Growgirl
By Heather Donahue
Gotham Books
Heather Donahue has come a long way since she starred in The Blair Witch Project—and that’s something she wants readers of her memoir, Growgirl, to know. The 500-page volume details her exit from Hollywood and her extended foray into the medicalmarijuana-production business in Northern California. In addition to learning about “hippie chicken,” we get an education in how exactly one goes about legally growing pot, how the prescription process works, indoor vs. outdoor, and more. Donahue is determined to be as independent as possible, yet she must rely on her ex and “the community” for tips on protocol, scrips, and more to make sure “the girls” (the term for the female plants she’s housing) flourish. While her filmmaking days make random appearances, there is nothing Hollywood about this book. Donahue’s prose reads like someone either stoned or extremely mellow and loose with language has written it—and at times it could’ve used a bit of trimming, like her plants. Still, her run-ins with men, the law, and her own neuroses laid bare against a flowery tapestry of stoners and weed farmers make for entertaining reading.
