About the Book
A poignantly funny account of humorist and ""Greatest Living American Author"" Neal Pollack's years as a marijuana addict. Beginning innocently enough in his 20s when pot made everything—food, music, sex—better. Getting married, having a kid, and enjoying professional success didn't tamp down Pollack's addiction. As cannabis grew stronger and more widely available, Pollack's dependence was shadowed by the expansion and acceptance of the marijuana Big Business.
By 2014, Neal was a correspondent for a national marijuana newspaper, mostly because it meant free pot. Diving into the wild, wicked world of weed with both lungs, Pollack proceeds to smoke, vape, and eat his way to oblivion, leading to terrible public meltdowns and other embarrassing behavior. After his mother dies in 2017, he spirals out of control, finally hitting bottom during a reckless two-day gambling and drug-filled binge, culminating in a public crack-up at the World Series in Dodger Stadium. Three weeks later, he quit.
Sober after joining a 12-step program, Neal outed himself publicly as a marijuana addict in a 2018 New York Times op-ed piece, leading to his decision to document his addiction experience as a cautionary tale for the millions of recreational users in the hazy age of legalized marijuana.
Often hilarious and equally self-deprecating, Neal continues his insightful probing of his life with Alternadad (Pantheon, 2007) through Stretch: The Unlikely Making of a Yoga Due (Harper Perennial, 2010).
About the Author :
Neal Pollack, “The Greatest Living American Writer,” is the author of 10 previously published books of fiction and nonfiction, including the bestselling memoirs Alternadad and Stretch, the cult classic The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature, the novels Never Mind The Pollacks, Jewball, Repeat, and Keep Mars Weird, and Downward-Facing Death and Open Your Heart, a pair of “yoga mysteries.” Pollack is currently the editor-in-chief of Book and Film Globe. His 25-year freelance writing credits include a column in Vanity Fair, as well as GQ, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Men’s Journal, Slate, Salon, Nerve, The Federalist, The Drive, Yahoo!, Esquire, The Jewish Daily Forward, Decider, and many other publications large and small. A three-time Jeopardy! Champion, a former correspondent for The Cannabist, and a certified yoga instructor, Pollack lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife (the painter Regina Allen), their son Elijah, and a Boston Terrier named Briar.
Review :
You don’t have to be a pothead to appreciate the humor and pathos in Pothead, Neal Pollack’s zippy, deep-thinking Gen-X recovery memoir. —Caroline Kepnes, author of You
Pothead captures a giddy, buzzy, unprecedented moment in our culture—a new, outwardly joyful wave of reefer madness that takes its toll. Neal has always been a hilarious writer, but also surprisingly reflective and bravely self-insightful. His latest book is as funny as always, but also, bracingly, movingly sober. —John Hodgman, comedian and author of Vacationland and Medallion Status
In the recovery movement, they might call the first half of Neal Pollack’s Pothead a war story, for its impressively rich catalogue of indignities and pratfalls. But as in all the best war stories, Pollack’s account is rendered with such spirit and wit, with such a bottomless arsenal of hilarities that it is impossible to look away. We long throughout this harrowing account for the moment when Neal Pollack’s feet will strike the earth, and when he does, his considerable talent billows out with a bright new reflective aspect. This is an especially lucid and welcome account, therefore, of a long journey through compulsion into clarity, insight, and acceptance. —Rick Moody, award-winning author of The Black Veil and The Ice Storm
Neal Pollack’s Pothead is a harrowing corrective to the popular myth that marijuana use is always safe and consequence-free. Told with ruthless honesty and Pollack’s signature irreverence, it delineates how a seemingly harmless habit can devolve into a life-ruining addiction, and what it takes to come back. This is a valuable, timely addition to our cultural conversation about marijuana, and a gift to anyone who loves fearless memoir laced with dark wit. —Kristi Coulter, author of Nothing Good Can Come from This
Pollock’s writing is heartbreaking, funny, tender, and honest. And it offers great hope for the growing numbers who are finding themselves addicted to marijuana in this legal age of weed. I read this book in one sitting. It’s that good and it’s that helpful. All at the same time. —Dana Bowman, author of Bottled and How to Be Perfect Like Me
