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osannab's review against another edition
4.0
This was a really beautiful book on a beautiful subject. I have always loved finding grace in everyday life and my thoughts and options on grace are mirrored in this examination of it. Its an easy and light read but you may take away a new outlook on the world around you soon after putting it down. If you crave to see grace and ease in those around you and with in your self, this book is worth perusing!
readermeginco's review against another edition
5.0
A thoughtful, even meditative book about adding grace, gracefulness, and especially graciousness to our lives, written by a Pulitzer-prize winning dance critic.
Sarah Kaufman begins by taking Cary Grant as her muse: his ability to bring up everyone around him, gracefully, was a key to his success. He used to purposefully flub his lines in order to make younger actors look (& feel) better. She goes on into sports (grace versus strength on the tennis court) and in the arts, as well.
Kaufman challenges her readers to look for, find, and even create grace in our modern, hectic world. This is a probably best described as a self-improvement book because in the end, it made me was to be a better person.
Sarah Kaufman begins by taking Cary Grant as her muse: his ability to bring up everyone around him, gracefully, was a key to his success. He used to purposefully flub his lines in order to make younger actors look (& feel) better. She goes on into sports (grace versus strength on the tennis court) and in the arts, as well.
Kaufman challenges her readers to look for, find, and even create grace in our modern, hectic world. This is a probably best described as a self-improvement book because in the end, it made me was to be a better person.
morepagesplease's review against another edition
2.0
I'm finally giving up on this one. It wasn't the book i was hoping for, which would have been one that outlined how to live a more graceful and gracious life. Instead the half of the book I read was a homage to celebrities and their innate grace. I refuse to use my valuable and rare reading time on celebrities, so I'm moving on. In fairness I am not rating this book as I did not fully complete it.
jaclynday's review against another edition
2.0
About 50 pages into this book, I was already bored by it. Kaufman’s premise is interesting though: she tries to unpack what “grace” really is or looks like, covering everyone from athletes to famous actors (Cary Grant, for example). Later, she challenges the reader to embrace grace in a new way too. But therein lies the disconnect that follows us throughout the book. Is everyday grace attainable, or even desirable? Is a mere change of posture enough for us to smugly congratulate ourselves on gracefulness? This book would have better suited the reader as an essay, perhaps focusing solely on Cary Grant, since Kaufman comes back to him over and over again. The Art of Grace was a great idea with mediocre execution.
ifelearns's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.5
Part Cary Grant propaganda/ Part informative.
anarag's review against another edition
2.0
This book annoyed me. The author has written beautifully lyrical passages to express intriguing ideas about grace, elegance, movement, beauty. But, as a whole, it felt stitched together from the numerous essays she has written in the past. Additionally, it struck me that her thesis would have made a fine New Yorker article but instead was inflated to become an entire book. Read the introduction and you have heard all her thoughts; the rest is mostly example and several of those are repeated ad infinitum. If you are a Cary Grant fan, you will appreciate her devoting so many pages to describing his grace; as for me, I will watch his films with new appreciation and try to sit up straighter as a result of reading this book. But I can't recommend it.
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