I Quit Everything: How One Woman’s Addiction to Quitting Helped Her Confront Bad Habits and Embrace Midlife

In this fun yet flimsy memoir, former Blake Babies drummer Smith (Red Velvet Underground) describes how, in the face of several long-simmering addictions, she took control of her life during a six-month experiment with abstinence. During the pandemic, when Smith’s addictive behavior reached its peak, she withdrew from her five deadly sins—alcohol, sugar, cannabis, caffeine, and social media—one by one. Drawing on sources as diverse as anthropologist Gregory Bateson, macrobiotic guru Michio Kushi, and writers Charles Bukowski and Michael Pollan, Smith investigates the cultural influences of addiction, weaving in her own history with quitting and poking fun at her “self-righteous and preachy” attitude: “There’s something powerful, dignified, and pure about the austerity of a bowl of well-cooked brown rice next to a glowing orange bowl of Kraft macaroni and cheese,” she quips. After months of self-denial, Smith went back to indulging in her verboten substances, albeit in smaller quantities. Regrettably, her critique of her own drumming—“I blow endings all the time”—also applies to this memoir, which starts strong but loses rhythm and purpose as it progresses. Even at a brief 200 pages, the chapters begin to feel thin and repetitive, and the concluding section about Smith’s music career fails to satisfyingly wrap things up. This comes up short. Agent: Jenni Ferrari-Adler, Union Literary. (Sept.)