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Neal Pollack doesn't need to convince us that he lives or wants to live on the fringe. His eccentricities are well documented in Never Mind the Pollacks and The Neal Pollack Anthology of America. But what happens when a wannabe rock star becomes a papa? Alternadad records Pollack's uneven progress toward the responsibilities of parenthood in a hilarious, often moving way. A baby manual for the truly unconventional.

Elissa Schappell

Childless readers who fear the un-cooling effects of parenthood will be relieved to learn kids, born slam dancers, really dig the Ramones, and will be heartened to see that Pollack, despite drinking chai with soymilk and listening to NPR, hasn’t become Mr. Rogers in a Black Sabbath T-shirt. Some readers with children will chuckle empathetically at the couple’s travails. Yep, our kid stuck rocks up his nose too!
— The New York Times

Publishers Weekly

His novel Never Mind the Pollacks, a hilarious treat, used a fictional "Neal Pollack" to parody the excesses and idiocy of current pop culture. But his self-awareness becomes more self-indulgent (though still witty) in this straightforward memoir of life with his artist wife, the couple's decision a few years ago to have a baby and the attendant strains that his son, Elijah, wreaks on their hipster lifestyle. Pollack details the kind of problems that can be found in almost every memoir on child-rearing, from how to clean up baby poop to figuring out how best to be a "Dad" while being a friend. But he never really defines what it is that makes his parenting so alternative other than that he wants to be a parent and still get high and stay out late. Nevertheless, Pollack hasn't lost his flair for tongue-in-cheek commentary ("I'd begun exerting cultural control over my son; I was going to shape his mind until he was exactly like me"). (Jan.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A rock-'n'-roll writer becomes a father and finds it wonderful. Pollack (Never Mind the Pollacks, 2003, etc.) was a hip single guy working the rock scene. Then he found fetching, quirky Regina from Nashville. She was the woman he was looking for, "a smart, confident, talented, patient, bossy, good-looking Southern nerd." So he married her. Soon, with the combined application of scientific method and the tried-and-true old-fashioned way, they made a baby. The proud daddy describes, perhaps in more detail than necessary, the birth of Elijah (9 lb, 10 oz), the best child ever. We learn of doulas and birthing techniques, obstetricians, grandparents, baby showers and, of course, the yeas and nays of circumcision ("Peeniegate"). There are narratives about schooling choices, butt rashes, applesauce, Elijah's attempts at walking and talking and his penchant for blood-drawing biting. The little nuclear family moves from Chicago to Philly to Austin (where there are neighborhood problems) and, as of last report, to L.A. Pollack's journal includes an excursus now and again regarding such matters as road trips with a band, his wife's anatomy and the salubrious effects of getting stoned on good grass. Elijah is now four, Dad is 36 and they are both growing up nicely. God job, Neal! Someday, Elijah will especially enjoy this history, and meanwhile, we can look forward to his Bar Mitzvah. Foolproof material, illustrated with snapshots proving Elijah's cuteness. Agent: Daniel Greenberg/Levine Greenberg Literary Agency