The Mona Lisa Stratagem: The Art of Women, Age, and Power [Hardcover]

Harriet Rubin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 21, 2007

Around the time a woman reaches 45, there is one enemy with the power to threaten her confidence, steal her beauty, make her feel invisible, and turn even the pleasures of life against her. That enemy is Time. Most women feel that an essential part of them dies when their youth is gone, yet the reality is women can grow more beautiful, experience new pleasures, and accomplish their best work later in life. Now, taking inspiration from a masterpiece of female beauty, mystery, and immortality, Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Harriet Rubin reveals a powerful stratagem for finding happiness and fulfillment in midlife and beyond. Interweaving stories of iconic women throughout history, Rubin codifies ten tactics--including how to be noticed, how to create circles of influence with you at the center, and how to express talents that have been ripening over decades. In the process, she uncovers the key to mature power, the highest art of leadership.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Though Rubin's latest self-help volume should resonate with working baby boomer women, she clouds her celebration of their maturity with gushing prose. Rubin (The Princessa: Machiavelli for Women) weaves through history, mythology and literature to illustrate that women can realize their true power with age. Her passionate explanation of "how to face the last big enemy: Time and Mortality" plays out as a frantic rush of not always contextualized historical references that range from former Washington Post editor Katharine Graham (she "enabled" rather than governed) and Cicely Saunders (founder of hospice care in England) to Italian queen Catherine de Medici, who asserted herself in widowhood. Ten vague tactics make up the author's "stratagem" for standing up to "Time" and building character. "Master the force of your mysterious smile, because a woman's laughter is more powerful than her tears," Rubin advises in the chapter title for tactic six, about disarming people with humor. Tactic seven, about drawing on one's anger and dealing with enemies, begins with the maxim, "Hate and wait, because one doesn't grow strong on a diet of wimpy burgers." In a culture that fetishizes youth, Rubin makes a welcome but cryptic effort to empower women 45 and older. (May 21)
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Review

Class 3 of Hampsted Primary School travels to Paris for sight-seeing and fun, only to find itself immersed in solving the theft of the Mona Lisa. An animated reading of the story gives the long narrative continuity and adds depth to the plot and characters. Forsyth keeps the action moving, enlivening each new part of the adventure with enthusiasm and the youthful reactions of the children. Seamless transitions between characters, plus her pleasant reading voice, greatly add to the listening experience. She performs the accents of the various French characters effectively, capturing the flavor of France and adding a touch of the exotic. Forsyth's voice catches just the right tones of excitement and suspense. P.A.J. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 98] --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (May 21, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446577650
• ISBN-13: 978-0446577656
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #344,251 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars About a strong midlife for women, June 19, 2007

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mona Lisa Stratagem: The Art of Women, Age, and Power (Hardcover)

Author Harriet Rubin follows up her first leadership book for women, the bestselling The Princessa: Machiavelli for Women, with The Mona Lisa Stratagem: The Art of Women, Age, and Power. Taking cues from Da Vinci's piece-de-resistance, Rubin's book plots out how a strong midlife presence can yield happiness, strength, accomplishment and fulfillment.

Time and mortality are the last big enemies at the midpoint in a woman's life, according to the book. Using the mystery, beauty and strong femininity from the Mona Lisa, Rubin outlines 10 tactics to actually achieve fulfillment--sexually, emotionally, and internally--from age 45 and beyond. Her tactics are interspersed with iconic women who emanated a commanding presence later in life--everyone from Catherine de Medici, Emily Dickson and Queen Elizabeth to Georgia O'Keefe and Martha Stewart.

While the historical and mythological references were intriguing, Rubin's 10 tactics are convoluted and disjointed, making it difficult to discern one tactic from the other. After a while, the meat of the book gets lost in a sea of prose, broad personality generalizations and little-known historical references.

Her writing style, seemingly articulate use of words and soothing but commanding voice, show that Rubin herself is a powerful woman enjoying her midlife, but her efforts into unlocking the secrets of older women remain as cryptic as the Mona Lisa's smile.

Armchair Interviews says: Rubin has help others get published and now has written her second book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For Remarkable Women (and those who love them), November 10, 2007

By 

Brian Mulconrey - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Mona Lisa Stratagem: The Art of Women, Age, and Power (Hardcover)

If you've known or loved remarkable women, or if you are a remarkable woman grappling with the march of time, I believe you'll enjoy this book. What reading "The Mona Lisa Stratagem" did for me was it unpacked the code behind what I found so attractive in certain older women who I love, admire, or whose lead I find myself anxious to follow. In "The Mona Lisa Stratagem" glass ceilings are turned to ice and melted by an inner radiance.

A warning - don't expect the typical business "how to" book. Harriet Rubin may be advising women, but she is also helping men to understand the force of attraction they feel from these women by illustrating the book with a series of mini-portraits of great women throughout history - from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Eleanor Roosevelt - from Ayn Rand to Jackie Kennedy. Of course there is also Harriet Rubin herself, I've also read and enjoyed some of her other books... The Princessa: Machiavelli for Women - Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambition - Dante in Love: The World's Greatest Poem and How It Made History

3.0 out of 5 stars Good reading, poor strategy, July 6, 2009

By 

Reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mona Lisa Stratagem: The Art of Women, Age, and Power (Paperback)

I dont' view life as a 'strategy' so I found the title rather odd, but i was fascinated by the contents. Harriet is a great narrator, soothing, balanced voice and great prose/language that flows. That said I had a hard time differentiating the 10 points she seems to want to make, one flows into another and there is no real boundary or clarity between them. Her anecdotes are fascinating but to bear in mind that not all women want to be a Jackie O whom she quotes as role model several times. I have never liked Jackie O and neither do several people I know. Second, on the chapter on sexuality also she seems to exalt women who have extreme affairs with men less than half their age and the emphasis of 'playing love as a game' and 'findng pleasure'. That might not be every woman's goal either and playing love as a manipulative game is completely unadvisable past mid age when one wants to live with what is true in ourselves and others. The book makes for interesting listening definitely, and absolutely loved her takes on Mona Lisa.