Smile : the story of a face / Sarah Ruhl.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ruhl, Sarah, 1974- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ruhl, Sarah, 1974-.

Ruhl, Sarah.

Facial paralysis--Biography.

Facial paralysis.

Dramatists, American--21st century--Biography.

Dramatists, American.

Genre:

Autobiographies.

Biographies.

Physical Description:

241 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Edition:

First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Simon & Schuster, 2021.

Summary:

"In this poignant and deeply intimate memoir, Sarah Ruhl chronicles her experience with Bell's palsy after giving birth to twins. At night, I dreamed that I could smile. The smile felt effortless in my dreams, the way it did in my childhood. Happily married and in the flush of hard-earned professional success, with her first play opening on Broadway, Sarah Ruhl has just survived a high risk pregnancy and given birth to twins when she discovers the left side of her face entirely paralyzed. Bell's palsy. Ninety percent of Bell's palsy sufferers see spontaneous improvement and full recovery. Like Ruhl's mother. Like Angelina Jolie. But not like Sarah Ruhl. Sarah Ruhl is in the unlucky ten percent. Like Allen Ginsberg. But for a woman, a mother, a wife, and an artist working in the realm of theater, the paralysis and the disconnect between the interior and exterior, brings significant and specific challenges. So Ruhl begins an intense decade-long search for a cure, while simultaneously grappling with the reality of her new face-one that, while recognizably her own-is incapable of accurately communicating feelings or intentions. In a series of searing, witty, and lucid meditations, Ruhl chronicles her journey as a patient, mother, wife, and artist. She details the struggle of a body yearning to match its inner landscape, the pain postpartum depression, the joys and trials of marriage and being a playwright and a mother to three tiny children, and the desire for a resilient spiritual life in the face of difficulty. Brimming with insight, humility, and levity, SMILE is a triumph by one of the leading playwrights in America. It is about loss and reconciliation, perseverance and hope. The Hollywood pitch would be Joan Didion meets Ann Lamott with a little Nora Ephron for good measure" -- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. Twins

2. Opening Night

3. Bed Rest

4. The Itch

5. Bell's Palsy

6. Sir Charles Bell and the Greeks

7. The NICU

8. A Brief Digression on My Catholic God

9. The NICU, Continued

10. Home

11. Smile!

12. Actors and Mothers

13. The Duchenne

14. Still Face and the Tony Awards

15. The Mona Lisa and Illness as Metaphor

16. Three Children Under the Age of Five and Three Kinds of Vomit

17. All the Crying Mashas and the Concept of a Good Side

18. Show Me What You've Got

19. The Observer and the Observed

20. Celiac Disease, or I Remember Bagels

21. Childhood Illness and the Symmetry of Siblings

22. Can You Have Postpartum Depression Two Years After Having Babies?

23. Refuge

24. I Can Only Imagine

25. Lizard Eye, or Kill the Ingenue

26. Hermione, the Frozen Statue

27. The Neurosurgeon Who Liked Irishwomen

28. The Good Doctor and Gratitude

29. Ding-Dong, Ding-Dong, or Grow Accustomed to Your Face

30. Mirror Neurons and Narcissus

31. The Fortune Cookie

32. A Woman Slowly Gets Better.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [235]-241).

ISBN:

9781982150945

1982150947

OCLC:

1236259285