“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
"[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." —Library Journal
"Amy Koppelman's I Smile Back is amazing. There's wit, speed, range, and complete authority here. Among other qualities, it has presence—you hold in your hands a pretty wild ride—and a novel as fascinating as this one seems destined to make its way to Hollywood. Read the book, instead: it's bound to be sharper, more moving, and flat-out better than any adaptation will be." —Darin Strauss
"Amy Koppelman probes deeply into the dark and cavernous recesses of a picture-perfect suburban mom, and emerges with one of the most terrifying novels I've read in ages. It's a glorious little explosion of a book." —Dani Shapiro
"Laney Brooks is a heroine on par with Joan Didion's Maria Wyeth. She captivates not only because she recognizes the darkness closing in around her, but because a part of her welcomes it." —David Benioff
In the follow-up to her acclaimed debut, A Mouthful of Air, which drew comparisons from critics to The Bell Jar and The Awakening, Amy Koppelman delivers an unrestrained statement on the modern suburban woman.
Laney Brooks acts out. Married with kids, she takes the drugs she wants, sleeps with the men she wants, and disappears when she wants. Lurking beneath Laney’s composed surface is the impulse to follow in the footsteps of her father, to leave and topple her family’s balance in the process.

I Smile Back

Literature & Fiction

Koppelman, Amy

United States

Two Dollar Radio

The acclaimed author of I Smile Back, Amy Koppelman is a novelist of astonishing power, with a sly, dark voice, at once fearless and poetic. In Koppelman’s new novel, Dr. Susanna Seliger is a renowned psychiatrist who specializes in treatment-resistant depression. The most difficult cases come through her door, and Susa is always ready to discuss treatment options, medication, and symptom management but draws the line at engaging with feelings. A strict adherence to protocol keeps her from falling apart. But her past is made present by one patient, Jim, whose struggles tear open Susa’s hastily stitched up wounds, revealing her latent feeling that she could have helped the people closest to her, especially her adored, cool, talented graffiti-artist brother. Spectacularly original, gorgeously unsettling, HESITATION WOUNDS is a novel that will sink deep and remain―like a persistent scar or a dangerous glow-in-the-dark memory.

Hesitation Wounds: A Novel

The Overlook Press

To the outside world Julie Davis has it all—wealth, a doting husband, an apartment on the Upper West Side, and an adorable new baby boy. But underneath the perfect exterior, she is paralyzed by an over-whelming sense of shame and inadequacy. 
A Mouthful of Air begins a few weeks after Julie’s suicide attempt and on the eve of her son’s first birthday. Desperate to lead a "normal" life, Julie tries to be thankful for the good things, but her emotional demons persist. In the midst of her struggle, she discovers that she is pregnant for a second time, and is forced to come off the medication that has given her the buoyancy to survive. 
Through sparse, elegant prose, Amy Koppelman’s brutally honest portrayal of family and self shows the reader that real problems are indiscriminate of money or birthright. A Mouthful of Air brings to light the complexity and fragility of the human psyche.

A Mouthful of Air

MACADAM/CAGE.

A Mouthful Of Air

"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
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 US 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.
Amy Koppelman is a graduate of Columbia's MFA program. Her writing has appeared in the New York Observer and Lilith. She lives in New York City with her husband and two children, and is the author of the novels A Mouthful of Air and I Smile Back. She adapted the screenplay for the film from her own novel.

Now a major motion picture starring Amanda Seyfried and Finn Wittrock. Compared to seminal feminist works such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Sylvia Plath'sThe Bell Jar,A Mouthful of Air is a powerful, tragic statement on motherhood, family, and survival. A Mouthful of Air is a compassionate and wrenching portrait of Julie Davis, a young wife and mother torn between the love she feels for her family and the voice in her head that insists they'd be better off without her. We meet Julie several weeks after her suicide attempt, on the eve of her son's first birthday. Grateful to be alive, Julie tries her best to appreciate every moment--"this tree, that passing car, the pretzel guy up ahead on the corner. She has, for whatever reason, been given a second chance"--but her emotional demons are unrelenting, and she is slowly and quietly losing the battle. Within the narrative ofA Mouthful of Air is an argument about the nature of depression--its causes, cures, and the price it exacts from its victims. With spare, elegant prose, this brutally honest portrayal of family and self illuminates the power and complexity of the human psyche. Originally published in 2003,A Mouthful of Air now includes an afterword by author Adrienne Miller.

Literary

A Mouthful of Air (Movie Tie-In Edition)

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Books by Koppelman, Amy

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Koppelman, Amy. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

I Smile Back

Hesitation Wounds: A Novel

Hesitation Wounds: A Novel

A Mouthful of Air

A Mouthful Of Air

I Smile Back

A Mouthful of Air

A Mouthful of Air (Movie Tie-In Edition)