Sister Wife: A Memoir of Faith, Family, and Finding Freedom

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. Discuss your overall impressions of Sister Wife. Which were your favorite or least favorite aspects of the memoir, and why?

2. Compare and contrast Sister Wife to other memoirs that explore faith or fundamentalism. What parallels do you notice between Christine Brown Woolley’s memoir and titles like Tara Westover’s Educated or Deborah Feldman’s Unorthodox?

3. Discuss the parallels and disparities between Sister Wife (the memoir) and Sister Wives (the show). Which aspects of Woolley’s story altered your impressions of her and her family as they are portrayed in the reality TV series?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Discuss your thoughts on Kody Brown and Robyn’s marriage. If you were Woolley, would you have responded the same way to this relationship? How does your own romantic experience inform your thinking?

2. The novel explores the Costs of Unequal Intimacy via Woolley’s polygamous marriage. Have you ever felt thwarted in love, as Woolley often did in the presence of Kody and her sister wives? How did you process your jealousy or hurt, and how did your reactions compare to Woolley’s?

3. Woolley explores the fact that seeing herself on television changed her self-image. Have you experienced moments that have similarly altered your understanding of yourself or challenged you to evolve in unexpected ways?

4. Woolley’s life in the LDS community defined her sense of self for many years. What religious, social, or familial spheres have influenced your identity?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. Analyze the memoir’s representation of reality television from an interpersonal, social, and cultural standpoint. How does Woolley interrogate the effects of televised narratives on their subjects?

2. Discuss Woolley’s evolving regard for the LDS faith and polygamy over the course of the memoir. Does she represent this belief system and religious practice positively or negatively? How does she use her experience to deliver a social commentary on patriarchal systems?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. Analyze Woolley’s authorial stance and voice. How does her blending of conversational and confessional tones affect your understanding of the narrative?

2. The memoir is bookended by a prologue and an epilogue and consists primarily of four titled sections: “Daughter,” “Sister,” “Wife,” and “Woman.” How does this structure relate to Woolley’s journey of self-discovery?

3. Discuss the relationships between Woolley’s personal, marital, and maternal identities. How do these aspects of her experience intersect?

4. What abstract ideas do Las Vegas, the commitment ceremony, or Utah represent? How do these settings help to develop the novel’s themes?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. If you were Woolley and found yourself in an unbalanced relationship with Kody, how would you respond? Would you have stayed in this dynamic for as long as Woolley did? What would you have done differently? Consider how Woolley’s relationships with her sister wives and her religious background informed her experience.

2. Create a collage that represents the intersection between Woolley’s private life and her televised life. Share your collages and explain how your chosen images represent Woolley’s experience of appearing on Sister Wives.