Sober Mom Reading Group Guide

1. The book opens not with a dramatic rock-bottom but with an ordinary errand — buying vodka with the kids in the minivan after McDonald's. Why do you think Liz chose this scene to begin with, and how did it shape your understanding of what "functional" alcoholism can look like?

2. Liz builds an elaborate internal logic about bottle sizes — that "normal people buy average-sized bottles" and only "alcoholics" buy pints. What did this reveal about how denial works, and where else do you see her mind bargaining like this?

3. The memoir follows the AA assignment to write your story — what it was like, what happened, and what it is like now. How did that three-part structure shape your experience as a reader? Did one section land hardest for you?

4. In the prologue, Liz deliberately breaks AA's tradition of anonymity, citing the idea that normalization is the antidote to shame. Do you agree that speaking openly disarms shame? What is she risking by publishing under her own name?

5. The title carries a double meaning — the mother who drank, and the mother now in recovery. How did your sense of "Sober Mom" change from the first page to the last?

6. Grief runs through the whole book: her brother William's death, her sister Julia's suicide, and later her mother's death. Liz says she used to "drink over" her grief. What changed when she finally grieved sober, and what does she mean by "grief is love"?

7. Chris doesn't drink, and early in the marriage Liz pushes him away so she can drink the way she wants. How did you read their relationship across the crisis and the renewal of their vows — and what did his time in Al-Anon contribute?

8. Liz was raised Catholic and studied religious studies, yet she struggles to accept that her sister's suicide could be "God's will." How does she arrive at a "higher power of her own understanding," and what role does nature play in it?

9. Liz is candid about moments many readers may find hard — drinking while caring for her children. How did her honesty about these moments affect your trust in her as a narrator?

10. The book ends not with a tidy cure but with "one day at a time" and the acknowledgment that relapse is possible. Did that open-endedness feel honest to you? If you've loved someone with an addiction — or wrestled with your own drinking — did any part of Sober Mom shift how you think about it?

Want Me to Come to Your Book Club?

If you’d like me to come to your book club, please contact me at lizjannuzzi@gmail.com.