Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines
by Nic Sheff
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Book Reviews of Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines
Book Review: Companion book to "Beautiful Boy" is just as devastating
Summary: 4 Stars
I read David Sheff's "Beautiful Boy" a couple of weeks ago, and I couldn't wait to read this companion book, written by David's son Nic, to see what Nic's take was on the whole thing.
"Tweak: Growing Up On Methamphetamines" (325 pages) brings the memoir of Nic Sheff, on what it was (is?) like growing up being a drug addict. The book is not written in a straight chronological order. Instead, it jumps in at a point where Nick gets kicked out of his family's home and the first third or so of the book retells the next two weeks as Nic descends into deeper and deeper hell and drug addiction. Nic spares no details, and this is not for the faint of hearts. The rest of the book chronicles the following 2 years or so, and it is an endless up and down. When you read it, you simply wonder why anyone would want to go or live through this, again and again? Nic expresses remorse and sorrow, and towards the end of the book it appears that he has finally turned the corner. I was almost going to say "turned the corner, once and for all". But that surely would be an exaggeration. One simply can't ever know. For all we know, Nic has fallen off the band wagon again as I write this (although I can only pray for Nic and for his family and loved ones that this is not the case).
"Tweak" is not the first book that dives into the genre of drug-addiction survivor memoir, but it is well written, and a page-turner. Quite frankly, I couldn't put the book down, even thougb I've never been in that kind of situation (or maybe because of it). The amount of details that Nic is able to recall and describe on what he went through, despite his addictions, is simply amazing. And "Tweak" definitely does a tremendous job as a warning for anyone who even might be tempted in the slightest. In all, both David Sheff's "Beautiful Boy" and Nic Sheff's "Tweak" are highly recommended, and if possible should both be read.
Book Review: Half of a Whole
Summary: 5 Stars
Yes I read Beautiful Boy first, but I am a grown up. Read them in any order, but they belong together. While Tweak takes you up and down and through a small part of the landscape (over and over and over) in gritty detail, Beautiful Boy gives you a birds eye view and a global sense of where in space, time and emotion this is all happening.
That said, I have to admit that this was the most Terrible and Awesome (in the archaic sense of the words) pair of books I have ever read. They caused me great pain, but also gave me great insight, and for that I am very thankful to both authors... and I will say what I said on the Beautiful Boy review:
Nic was seeking a sense of wholeness and a sense of peace. He wanted to be a person who exemplified something he could not quite figure out, and he wanted to stop feeling pain. He used drugs as a short cut to get to this place. And as a result he lost everything. Yet when he did the hard work to find out that he was in fact a whole person all with in himself, and he could reach with in and experience his own peace, the need for drugs slept.
When you stumble across the answer to a question you never asked, the knowledge may pass you by, or at worst strike you as odd. But when you gain the answer you seek (here finding a sense of a whole person or a sense of bliss and peace) by cheating, or a short cut (in this case drugs), the result can destroy you. You always sacrifice something for knowledge (time, opportunity to do or know something else, etc). But when you choose the sacrifice and go through the struggle for understanding, in the end you gain, learn and grow. If you jump ahead to the end, you no longer get to choose what you are going to give up, the price is higher, and you gain nothing from the glimpse you gain of the answer.
Book Review: Somewhat slow and boring
Summary: 3 Stars
I usually do not read this kind of book. I'm a psycho thriller fanatic, but my 16 year old son and his friends were talking about it, so...
I pray Nic is doing ok now, but the thrill seeker in me wanted family secrets, juicy details and vivid descriptions. I felt guilty for indulging in his life and for wanting more sordid stories when he was using. The mom in me is left wanting some answers (guess i'll read beautiful boy next).
I found the way he captured his mood swings and craziness very interesting - almost funny, but the book was just ok to me. It's not exactly a page turner, in fact I skipped a few. I had to put it down several times due to boredom.
I get that he has this self deprecating thing going on and I even understand why he detached himself. Unfortunately, by doing that he didn't draw me in. I was pretty indifferent throughout his story and never felt any sympathy, concern or connection while reading this book. Plus, I hate it when people reference celebrities but refuse to inform us who they're talking about (or even give a good clue to figure it out).
I'm the child of heroin addicts and the sister of a crack addict, so I appreciate Nic not playing the world's smallest violin. He seems to be a good, honest, decent kid - what happended? I just expected more from this story, which I'm disappointed to say I didn't get. I have no insight into that life and no idea what to do with the images now sketched in my mind (mostly due to my own imagination) from such an existence.
I sincerely pray he's still sober.
Book Review: Great supplement to Beautiful Boy
Summary: 4 Stars
I read Beautiful Boy by Nic Sheff's father like a "How not to have your kid end up on meth" manual. When I finished I wanted to read Nic's version to see if he shared his father's stance on how he got involved with drugs and what might have helped him keep off drugs and what eventually helped him stay off of them. Of course neither of these books really provide an answer to all of those questions but they do shed some light on the insights of these two men. I found them both interesting to read, gut wrenching at times, and both of them at some point brought me to tears. Tweak, in particular, left me crying at the end when Nic and his parents were in therapy together. It was so touching to read about the pain that all of them had felt, and that they were still able to hold out some hope after all they had been through. I recommend both of the books, and like other reviewers, thought that it was best (as a parent, perhaps) that I had read Beautiful Boy first. Nic's book is more raw and detailed about the actual drug use, so it is not for the faint of heart, but I found his honesty in self-analysis to be compelling. I would and have recommended Tweak to others and it has stayed on my mind long after reading it - a sure sign of a book worth reading.Book Review: Very readable!
Summary: 3 Stars
This book was compulsively readable. It was fascinating to peek into the addicts' world of desperation to do anything to get the next fix. Nic Sheff's life on the street was quite harrowing and depressing. One review stated that Nic makes one bad choice after another. This surely is an unfair assessment because when you're high, you cannot make sound decisions most of the time.
Through out the whole book, I kept asking myself, "Where the hell are the parents?" For example, Lauren's parents were (as they were portrayed to me) rather passive about her drug problem. Nic's parents almost gave up on him. I am sure that it's emotionally, psychologically, and financially draining for some parents to go through with their addict children; however, in this book I did not see a lot of determination or perseverance from the parents. Yes, I need to read Nic's father's book - A Beautiful Boy.
Some of the details were very vivid for a drug addict to remember. Funny how memory works! Or perhaps I am too paranoid with the wave of pseudo-memoirs (James Frey, Augustine Burrough, Margaret B. Jones, etc.), and I am a tad leery of some of the details that seem to be forced.
Overall, it was a fast and fascinating read.