
Smile
The Story of a Face
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Narrated by:
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Sarah Ruhl
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By:
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Sarah Ruhl
About this listen
* A People Best Book of the Year * Time and The Washington Post’s Most Anticipated List * Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence *
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.
©2021 Sarah Ruhl. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
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"Playwright Sarah Ruhl narrates her beautiful memoir with a sense of never-ending curiosity and wonder. Just after giving birth to twins, she develops Bell’s palsy, which paralyzes half her face. As she gets used to her new visage, she embarks on a journey of discovery, exploring topics such as the history of medicine and the ways that women are socialized to smile. In a series of thoughtful meditations, she examines motherhood, marriage, the creative process, loss, transformation, womanhood, and so much more. Her narration, like her prose, is flowing and lovely. She’s deeply interested in the world — not just in her small world, but also the larger human world — and it comes through as she narrates, her voice inviting readers to share her experiences with irresistible warmth."
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Over the Influence
- A Memoir
- By: Joanna "JoJo" Levesque
- Narrated by: Joanna "JoJo" Levesque
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Signed to a major recording deal at just 12 years old, JoJo catapulted to the top of the pop-and-R&B-infused charts in the mid 2000's. The relatability of her youth and the appeal of her cool-girl mystique earned her millions of fans around the world. JoJo was an undeniable superstar and pop culture fixture, spanning roles in major studio films, omnipresence on Top 40 radio, frequenting magazine covers, and appearing on national TV. Then, out of the blue, everything came to a halt and JoJo seemingly stepped out of the spotlight, leaving many fans to wonder: What happened to JoJo?
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Deeply Moving and Relatable in Ways You Might Not Expect
- By rosey on 09-25-24
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Supremacy
- AI, ChatGPT, and the Race that Will Change the World
- By: Parmy Olson
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In November 2022, a webpage was posted online with a simple text box. It was ChatGPT, and was unlike any app people had used before. It was more human than a customer service agent, more convenient than a Google search. Behind the scenes, battles for control and prestige between the world’s two leading AI firms, OpenAI and DeepMind, who now steers Google's AI efforts, has remained elusive—until now.
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Author doesn’t understand AI
- By David on 09-30-24
By: Parmy Olson
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A Rivalry of Hearts
- Fae Flings and Corset Strings, Book 1
- By: Tessonja Odette
- Narrated by: Rusty Mewha, Dani Cochrane
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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They say never bargain with the fae. They also say don’t get drunk on fae wine. Yet romance author Edwina Danforth has managed a blunder with both on her first visit to the infamous faelands. Now she's trapped in a magic-fueled bet she barely remembers with a man she’d be happier to forget. The terms? Whoever can bed the most lovers during their month-long dueling book tour wins a coveted publishing contract. The win should be easy for Edwina. She’s known for penning scintillating tales of whirlwind romance. There’s just one problem: her imagination vastly exceeds her bedroom experience.
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shifting accents abound
- By Danae on 01-14-25
By: Tessonja Odette
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Lifeform
- By: Jenny Slate
- Narrated by: Jenny Slate, George Saunders, Vanessa Bayer, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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What happened was this: Jenny Slate was a human mammal who sniffed the air every morning hoping to find another person to love who would love her, and in that period there was a deep dark loneliness that she had to face and befriend, and then we are pleased to report that she did fall in love, and in that period she was like chimes, or a flock of clean breaths, and her spine lying flat was the many-colored planks on the xylophone, but also she was rabid with fear of losing this love, because of past injury.
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Untethered
- By MyronK on 12-20-24
By: Jenny Slate
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Nothing Is Missing
- A Memoir of Living Boldly
- By: Nicole Walters
- Narrated by: Nicole Walters
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Nothing Is Missing is a “sparkling and impassioned story” (Glamour) of what it takes to show up for yourself—and the joy that can come once you do. Raised in a home where food was unstable and anger was the norm, Nicole learned that she needed to take charge of her own safety and security. So she did: She got into an elite private school by talking to a stranger in her dad’s cab, she strategized her way onto Wheel of Fortune to pay for college, she adopted three girls after meeting their mother panhandling, she quit her job to launch her own business, and she struggled.
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Loved it
- By Nikki Lewis on 10-28-23
By: Nicole Walters
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The Book of Murder
- A Prosecutor's Journey Through Love and Death
- By: Matt Murphy
- Narrated by: Matt Murphy
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Examining murder from an insider’s perspective, Matt Murphy—a former senior deputy district attorney and current ABC News legal analyst—discusses cases from his career, how they strained his personal life, and how he found peace seeking justice for victims and their families. Part taxonomy of murder, part prosecutor’s handbook, and part personal memoir, The Book of Murder goes through a dozen cases and his recollections of his 26 years in the Orange County DA’s office (17 in the Homicide Unit).
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Great book
- By Last Lemming on 10-04-24
By: Matt Murphy
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The Horse
- A Novel
- By: Willy Vlautin
- Narrated by: Willy Vlautin
- Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Al Ward lives on an isolated mining claim in the high desert of central Nevada fifty miles from the nearest town. A grizzled man in his sixties, he survives on canned soup, instant coffee, and memories of his ex-wife, friends and family he’s lost, and his life as a touring musician. Hampered by insomnia, bouts of anxiety, and a chronic lethargy that keeps him from moving back to town, Al finds himself teetering on the edge of madness and running out of reasons to go on—until a horse arrives on his doorstep: nameless, blind, and utterly helpless.
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Dead Horse Tale
- By Cathym on 12-31-24
By: Willy Vlautin
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James Baldwin: The Man and His Work
- By: Rafael Walker, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Rafael Walker
- Length: 2 hrs and 56 mins
- Original Recording
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Artist. Public intellectual. Political activist. James Baldwin was all of these and more. Raised in the slums of Depression-era Harlem in New York City, Baldwin would become an author and activist of international renown—one whose legacy has continued long beyond his death in 1987. Who was James Baldwin? How did he become the master of multiple literary genres and a champion for some of the era’s most notable political and social causes? And how is his influence still being felt today?
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I loved this class!
- By bgmontieth on 04-06-25
By: Rafael Walker, and others
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The In-Between
- Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments
- By: Hadley Vlahos R.N.
- Narrated by: Hadley Vlahos R.N.
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Talking about death and dying is considered taboo in polite company, and even in the medical field. Our ideas about dying are confusing at best: Will our memories flash before our eyes? Regrets consume our thoughts? Does a bright light appear at the end of a tunnel? For most people, it will be a slower process, one eased with preparedness, good humor, and a bit of faith. At the forefront of changing attitudes around palliative care is hospice nurse Hadley Vlahos, who shows that end-of-life care can teach us just as much about how to live as it does about how we die.
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Author's Reach is Beyond Her Grasp
- By CW on 07-26-23
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Worthy
- By: Jada Pinkett Smith
- Narrated by: Jada Pinkett Smith
- Length: 14 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Jada Pinkett Smith was living what many would view as a fairy-tale of Hollywood success. But appearances can be deceiving, and as she felt more and more separated from her sense of self, emotional turmoil took hold. Sparing no detail, Worthy chronicles her life.
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Budda
- By Tamiko on 10-18-23
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A Reason to See You Again
- A Novel
- By: Jami Attenberg
- Narrated by: Stacey Glemboski
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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The women of the Cohen family are in crisis. Triggered by the death of their patriarch, Rudy, the glue that held them all together, everyone’s lives soon take a dramatic turn. Shelly, the younger of the two Cohen sisters, runs off to the West Coast to immerse herself in the emerging (and lucrative) world of technology. Her sister, Nancy, gets married at the age of twenty-one to a traveling salesman with a shadowy lifestyle, while their mother, Frieda, hurls herself into a boozy, troubled existence in Miami, trying to forget the past even as it haunts her.
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Good read
- By Donna M. Blancero on 10-29-24
By: Jami Attenberg
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Negative Girl
- By: Libby Cudmore
- Narrated by: Libby Cudmore, Jay Karnes
- Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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For fans of Cottonmouths by Kelly J. Ford comes Negative Girl: an evocative, moody, neo-noir thriller that explores obsession and people dying across America's forgotten spaces.
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Nice world. Want more
- By Daron Dickens on 02-08-25
By: Libby Cudmore
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Room to Dream
- By: David Lynch, Kristine McKenna
- Narrated by: David Lynch, Kristine McKenna
- Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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An unprecedented look into the personal and creative life of the visionary auteur David Lynch, through his own words and those of his closest colleagues, friends, and family - adapted by David Lynch from the print book especially for this audio program. In this unique hybrid of biography and memoir, David Lynch opens up for the first time about a life lived in pursuit of his singular vision, and the many heartaches and struggles he’s faced to bring his unorthodox projects to fruition.
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When the Idea Breaks
- By ifthenwhy on 08-06-18
By: David Lynch, and others
Moving Educational Joyful!
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Yes, I'll smile.
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Heartbreakingly relatable
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Beautiful
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Beautiful poetic
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Impactful Memoir
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I wish there had been more on the devastation suffered by the effects on the eye which are very disturbing and the slurring of speech, symptoms she didn’t seem to suffer. They however are very life altering. I also think she underplays Botox treatments, again something she did not elect.
There is a lot that can be done by the right practitioners. I went from ENT’s who just shrugged it off as “ permanent “ to ENTs who were hopeful and helpful. You must stay optimistic. It would be most helpful to have her list more specific resources such as physical therapists and other practitioners she finally got meaning help from. We are a very small minority but this wonderful book has told part of our story, which no one understands unless they’ve suffered it.
Synkinesis: I am there
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Uplifting and encouraging
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Excellent on every level
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Amazing
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