Towards the end of the book, Ruhl describes her story as one in which "a woman slowly gets better." While technically true, this simple statement does not fully capture the tremendous breadth of her journey.

After giving birth to twins, acclaimed playwright and author Sarah Ruhl is diagnosed with Bell's Palsy. This memoir follows her over the course of 10 years as she grapples with the physical, emotional, and mental conflict of not being able to smile, among other facial movements.

Sarah Ruhl is an incredible writer. Each sentence reads like poetry. This memoir is one of those books that compels you to keep reading, but you never want to reach the end. As a fan of her theater work, I enjoyed the references to her plays and her life as an artist as well. The way she writes about society's conditioning of women and the role a smile plays in cultural exchanges was especially concise.

"...her smile can be protective, a talisman, something to withhold or bestow."

The only thing that didn't work for me was when the memoir would take deeper dives into history (general, not Ruhl's). This happened more frequently in the first half of the book. My experience was that it paused the story when it had real forward momentum, and while the writing was beautiful, I wanted to skip past it to get back to the main story. That being said, this did not take away from my experience of truly enjoying this book.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for giving me the chance to read an advanced copy of this book.

I really enjoyed this book. More than just a memoir, Smile is both an introspective look and a wide-angle view of how Bell's Palsy affects not just Ruhl's physical abilities, but her emotional well-being. Her relationship to the world and to herself changes when she can no longer use her face to communicate in the way she wants to or means to. The writing is honest and approachable with a pacing that keeps the story moving.

This wasn't the right book for me. I'll always respect how an author makes themself vulnerable in writing memoir and generally hate to give up on them or say anything negative. I see it as the reader's job to take away what they will, not the writer's job to make their story pleasing to others. However, I couldn't relate at all to the idea of live performance about a woman using a device to masturbate on the stage. This advanced ready copy wasn't the story I expected.

I really enjoyed this book! This book was generously provided to me through NetGalley. Highly Recommended!

What a moving memoir. I was interested in reading this because I have really enjoyed Sarah Ruhl's plays and loved the idea of learning more about her life. I loved reading this every night before bed; her writing is beautiful, thoughtful, and engaging, though at times I found it could have used a little more editing down.

Her descriptions of motherhood and trying to balance a writing career with mothering (in NYC, no less) really resonated with me. Ruhl is an ambitious, thoughtful, creative, cerebral person ("I often try to solve problems by buying books" - oh, how I can relate!) and she does an excellent job of bringing the reader into her mind as she navigates a complex pregnancy and then a challenging diagnosis. I had not read much about Bell's Palsy before and Ruhl's story shows the emotional and physical challenges of living with the disease. ("There is no Hallmark card for disfigurement. As in: I'm so sorry your face looks like that now, it doesn't really look that bad, or it only looks bad when you do certain things, or actually I barely notice...")

I found the writing to be astute and just a pleasure to curl up with. I don't think you need to have a background in theater or playwriting to enjoy this, although some of the name dropping was certainly fun for a theater nerd like me. This is memoir, but also a meditation on what it means to have a face that doesn't match who you feel you are; a face that can't match the emotions you want to express. ("To have a face not match the self is a disturbance"). I loved it!

Award-winning playwright Sara Ruhl’s memoir "Smile" recounts her struggle with harrowing health issues as she navigates life as a writer, teacher, wife and mother of three. Alternately hilarious and heartbreaking, Ruhl’s story leads us through her experience of chronic Bell’s Palsy into provocative digressions. Among them are gender politics and smiling, the Mona Lisa, her Catholic upbringing and study of Buddhism, the aesthetics of symmetry and asymmetry, and many others. More than a tale of overcoming hardship, "Smile" prompts deeper questions. How do our faces express our humanity and connect us to others? How can we honor creativity and cultivate gratitude in the face of adversity? Ruhl’s background as a poet shines through her lyrical writing. At the risk of serving up a cliché, this book is a complete inspiration.

This blunt and tender memoir excels as a personal narrative of illness and healing but also offers fresh and valuable perspective on the woman behind an extraordinary body of creative work. After coping with a difficulty pregnancy, Ruhl is relieved to give birth to healthy twins. Then she finds the left side of her face paralyzed by Bell's Palsy. Unlike many cases, hers does not dissipate quickly, and much of the medical advice she gets is insensitive or incorrect. Instead, Ruhl must cope with a face that no longer reflects her emotions as she finds her own solutions and strategies. Filled with telling details and interconnections, her chronicle of that journey is honest, beautifully written, and brimming with insight about how we face not only the world but also ourselves. Readers who have experienced the kinds of serious diagnoses that Ruhl has faced will find reassurance and wisdom in her story, but even those you haven't will recognize themselves in her efforts to claim her wholeness and accept her real and metaphorical face. I can't recommend SMILE highly enough.

Smile: The Story of a Face by Sarah Ruhl (Length: 256 pages). This is an ARC of a memoir which comes out in October of 2021 I believe, and is written by a Broadway playwright living in NYC who suffers from long-term (over a decade) Bell's Palsy, the onset of which occurred after she delivered twins. I was interested in this because a good friend also has the same diagnosis. This memoir traverses the past decade as she deals with this very obvious facial paralysis, first with intense frustration and depression, and eventually with grace and equanimity. The writing is excellent (as befits an award-winning playwright), but I do think the focus on Bell's Palsy is a bit a too specific for most. I, for one, am glad I took the time to read this book as it gave me even more empathy for those who struggle with this disease, and I think I will always remember it.

SMILE is a wonderful, warm, bracingly candid account of one woman’s experience of Bell’s Palsy following the birth of her twins. Sarah Ruhr is an exceptional writer (which makes sense, as she is an acclaimed playwright) and I appreciated the skill with which she draws the reader into her story. The compassion she shows for herself in her account of her struggle to understand what was happening with her body (including significant times in which she admits in hindsight that she had no compassion for herself at all) are so relatable. I’ve never given birth to twins, and never experienced Bell’s Palsy...and yet reading this I felt seen and understood in a whole new way. This is a wonderful book about so much more than the events that inspired it. Well done, Sarah Ruhl!

My thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In Smile: The Story of a Face, critically acclaimed playwright Sarah Rule delivers a witty, warm, honest account of a life in which the face one presents to the world does not accurately reflect the bearer's emotional state. The personal narrative is interwoven with broader literary and cultural details, including smart forays into the origins of questionable interventions like "bed rest"--a treatment prescribed primarily to women despite no evidence of the treatment's efficacy and significant evidence of harm. The book is chock full of delightful moments of true surprise--as when the author opens s a fortune cookie at lunch after discovering she'll be having twins, and the cookie tells her to deliver what is inside her for it will save her life.

Smile is a joy and an education. If Ruhl writes another memoir, I'll be first in line to read it.

Sarah Ruhr the brilliant playwright has written an emotional raw memoir of her diagnosis of Bells Palsy.and the effect on her life.Right after she gives birth she discovers something is wrong with her face it’s sagging she has lost her smile her facial muscles.She brings us along on her search for a cure.While searching she takes us into her life her marriage her career.Thisisan engrossing memoir that drew me in from the first page to the last.

This is a book with an emotional appeal on how important our face looks to others.

Sarah Ruhl could write about anything. She has built a successful career as an American playwright. She is a mother of three beautiful children and has a husband who not only adores her but has a top=notch career as a child psychiatrist. Yet, she writes about her face; her smile. It isn't symmetrical.

There are several reasons why a face has faults: genetics, injuries, strokes, aging and in Ruhl's world...it's caused from Bell's palsy after she brought two twins into the world. She said that was the day "my smile walked off my face and wondered out in the world."

In her book, she pours her heart out to describe her inner thoughts as a pretty Irish woman to have.a face paralyzed on the left side after delivering her twins. The results were half a smile, difficulty eating some foods and communicating facial expressions. While most people recover from Bell's palsy within a short period of time, she didn't have such luck. She resorted to all sorts of treatments looking for a cure.

While reading, I felt like I was at a diner listening to her talk about her life which seemed pretty good to me in spite of her smile. It's a book that would be especially helpful for women with postpartum depression, Celiac disease and Bell's palsy. Yet as she said, our true "purpose in life is to give and receive love" and not dwell on our looks. The book has lots of photos of the author and her family and in my opinion, they all look amazing. After reading, I saw a friend waving and I smiled...thinking of the words I had just read.

My thanks to Sarah Ruhl, Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for allowing me to read this advanced copy to be released on October 5, 2021.

Sarah Ruhl is a wonderful writer, I was engaged in this story from the beginning. She describes the overwhelming feelings and emotions of new motherhood so well I felt like I was right there with her. Add in a successful yet very demanding career and Bell's palsy and things get even harder. I loved Ruhl's honesty, she didn't sugar coat anything. I also loved the pictures spaced throughout the book. I really enjoyed getting to know Ruhl and her family and I am grateful she was willing to share her story.

Playwright Sarah Ruhl, delivers a heart wrenching memoir about something as simple and meaningful as the ability to express emotion with our face. After giving birth she discovers half of her face is living in complete paralysis, she's told most people recover completely, but she falls into the percentage which ultimately does not. This condition is her new reality, her new face with which to interact with the world. This is a moving memoir, and being a mother of twins myself, and knowing many others, I have become acutely aware of the conditions in which facial functioning is affected (there are many disorders that manifest in the facial functioning). The journey towards defining a new normal and bringing awareness to the challenges people face when learning to interact in the world that had a very narrow spectrum of acceptance for facial differences. I love reading memoirs, and Sarah Ruhl has written a fantastic and heartfelt examination of her transformed life.

Award-winning, renowned playwright Sarah Ruhl has given theater audiences the world over (including myself) enormous and often life changing pleasure. Now she has written a heart wrenching and yet life affirming memoir of her journey with Bells Palsey. I adored every sentence of this wise and wonderful book. Every single sentence. The wisdom and humor and pain of this 10 year journey is conveyed so very beautifully. A perfect book. Truly.