Sarah L. Kaufman

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.… (more)

I no longer recall what it was that first turned me onto this book. Whatever it was that caused me to put it into my 'to read' shelve I'm grateful for, as this book was enlightening and reassuring, a soft light to guide the way towards the path to inner perfection. This book is not so much a guide as it is a celebration and definition of grace - that elusive quality that we all know and strive for. Who doesn't wish to be associated with it, after all?

This book leads through example. Between its covers are a number of actors, artists, an athletes that possess that quality we call grace. Through anecdata of how they possess it, what they do, how they act, and what it is that sets them apart from the rest - we all can hope to cultivate grace within our own lives. While we won't all be the star athletes and performers enumerate here, there is still ample opportunity to learn what characterizes grace and how we can adapt it into our own lives, and through that adaptation, spread it into the world around us. Mimicry, after all, is a very human action.

This book is enlightening, especially in the final section where everything is broken down into a slight scientific understanding of form and behavior, a history of grace and why it is so very cherished. Grace, it seems, is something we never wholly lose - and by cultivating it even the ravages of Parkinsons can be significantly lessened. Dance and music, rhythmic motion, is something our bodies and spirits crave - and even through the horrors of dementia we can enjoy and incur grace.

This is a good book, and more than that a useful one. We all need a bit more grace in our lives.… (more)

I can't decide whether this is chock full of interesting insights or a load of hooey. I love the author's emphasis on consideration for others as the key to grace; I don't see how it relates to the physical element. I will never be Roger Federer or Rudolph Nureyev; am I therefore crude and inconsiderate? I agree that it's fun to watch certain people for how they move, etc., but what does that have to do with, for example, choosing to be a graceful host or guest? I think this could have been a wonderful long essay with a more limited scope.… (more)