Smile: The Story of a Face
Written by Sarah Ruhl
Narrated by Sarah Ruhl
4/5
()
About this audiobook
From the MacArthur genius, two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, and playwright, this “captivating, insightful memoir” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) is “a beautiful meditation on identity and how we see ourselves” (Real Simple).
With a play opening on Broadway, and every reason to smile, Sarah Ruhl has just survived a high-risk pregnancy when she discovers the left side of her face is completely paralyzed. She is assured that 90 percent of Bell’s palsy patients experience a full recovery—like Ruhl’s own mother. But Sarah is in the unlucky ten percent. And for a woman, wife, mother, and artist working in 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 piercing, profound, and lucid meditations, Ruhl chronicles her journey as a patient, wife, mother, and artist. She explores the struggle of a body yearning to match its inner landscape, the pain of postpartum depression, the story of a marriage, being a playwright and working mom to three small children, and the desire for a resilient spiritual life in the face of illness.
An intimate and “stunning” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) examination of loss and reconciliation, “Ruhl reminds us that a smile is not just a smile but a vital form of communication, of bonding, of what makes us human” (The Washington Post). Brimming with insight, humility, and levity, Smile is a triumph by one of America’s leading playwrights.
Sarah Ruhl
Sarah Ruhl is a playwright, essayist, and poet. Her fifteen plays include In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play), The Clean House, and Eurydice. She has been a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, a Tony Award nominee, and the recipient of the MacArthur “genius” Fellowship. Her plays have been produced on- and off-Broadway, around the country, internationally, and have been translated into many languages. Her book 100 Essays I Don’t Have Time to Write was a New York Times Notable Book. Her other books include Letters from Max, with Max Ritvo, and 44 Poems for You. She has received the Steinberg Playwright Award, the Samuel French Award, the Feminist Press Under 40 Award, the National Theater Conference Person of the Year Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, a Whiting Award, a Lily Award, and a PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award for mid-career playwrights. She teaches at the Yale School of Drama, and she lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Tony Charuvastra, who is a child psychiatrist, and their three children. You can read more about her work at SarahRuhlPlaywright.com.
Related to Smile
Related audiobooks
I Live a Life Like Yours: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Critic's Daughter: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tasha: A Son's Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Autobiography of a Face Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Beauty of Dusk: On Vision Lost and Found Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This Will All Be Over Soon: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eyes to the Wind: A Memoir of Love and Death, Hope and Resistance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fly Girl: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5She Made Me Laugh: My Friend Nora Ephron Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is Not A Pity Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Joy Enough: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All Happy Families: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Making Toast: A Family Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lot Six: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Glory Was I Had Such Friends: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grand: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Places I Stopped on the Way Home: A Memoir of Chaos and Grace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Still Point of the Turning World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Off Course Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Gone: A Memoir of Love, Body, and Taking Back My Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devotion: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Amen, Amen, Amen: Memoir of a Girl Who Couldn't Stop Praying (Among Other Things) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Films of Endearment: A Mother, a Son and the '80s Films That Defined Us Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Growing Up Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Feast Your Eyes: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Souvenir Museum: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Are Not A Stranger Here: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Personal Memoirs For You
I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Night: New translation by Marion Wiesel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sociopath: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Counting the Cost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Woman in Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Finding Me: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: My Year of Psychedelics: Lessons on Better Living Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: Built for This: The Quiet Strength of Powerlifting Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yes Please Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shelter: A Love Letter to Trees Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5See You on the Way Down: Catch You on the Way Back Up! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5While Time Remains: A North Korean Girl's Search for Freedom in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dad on Pills: Fatherhood and Mental Illness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Glass Castle: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pageboy: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wishful Drinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Making It So: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Smile
27 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tenderly narrated by the author. Blunt, funny, and thoughtful. I wondered how the author would manage to conclude this piece, and was very satisfied with the outcome.