READERS GUIDE
ENOUGH by Melissa Arnot Reid Discussion Questions1. How does the pressure to succeed as one of few women in a male-dominated sport affect Melissa’s mental and emotional well-being? How does she learn to navigate these spaces as the book progresses?
2. Discuss Melissa’s relationships with her colleagues, mentors, and romantic partners over time. How do they evolve? Which relationships seem more helpful or harmful?
3. What role does self-talk play in Melissa’s story? How does positive or negative self-talk come up in your own life?
4. How does Melissa’s internal self-perception affect her external experiences?
5. Melissa’s relationships with her mother, father, and sister are central to her journey. How did their family dynamic shape her early climbing career? How were her relationships with family members reshaped as her climbing early climbing career? How were her relationships with family members reshaped as her climbing career progressed?
6. How might Melissa’s story resonate with people who have never climbed and who may never step foot on Mount Everest? How did it resonate with you?
7. Did this book open your eyes to any unexpected realities of mountain climbing?
8. Did Melissa’s story change your perception of how gender and other forms of identity might play a role in professional sports? How so?
9. Melissa speaks about feeling a sense of competition with other female climbers. Where do you think these feelings stem from?
10. How do you think Melissa’s early relationship with Officer Jones influenced her romantic relationships later in life? Do you believe that one’s early relationships with parents, friends, or partners determine the fate of later relationships?
11. Vulnerability is an important theme in Melissa’s story, from interactions with Officer Jones to her fraught relationship with her mother to often being the only woman in her climbing community. How do you think Melissa eventually learned to use vulnerability to her advantage?
12. Melissa covers many difficult topics in this book: being groomed as a young girl, suicidal thoughts, unhealthy relationships, childhood trauma. Discuss what it means to you to read a book that doesn’t shy away from these issues.
13. Melissa often talks about substituting her emotional struggles with the physical challenges of mountain climbing. What relationship do you see between the two? In what ways do people tend to address physical health and emotional health differently?
14. Grief comes up multiple times in Melissa’s story, from reflecting on a painful childhood to losing close friends in avalanches. Discuss your own methods for coping with grief and tragedy.
15. Even when standing on top of the world, having just achieved her greatest goal, Melissa faces moments of self-doubt. How do you respond in moments of insecurity or self-doubt? How does Melissa?
16. What role does success play in Melissa’s story? How does she define it? How do you define it?
17. Melissa admires Ueli Steck’s vulnerability when he reveals his struggles after an emotional incident on Mount Everest. How does this moment change Melissa’s understanding of honesty and trust?
