Easy Beauty: A Memoir

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Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Memoir or Autobiography and a New York Times Notable Book of 2022, this groundbreaking memoir by Chloé Cooper Jones explores disability, motherhood, and the quest for visibility. Jones opens with a poignant scene in a Brooklyn bar, where she reflects on her life shaped by a rare congenital condition, sacral agenesis, which affects her stature and gait. This condition brings both physical pain and the emotional toll of being judged and pitied, leading her to navigate the world with “pain calculations.” Despite the challenges, she excelled academically and often retreated to a mental “neutral room” to cope. However, after becoming a mother, she embarks on a transformative journey, reclaiming spaces she had previously felt excluded from. From the bustling bars of Brooklyn to the serene sculpture gardens of Rome, and from film festivals in Utah to a Beyoncé concert in Milan, Jones intertwines memory, observation, and aesthetic philosophy. She confronts the societal myths surrounding beauty and desirability, examining her own role in perpetuating these standards. This memoir is a bold, honest exploration that invites readers to see the world—and their place in it—through a new lens.