Delaware County District Library

Smile, Sarah Ruhl

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 337-350)

autobiography

illustrations

no index present

non fiction

Smile

bibliography

1284810138

Sarah Ruhl

Thorndike Press large print biography and memoir

"Sarah Ruhl has just survived a high- risk pregnancy when she discovers the left side of her face is paralyzed. She is assured that 95 percent of Bell's palsy patients experience a full recovery. But Sarah is in the unlucky 5 percent. So Ruhl begins a decade-long search for a cure while grappling with the reality of her new face. In a series of meditations, Ruhl chronicles her journey. She explores the struggle of a body yearning to match its inner landscape, the pain postpartum depression, being a playwright and working mom to three small children, and the desire for a resilient spiritual life in the face of illness"--, Back cover

Twins -- Opening night -- Bed rest -- The itch -- Bell's palsy -- Sir Charles Bell and the Greeks -- The NICU -- A brief digression on my Catholic God -- The NICU, continued -- Home -- Smile! -- Actors and mothers -- The Duchenne -- Still face and the Tony Awards -- The Mona Lisa and illness as metaphor -- Three children under the age of five and three kinds of vomit -- All the crying Mashas and the concept of a good side -- Show me what you've got -- The observer and the observed -- Celiac disease, or I remember bagels -- Childhood illness and the symmetry of siblings -- Can you have postpartum depression two years after having babies? -- Refuge -- I can only imagine -- Lizard eye, or kill the ingenue -- Hermione, the frozen statue -- The neurosurgeon who liked Irishwomen -- The good doctor and gratitude -- Ding-dong, ding-dong, or grow accustomed to your face -- Mirror neurons and narcissus -- The fortune cookie -- A woman slowly gets better