eric Garner to the perfection of Roger Federer) was born without a sacrum. This spinal agenesis left her with lifelong pain and short stature. In some ways this book is a memoir of growing up with this unusual and highly visible disability, but really that is a starting point, and if the reader comes to this wanting a linear memoir of disability they are going to be surprised at what they find here. A more accurate description would probably say this is a book about living a life that is built around how others see you, being in reactive mode all the time, showing them why you are better to draw attention away from the ways in which you are "worse." And this is a book about changing that narrative, about growing to understand the ways that living in response to others limits you and finding ways to turn that around by seeing that people's reactions to you are about them, not about you at all. Even that lengthy and circuitous description is rather reductive, but it is the best I can do.
Cooper Jones begins her book with a scene in a Brooklyn bar with two fellow philosophy doctoral students, both of whom discuss at length their clinical depression before launching into a philosophical discussion of her right to exist during which no one asks for her input. Eventually one of those grad students argues passionately in favor of eugenics. This event triggers a good deal of searching around the world for answers to questions about belonging and worth and the nature of "easy beauty" and "difficult beauty" (not in that order.) By the time this quest starts Cooper Jones has a tenure track position at a New York college, she is married to a man who is so wise and loving I defy any reader not to fall in love with him, and is the mother of a very bright and delightfully odd child though she had been told by doctors she would be unable to have children because of her disability. She is a "success" and her life is as she wants it, but she still lives in a way that brings no happiness, where every day she is consciously and unconsciously focused on proving her worth, really her right to exist, given her disability. She feels the responsibility to be extraordinary in all other respects to make up for her being physically "deficient."
The book is a combination of memoir, philosophical tract, and social commentary. Cooper Jones is sort of a less pretentious and self-conscious Maggie Nelson (as if one could imagine a more pretentions and self conscious Maggie Nelson.) Cooper Jones learns a great deal about the joy of belonging, about how those of us who protect ourselves this way lose by setting ourselves apart to avoid being rejected. She also learns a lot about love. There is a scene late in the book where she asks her husband about how he has dealt with her always leaving and running from place to place for answers. She asks him why he did not tell her she needed to stay. In response he tells her he could not do that, he could only work to be the man she would want to come home to. That moment brings together so many of the lessons of Cooper Jones' journey. The whole is so smart and fascinating and human and wise and beautifully written. A must read for all humans.
Cooper Jones begins her book with a scene in a Brooklyn bar with two fellow philosophy doctoral students, both of whom discuss at length their clinical depression before launching into a philosophical discussion of her right to exist during which no one asks for her input. Eventually one of those grad students argues passionately in favor of eugenics. This event triggers a good deal of searching around the world for answers to questions about belonging and worth and the nature of "easy beauty" and "difficult beauty" (not in that order.) By the time this quest starts Cooper Jones has a tenure track position at a New York college, she is married to a man who is so wise and loving I defy any reader not to fall in love with him, and is the mother of a very bright and delightfully odd child though she had been told by doctors she would be unable to have children because of her disability. She is a "success" and her life is as she wants it, but she still lives in a way that brings no happiness, where every day she is consciously and unconsciously focused on proving her worth, really her right to exist, given her disability. She feels the responsibility to be extraordinary in all other respects to make up for her being physically "deficient."
The book is a combination of memoir, philosophical tract, and social commentary. Cooper Jones is sort of a less pretentious and self-conscious Maggie Nelson (as if one could imagine a more pretentions and self conscious Maggie Nelson.) Cooper Jones learns a great deal about the joy of belonging, about how those of us who protect ourselves this way lose by setting ourselves apart to avoid being rejected. She also learns a lot about love. There is a scene late in the book where she asks her husband about how he has dealt with her always leaving and running from place to place for answers. She asks him why he did not tell her she needed to stay. In response he tells her he could not do that, he could only work to be the man she would want to come home to. That moment brings together so many of the lessons of Cooper Jones' journey. The whole is so smart and fascinating and human and wise and beautifully written. A must read for all humans.
June 22, 2022
via my blog: https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com/
𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐞. 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧.
This memoir was difficult, there is no denying there is a lot of anger within, much of it justifiable. From the reading I gathered Chloé has been let down by a lot by men in her life and often humiliated. What I find myself drawn to is how a person lives in a body that limits them, how society fails many people, often without even giving such things a second thought. We may not like to sit with this reality, but people are left out if they are not ‘able-bodied’. It’s not just people born with birth defects, we do it to the elderly, the ill, the list goes on. In this world, if something doesn’t have an effect on your daily living, you tend not to consider it. It isn’t much different to the way we often ignore politics on the other side of the world, if you are not in the midst of it, it’s easy to dismiss. I can’t speak for the others, but I admit I have had misconceptions about a variety of disabilities just from growing up in the times I did. Just as much as we have beauty standards ingrained in our psyche, like it or not. I know there are men who struggle with body image, don’t think they don’t. I can speak from a female perspective, where beauty, as I came of age, was a quality that often gave power. Beauty doesn’t equate with goodness, we know that as adults, but the world doesn’t necessarily adhere to these inner truths. My takeaway is, if you’re body isn’t strong and beautiful, the world is indifferent or cruel. At least this is the world Chloé lives in. Men were unforgivably ugly in many interactions; this is her experience. I have witnessed both sexes be outright vile in their treatment of people with disabilities. I won’t cut into this review about personal experiences involving family, but it certainly is equal opportunity when it comes to inhumanity.
Chloé is a professor of philosophy, much of her intellectual pursuits have put weight behind ideas she has formed about beauty, how her own worth is measured. There is a moment when she is feeling immense pain and looking at the sky is ‘free from the eyes of others’ grateful to be alone. She was born with sacral agenesis. People only have to look at her to notice she walks differently, her spine is curved, with hip dysplasia and misaligned, unstable hip joints she can’t hide her disability. Pain is a constant and there isn’t a moment her struggles go unnoticed and often, uncommented upon. I think anyone with struggles, not just physical but mental, know all too well about ‘intruders’ who offer unsolicited advice with their smug solutions. Let’s face it, we can always ‘fix’ others and never once look at the mess we are, but there is that word- fix, that dead weight. Looking at both sides, people often do want to help, but create more harm and it would be incredibly infuriating feeling like a cause. I think there is a lot of bite in how she expresses her emotions that may come off to some as bitter. Then I think, there is only so much a person can take, backed into a corner, feeling like you are excluded from so much in life that is taken for granted by others, how can it not plant seeds of resentment? The memories she shares about her father’s pursuit of a red-haired woman lend an ideal of what is worth chasing and what is to be dismissed. What does beauty mean in a disabled body? She mentions her preparing for the next person (after an ugly interaction when she was younger) who would see her walk and deny her grace. Preparing, each day preparing to deal with what the world is going to critique. I can only imagine how humiliating it must have been coming of age for Chloé, it’s bad enough to have your body commented upon when you are going through puberty.
One of the most important sentences in this book, I think, is “𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐭.” We go forth in the world with our own belief system, we can only inhabit the body we were born with, it is a challenge to imagine how another feels. Try as we might, it really is true that you don’t understand another person’s pain, not even if you have the same exact illness or disability. Why, then, must some people dismiss another’s experience? I think living life ‘oppressed by pain’ and then having to confront an untold number of confrontations about how your body exists in its space is enough to harden most. We can debate until we’re all blue in the face, but beauty often does offer entry into many places closed to the rest, just as money can. Maybe we have moved forward with disability, sure, but in snail-paced increments. There are also counter arguments about beauty, you can’t change how someone feels about what attracts them. Still, I wonder how we arrive at our standards. Media, environment, culture, there are so many influences.
Women can be just as brutal about the measure of a person; I think that fact is often overlooked. I have witnessed calculated cruelty and it wasn’t always coming from men. However, this is about Chloé’s journey, and it takes a lot of courage to write about one’s body and mind because you are going to be judged. I think she has been wounded often throughout her life, and it left scars. It is intimate, imperfect, intelligent and honest. The travel instances were of great interest to me, my daughter and I often speak about accessibility around the world, and the hardships faced when something as exciting as visiting sites exclude people. Then you have to think about language barriers on top of your physical ones. A trip for the able bodied is an entirely different adventure. This book didn’t uplift me, but it gave me insight into our inhumanity to each other. Sometimes we aren’t even aware of the insensitive things we do; perception affects all of our interactions and we can strive to be better. I received this book as an advanced edition and sat with it for a while. I felt a lot of hurt coming from the author, it just goes to show why so many people have their guard up, and I don’t blame her for her distrust of others. Unfortunately, in Chloé’s life, people have often shown her their worst side. It stays with you.
Publication Date: April 5 2022
Avid Reader Press
𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐞. 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧.
This memoir was difficult, there is no denying there is a lot of anger within, much of it justifiable. From the reading I gathered Chloé has been let down by a lot by men in her life and often humiliated. What I find myself drawn to is how a person lives in a body that limits them, how society fails many people, often without even giving such things a second thought. We may not like to sit with this reality, but people are left out if they are not ‘able-bodied’. It’s not just people born with birth defects, we do it to the elderly, the ill, the list goes on. In this world, if something doesn’t have an effect on your daily living, you tend not to consider it. It isn’t much different to the way we often ignore politics on the other side of the world, if you are not in the midst of it, it’s easy to dismiss. I can’t speak for the others, but I admit I have had misconceptions about a variety of disabilities just from growing up in the times I did. Just as much as we have beauty standards ingrained in our psyche, like it or not. I know there are men who struggle with body image, don’t think they don’t. I can speak from a female perspective, where beauty, as I came of age, was a quality that often gave power. Beauty doesn’t equate with goodness, we know that as adults, but the world doesn’t necessarily adhere to these inner truths. My takeaway is, if you’re body isn’t strong and beautiful, the world is indifferent or cruel. At least this is the world Chloé lives in. Men were unforgivably ugly in many interactions; this is her experience. I have witnessed both sexes be outright vile in their treatment of people with disabilities. I won’t cut into this review about personal experiences involving family, but it certainly is equal opportunity when it comes to inhumanity.
Chloé is a professor of philosophy, much of her intellectual pursuits have put weight behind ideas she has formed about beauty, how her own worth is measured. There is a moment when she is feeling immense pain and looking at the sky is ‘free from the eyes of others’ grateful to be alone. She was born with sacral agenesis. People only have to look at her to notice she walks differently, her spine is curved, with hip dysplasia and misaligned, unstable hip joints she can’t hide her disability. Pain is a constant and there isn’t a moment her struggles go unnoticed and often, uncommented upon. I think anyone with struggles, not just physical but mental, know all too well about ‘intruders’ who offer unsolicited advice with their smug solutions. Let’s face it, we can always ‘fix’ others and never once look at the mess we are, but there is that word- fix, that dead weight. Looking at both sides, people often do want to help, but create more harm and it would be incredibly infuriating feeling like a cause. I think there is a lot of bite in how she expresses her emotions that may come off to some as bitter. Then I think, there is only so much a person can take, backed into a corner, feeling like you are excluded from so much in life that is taken for granted by others, how can it not plant seeds of resentment? The memories she shares about her father’s pursuit of a red-haired woman lend an ideal of what is worth chasing and what is to be dismissed. What does beauty mean in a disabled body? She mentions her preparing for the next person (after an ugly interaction when she was younger) who would see her walk and deny her grace. Preparing, each day preparing to deal with what the world is going to critique. I can only imagine how humiliating it must have been coming of age for Chloé, it’s bad enough to have your body commented upon when you are going through puberty.
One of the most important sentences in this book, I think, is “𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐭.” We go forth in the world with our own belief system, we can only inhabit the body we were born with, it is a challenge to imagine how another feels. Try as we might, it really is true that you don’t understand another person’s pain, not even if you have the same exact illness or disability. Why, then, must some people dismiss another’s experience? I think living life ‘oppressed by pain’ and then having to confront an untold number of confrontations about how your body exists in its space is enough to harden most. We can debate until we’re all blue in the face, but beauty often does offer entry into many places closed to the rest, just as money can. Maybe we have moved forward with disability, sure, but in snail-paced increments. There are also counter arguments about beauty, you can’t change how someone feels about what attracts them. Still, I wonder how we arrive at our standards. Media, environment, culture, there are so many influences.
Women can be just as brutal about the measure of a person; I think that fact is often overlooked. I have witnessed calculated cruelty and it wasn’t always coming from men. However, this is about Chloé’s journey, and it takes a lot of courage to write about one’s body and mind because you are going to be judged. I think she has been wounded often throughout her life, and it left scars. It is intimate, imperfect, intelligent and honest. The travel instances were of great interest to me, my daughter and I often speak about accessibility around the world, and the hardships faced when something as exciting as visiting sites exclude people. Then you have to think about language barriers on top of your physical ones. A trip for the able bodied is an entirely different adventure. This book didn’t uplift me, but it gave me insight into our inhumanity to each other. Sometimes we aren’t even aware of the insensitive things we do; perception affects all of our interactions and we can strive to be better. I received this book as an advanced edition and sat with it for a while. I felt a lot of hurt coming from the author, it just goes to show why so many people have their guard up, and I don’t blame her for her distrust of others. Unfortunately, in Chloé’s life, people have often shown her their worst side. It stays with you.
Publication Date: April 5 2022
Avid Reader Press
April 17, 2022
Chloé Cooper Jones challenges your preconceived (and comfortable) view on what it means to have a body and move through a world designed for a specific type of body. A stellar memoir of her life as a disabled woman and an esteemed philosophy professor.
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