Sober Stick Figure: A Memoir - Hardcover

"Truth can be painful or funny. Ms. Tozer entertains with both." --Henry Winkler "A hilarious, unique voice [Amber's] struggle with addiction is a story of triumph, told in a wonderfully relatable way" --Andy Richter "Amber Tozer is a wise guide through her personal story -- which you might find to be disturbingly close to your own. And there's drawings!" --Patton Oswalt "Amber Tozer is the single most ridiculous, honest, and kind person you'll ever find. Any time she writes a word, I read it and I highly recommend you do the same." --Tig Notaro "Amber Tozer's wonderful, hilarious, gritty, inspirational book is simple, but not simplistic. You'll get smarter like reading one of those books with the big adjectives. With her exquisite stick figures, she documents her demented, hysterical, inspirational path she took from small town girl wanting to know about the world, to going out there and making a place for herself as a comedian, writer, sober spokesperson, and human being." --Fred Stoller "Amber Tozer pens one of the funniest books on alcoholism you'll ever read." --The Seattle Times "Tozer writes with unguarded honesty about addiction and what it means to be an alcoholic...Sober Stick Figure ends on a promising, if tentative, silver lining that the best is yet to come." --Shelf Awareness Her journey reflects the seriousness of her alcoholism with both personal responsibility and a resilient spirit. The urgency and desperation of addiction told through crisp, biting sarcasm and self-deprecating humor. --Kirkus Reviews Her amateurish stick-figure drawings add a lot of verve to the book. Readers will identify with Tozer's original voice--and those drawings! -- as she tells a fairly typical addiction and recovery story. --Library Journal "One of The 10 Best Addiction & Recovery Memoirs... A stand-up comic and television comedy writer, [Tozer] figured out a way to make talking about alcoholism really funny." --AfterParty Magazine "Few people could make sobriety as funny as L.A. writer Amber Tozer." --Rollingstone.com naming Tozer one of the 25 Funniest People on Twitter

Sober Stick Figure is a memoir from stand-up comedian Amber Tozer, chronicling her life as an alcoholic and her eventual recovery, starting with her first drink at the age of seven,all told with the help of childlike stick figures. Amber writes and illustrates the crazy and harsh truths of being raised by alcoholics, becoming one herself, stagnating in denial for years, and finally getting sober. As a teenager, Amber is an overachieving student athlete who copes with her family's alcoholic tragedies by focusing on her achievements. It quickly takes a funny and dark turn when she starts to experiment with booze and ignores the warning signs of alcoholism. Through blackouts, cringe-worthy embarrassments, and pounding hangovers, she convinces herself that she just likes to party." She leaves her hometown of Pueblo, Colorado to follow her dreams, and ends up in New York City, spending lots of time binge drinking, passing out on trains, and telling jokes on stage. She then moves to Los Angeles, thinking sunshine and show business will save her. Eventually hitting rock bottom, she has a moment of clarity, and knows she has to stop drinking. It's now been seven years since that last drink, and she's ready to tell her story. Sober Stick Figure is adventurous, hilarious, sad, sweet, tragic,and ultimately inspiring.