Easy Beauty

A groundbreaking memoir about disability from a Pulitzer-nominated writer and philosopher I am in a bar in Brooklyn listening to two men, my friends, discuss whether or not my life was worth living.'What a gift . . . Easy Beauty has the rigor and precision of Joan Didion and Maggie Nelson and a forthright humor and naked truth all of its own' Sarah Ruhl, author of Smile 'GORGEOUS, VIVIDLY ALIVE' NEW YORK TIMES'BOLD, HONEST AND SUPERBLY WELL-WRITTEN' ANDRÉ ACIMAN, AUTHOR OF CALL ME BY YOUR NAME'GRACEFUL AND SOUL-BARING' MELANIE REID, THE TIMES'WHAT A GIFT . . . HAS THE RIGOR AND PRECISION OF JOAN DIDION AND MAGGIE NELSON AND A FORTHRIGHT HUMOR AND NAKED TRUTH ALL OF ITS OWN.' SARAH RUHL, AUTHOR OF SMILEI am in a bar in Brooklyn listening to two men, my friends, discuss whether or not my life was worth living.So begins Chloé Cooper Jones's bold account of moving through the world in a body that looks different than most. Born with a rare congenital condition called sacral agenesis, she must contend not only with her own physical pain, but the emotional discomfort of others.It is only when she unexpectedly becomes a mother that she confronts the demand to live life fully, propelling her on a journey across the globe, reclaiming the spaces she'd been denied, and denied herself.From Roman sculptures to a Beyoncé concert, from a tennis tournament to the Cambodian Killing Fields, Jones interrogates the myths of beauty with spiky intelligence, aesthetic philosophy, love and humor, inviting us to find a new way of seeing.