I Smile Back - Couverture souple

"Powerful. Koppelman's instincts help her navigate these choppy waters with inventiveness and integrity." --Los Angeles Times

"Koppelman explores with ruthless honesty a woman come undone." --Bookslut

"Koppelman mostly writes from inside Laney's disillusioned mind, ricocheting between the quotidian details of wife and motherhood and big-picture musings, forming exquisite stand-alone tone poems."--Elle

"We've been buzzing about this book all week, thanks to Sarah Silverman's career-changing performance... Koppelman writes about pain in a painfully beautiful way." --Glamour

"This crushing novel by the author of A Mouthful of Air is a shocking portrait of suburban ennui gone horribly awry. Koppelman's prose style is understated and crackling; each sentence is laden with a foreboding sense of menace. Like a crime scene or a flaming car wreck, it becomes impossible not to stare."--Publishers Weekly

"Laney Brooks is a woman in agony, suffering from an undefined malady that makes standard housewife ennui - boredom from carpooling or picking up dry cleaning - look like a picnic. Laney's despair, [is] ably depicted by Amy Koppelman in her affecting second novel." --Bookforum

"This book is a demanding read, with relentless pacing, a choppy, aggressive tone and a compelling battle for redemption." --Lilith Magazine

"Koppelman's writing is expressive and nuanced... [a] potent novel." --Booklist

"[Koppelman's] brave and challenging look beyond appearances of beauty to the ugly reality of a disturbed mind will remain with readers long after they've finished the book. Highly recommended for literary collections." --Library Journal

Now a major motion picture starring Sarah Silverman in her dramatic-acting debut, and Josh Charles, I Smile Back tells the affecting tale of Laney Brooks, a mother and wife on a self-destructive streak. She takes the drugs she wants, sleeps with the men she wants, disappears when she wants. Lurking beneath Laney's seemingly composed surface is the impulse to follow in her father's footsteps, to leave and topple her family's balance in the process.

The film adaptation of I Smile Back premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival in the prestigious U.S. Dramatic competition. Silverman's affecting dramatic turn in the lead-role has garnered praise in film trade reviews as "tremendous," "terrific," and "awards worthy," and will inspire an onslaught of attention upon the film's national theatrical release.