Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines [Paperback]

Nic Sheff (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 6, 2009

This New York Times bestselling memoir of a young man’s addiction to methamphetamine tells a raw, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful tale of the road from relapse to recovery and complements his father’s parallel memoir, Beautiful Boy.

Nic Sheff was drunk for the first time at age eleven. In the years that followed, he would regularly smoke pot, do cocaine and Ecstasy, and develop addictions to crystal meth and heroin. Even so, he felt like he would always be able to quit and put his life together whenever he needed to. It took a violent relapse one summer in California to convince him otherwise. In a voice that is raw and honest, Nic spares no detail in telling us the compelling, heartbreaking, and true story of his relapse and the road to recovery. As we watch Nic plunge the mental and physical depths of drug addiction, he paints a picture for us of a person at odds with his past, with his family, with his substances, and with himself. It's a harrowing portrait—but not one without hope.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sheff relates his personal struggle with drugs and alcohol in this poignant and often disturbing memoir. Paul Michael Garcia is the perfect choice for narrator; his stern and entirely believable voice captures the desolation in Sheff's tale. His reading is wonderfully underplayed, and necessarily so. Garcia becomes Sheff, offering a gritty and raw performance that demonstrates just how dire the circumstances surrounding Sheff's existence really were. A Ginee Seo Books hardcover. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Review

"Nic Sheff's wrenching tale is told with electrifying honesty and insight." -- Armistead Maupin, author of The Night Listener and Michael Tolliver Lives

"Difficult to read and impossible to put down." -- Chicago Tribune

"Tweak is...Bukowski and Burroughs, the heart to his dad's head -- and the kid can write." -- Seattle Weekly

"An unflinching chronicle of life as an addict." -- U.S. News & World Report

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (January 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416972196
• ISBN-13: 978-1416972198
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (263 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #2 in Books > Teens > Health, Mind & Body > Drug & Alcohol Abuse
  • #34 in Books > Teens > Social Issues

More About the Author

Nic Sheff is a recovering drug addict and alcoholic. Still in his early twenties, he continues to fight daily battles with his addictions. His writing has been published in Newsweek, Nerve, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Tweak is his first book.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

175 of 188 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Journey Into Addiction, Good Sequel to "Beautiful Boy" February 25, 2008

By O. Brown HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

****
This book is much easier to understand if you read the author's father's book, also recently published, called "Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Meth Addiction" by David Sheff. By reading his father's account of the same time, you understand from a parent's perspective just what is going on with Nic Sheff. You understand how brilliant and talented Nic is (he will not tell you this in his book) and you understand what this novel explores---his descent into methamphetamine addiction, how he lived for many years, how he squandered his potential by avoiding dealing with life, and the consequences in his life and in the lives of those he loves. Once you know more about who the young author is, you can appreciate his book so very, very much more.

The author is honest and transparent about the life he has lived as an addict, and the book is worth reading for this alone. Not many of us who haven't been through it can imagine what an average day is like for a meth addict, and this book shows us that. The insight this book truly gives you is what goes on inside an addict's mind, and how an addict views life and circumstances---very differently from a non-addict. Many of the terms may be confusing to those of us unfamiliar with drug culture (for example, "tweak", "rig", "push off") but again, they are explained in his father's book "Beautiful Boy".

So, read "Beautiful Boy" first from the parental perspective---don't miss it---and then, if you are still intrigued, as I was, follow up with "Tweak" and venture more deeply into the mind and life of the addict---who eventually becomes a likable person to the reader, not just an intensely selfish and initially totally unlikable addict. The author is courageous in sharing his life so openly in this book. I think it will make an impression upon you and leave you with a read you will not soon forget.

Recommended, especially after reading the "prequel".
****

89 of 96 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Go Into That Closet! March 9, 2008

By Kevin Autrey

Format:Hardcover

First off, I should say that I'm not one of those "I read it cover to cover in one day" kind of readers. I hear people say "I couldn't put it down" when describing a book and wonder what kind of life - obviously devoid of things needing to be DONE - they live.

That said, I read "Tweak" - cover to cover - in one day. I couldn't put it down.

I've had friends addicted to meth. I know that meth's grip is insidious and tenacious - that the predictable and almost-methodical way it destroys everything in a person's life is almost viral in nature. But seeing this "inside look" at how a meth addict perceives his addiction, his drug, his life, and the destruction of everything perceived as valuable - occurring right before his eyes... it's a compelling, haunting narrative.

The most striking thing for me in Nic's story is how at the very bottom - when virtually all is lost - the only thing that remains is the most sober of thoughts: "it's time to get clean". And at a time and in a condition where no hidden reservoirs of strength remain, the fight of a lifetime begins.

Watching Nic's recovery is like watching the heroine in a horror flick walk (usually backwards... go figure) into a closet where the slasher villain is lying in wait to kill her. You recognize the villain and the precariousness of the situation long before Nic does - and you're screaming "don't go in there" - because by this point, you see how far he's come and you're rooting for him to make it and you see the disaster about to happen. It's interesting that Nic's father (who also writes "the parent's perspective" of his son's addiction in Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Meth Addiction) is involved in the production of horror movies, because his story has so many elements of a great horror movie.

There are many heroes in this story aside from Nic - his family and his sponsor (Spencer) chief among them. To open yourself up to participating - emotionally investing - in a life with someone who repeatedly has shredded all sense of normalcy, safety and comfort - that takes a healthy dose of courage, perseverance, and love. Those are the hallmarks of every great hero, and his father, step-mother, mother, sponsor (and his wife) bear all of these hallmarks.

Read this book to reaffirm your faith in the strength of the human spirit - its dogged determination to survive, its desire to thrive and its capacity to forgive. Give this book to the young people in your life to instill an honest, powerful image of how drugs can destroy a life and inflict pain and sadness on everyone connected to that life.

But be prepared to lose a day, because you're not going to want to put it down.

56 of 59 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting glimpse into the mind of an addict March 20, 2008

By Huntie

Format:Hardcover

I bought this book after finishing "Beautiful Boy" by David Sheff, mainly because it's pretty rare to get to read both sides of an addiction story. I found this book to be somewhat manic in its retelling of events (expected), raw in its content (appreciated), and very, very candid. What I liked best about this book was how there was no sugar-coating. Nic Sheff wrote about his experiences and didn't hold back a thing, and I think this was what made this book so good. It's rare that we get a firsthand idea of what it's really like for an addict in the throes of needing to feed their demons but also trying to get rid of their demons, and getting this inside view really made me start to view addicts with a lot more compassion than I maybe would have prior to reading this book. As with David Sheff's book, I found myself rooting for Nic, rooting for his family and friends, and I really hope that Nic continues on his path of sobriety because I think he has more to offer people than even he realizes.