Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines Reviews

• Journey Into Addiction, Good Sequel to "Beautiful Boy"

  
  By A1YUL9PCJR3JTY on 2008-02-25
  ****
  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".
  ****
  
  
  

• Don't Go Into That Closet!

  
  By A3UY3N2T8WOBBE on 2008-03-09
  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.
  
  
  

• Could be a good book -- but is so disjointed that it is impossible to follow.

  
  By A15MYET6JJS2F on 2008-02-21
  This is a frustrating book -- it has elements of a good book within it. However, the narrative is so disjointed and poorly constructed that it is difficult to tell if the book is supposed to be non-linear or just a poorly-done linear storyline. Perhaps the author was attempting to replicate the hyperactive mind of someone on methamphetamine. Whatever the reason, the story was so hard to follow that it took a force of effort for me to read past the first ten pages.
  
  The book resembles "A Million Little Pieces" in that it is a mix of novel and memoir providing a raw account about a young twenty-something year old man abusing drugs, while selling both drugs and his body as a male prostitute, and generally acting like a despicable person to line up his next dose of methamphetamines and other drugs. Oh and the protagonist's name is the same as the author's name.
  
  There are some glimmers of a fascinating book in here. The prose is straightforward (even if there are far too many confusing flashbacks). Too bad the glimmers are buried in a book that was crying out for a solid editor.
  
  
  
  
  

• Tweak

  
  By A3J4I4F4FWT5BC on 2008-02-06
  This book was wonderfully written, I was unable to put it down. The author, with all honesty, graphically takes you through the stages of addiction and exposes himself and his struggle to lead a sober life. I wish him the best in his sober life and hope that this book helps others, as much as it helped me, to understand the darkness of addiction.
  
  

• Interesting glimpse into the mind of an addict

  
  By A11VIF6J1S04C1 on 2008-03-20
  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.
  
  
• Not A Victim, Not A Hero, Just A Man...
  By A1E9QU27DMFRGS on 2008-04-13
  A few weeks ago, I purchased both Nic Sheff's memoir "Tweak (Growing Up on Methamphetamines)" and his father's counterpoint "Beautiful Boy (A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction)." I set them both aside, going back and forth in my mind about with which one I should start first, but ultimately I put off reading them both until a day I could read them back-to-back, uninterrupted, and just immerse myself in the Sheff family's world. I expected to be a bit biased toward Nic's telling of events, but I never in a million years could have imagined just how much I would find myself nodding along and connecting to the very internal issues that lead to and continue to feed his addiction.
  
  Nic Sheff spent much of his young life hanging out with his writer-father at gallery openings, dinner parties, and VIP events; he spent more time with adults than he did children his own age and therefore was in a rush to grow up, but however he tried to emulate said adults on the outside, on the inside he was trapping himself in a perpetual state of adolescence that would come to haunt him in his later years. Nic's parents divorced when he was young, and both subsequently remarried. His father went on to have two more children, whereas his mother would just have constant fights with her new husband-- fights that got so loud Nic would run into the tv room and blast an old movie, to drown out the sounds of the screams and yelling. By the time we actually meet Nic, he has already been in and out of rehab, though (all of the aforementioned and more comes out as exposition to fill in the holes later in the story), and he is on his way to San Francisco to partake in yet another bender. This time he ends up dealing, too.
  
  Nic describes his descent into drugs with enough detail to make his readers cringe (like when he describes the abscess he develops on his arm due to a dirty needle), but he is never gratuitously graphic. Nic is never preachy, in order to attempt to scare kids off trying drugs, but he doesn't glamorize them either, even when he talks about the famous people (all names have been changed) he meets during such exploits. Instead, he merely lays out the facts of who he was and what he did, and in reality, he could be any one of his readers speaking. While the people he met along his journey and the way in which he started taking his drugs and then spiraled, got sober, and relapsed (lather, rinse, repeat) are specific to him, the mentality with which he approaches his addiction and his life with it is universal. The feelings of alienation, inadequacy, and general discontent could be ripped from the pages of any teenager's diary. He describes his struggles with his appearance, with coming from a tumultuous home life, his obsessive need to put himself in competition with others, and even his misguided belief his mortality could never be tested (in that "it could never happen to be me" oh-so-common way) with refreshing frankness, as if he can look back now and see it was all just an obsession. And it is in that obsession that he is most vulnerable but also ironically most accessible because we can all share in and relate to that personality trait; it is just more severe for some than others. And without naivety, denial, or just bold-faced lying, there is no one who can say he or she does not obsess over something, and if you think you can, then that notion will be more detrimental than crystal meth.
  
  Nic talks a lot about his outlets: he always had drawing, writing, an interest in movies, his younger brother and sister; hell, he was even on the swim team! But all of that took a backseat to his addiction-- and not just to narcotics. "Tweak" looks at a few of Nic's close relationships-- from his AA sponsor whom he treats as a surrogate father to a woman with whom he had an affair and still carries a torch-- and in each one, Nic attaches himself quickly and spends all of his time with that person. That kind of dependence is an addiction within itself; he feeds off the other person's energy and spirit for the same high he gets from his drugs, and it often blinds him from the person's flaws or problems. He held that woman on such a high pedestal he couldn't even tell she started using again, even though as an addict the signs were all right in front of him (I use the past tense because I hope he has put her and his old life behind him now and for good, but only time will be the real test).
  
  Nic is a beautifully poetic writer, and the honesty with which he opens his life and his soul to strangers in "Tweak" speaks volumes for him as an artist. He doesn't ask for pity or even empathy; he just writes from the heart. And he may always feel a little lost-- he may always feel a little on the outside of things-- but looking through history, most true artists did. What makes them channel their energy and passion into a form like writing or painting is often the feelings of not fitting in with those around them. Instead of diving down a rabbit hole of despair and trying to make the wrong kinds of people like him (as he has already tried and which were neither particularly successful or healthy), Nic has his stories, and in the end, that's all he needs as salvation.
  
  
• Stunning, beautiful, sad, and ultimately healing
  By AVFLT65F2CVXZ on 2008-02-26
  I just finished this-- couldn't put it down once I started. I went through every emotion you can imagine. Believe it or not, some of the story is really funny -- I laughed aloud -- but I also cried. THere were entire sections during which I didn't breath. And finally I felt something you don't always feel in books about this subject: genuine, pure, true hope.
  
  
• It had potential but poorly written
  By AC0RCLETAF7CJ on 2008-07-23
  For someone that repeatedly proclaims his writing expertise I was very disappointed with this book. It is a rambling, self-centered pity party. I read "Beautiful Boy" and thought that it was an excellent book that successfully portrayed the horrible struggle that parents have when their children start using drugs - the out of control aspect, the helplessness, the grief - this book really showed them all.
  
  I thought that having a second book written by the son telling his side of the tale was an interesting idea, and I bought it because I was very curious to hear what Nic had to say about the same events. Compare how the father was seeing the downfall while Nic was actually experiencing it.
  
  "Tweak", however, falls flat. I didn't come away with it with any better understanding of why a child of privilege would throw everything away on meth. There were no insights. I didn't even think it was very interesting, and I certainly didn't think it was well written.
  
  Honestly, I think if there had been an editor for this book that actually made the writer refine his work it would have been a better story. Everything about the book just seemed so even handed. There were no ups or downs, no rush or climax, it was all just the same monotone voice. As it is I think there are much better books out there that deal with personal addiction. Nic didn't reach me. He didn't make me care. If anything I came away with the feeling that he was spoiled and selfish, not sympathetic towards his addiction at all or with any new understanding about addiction. Nothing new here.
  
  Let me save you $10. Nic does drugs because he likes them. He complains about his parents divorce and how he was abandoned. He complains about his father and that he was raised more like an adult and didn't have a childhood. Then he praises his father for his parenting skills and his wonderful childhood. He can't find God. He thinks he found God. No, he can't find God. He sobers up. He relapses. He sobers up. He relapses. He is diagnosed Bipolar. Things make sense. He stops taking his meds and relapses. He has sex a lot. He hustles. He steals. He shoots up. He falls down. He shoots up some more. Complains about parents. Praises parents. Lather, rinse, repeat.
  
  I'll keep "Beautiful Boy" but "Tweak" goes in the Salvation Army giveaway pile.
  
  
• nothing new here
  By A90KPDJ5O2EMI on 2008-04-04
  A co-worker lent me this book; I had seen both Nic and his father on a morning talk show so I was familiar with their story. I applaud Nic's efforts to stay sober and make sense of his journey through this trauma, but found the writing and insights pedestrian, offering nothing new to justify its publication. I am more interested now in reading Beautiful Boy, the father's book for a more compelling treatment.
  
  
• Weak and Pathetic!
  By A22RY8N8CNDF3A on 2008-04-12
  This is the companion volume to David Sheff's "Beautiful Boy" - the story of Nic's addiction to drugs from a father's point of view.
  
  "Tweak" tells Nic Sheff's four-year+ story of digging through trash cans, gay sex, stealing from relatives, friends, and fellow students, finding himself in E.R.s and dingy, trash, and vermin-infested rooms, working with a father-son dealer pair - over and over and over, in pursuit of drug highs. All this while rejecting loving parents and a privileged lifestyle, bouncing out of two respected colleges, and ruining his life, as well as those of his parents.
  
  Nic accepts no responsibility for his actions, no great commitment to break from drugs - in fact he ends up in the drug underworld everywhere he goes, including Paris, and little regret for the pain he causes others. The book is endlessly repetitive - non-stop drug binges, and offers no lessons for others.
  
  Nic ends up in Savannah, continuing to live off others while hopefully putting his life back together "working" as an art model. I wouldn't bet a dime on his success, though, of course, I do hope he succeeds.
  
  
• Courtesy of Teens Read Too
  By A2TX179XAT5GRP on 2008-04-09
  Methamphetamine use, commonly known on the street as crystal, tweak, the New Prozac, and crank, has become a growing problem in the U.S. in the last several years. From what I have read, there is no worse drug addiction than crystal meth. It not only affects the person using but the personal relationships they have, as well. It is not just my humble opinion when I tell you that these drugs have the power to kill or cause great harm. A great example would be Nic Sheff, the author of TWEAK. At an early age, just a babe himself, Nick had his first taste of drugs and alcohol. Drug use escalated in Nic's case - he went from just smoking pot to abusing cocaine, heroin, and crystal meth. For over a decade, on and off, Nic used drugs. The book opens up with a bang - Nic relapsing after 18 months of being clean and sober.
  
  You can call TWEAK a young adult book if you like, since Nic is a young adult, just in his twenties, but in actuality it is a book that will appeal to any age level, young and old alike. Teens will definitely gravitate to Nic's story because of the fact that it is someone about their age using drugs, and they can relate to it (maybe not completely but on some level). The general public may find it of interest, because it will give them an insight into the mind of an addict. Perhaps a reader may find comfort in this story, knowing that he is not alone.
  
  It occurred to me as I was reading TWEAK that the book was like a cleanser for Nic; a way to cleanse his soul. Writing TWEAK couldn't have been easy for him, as Nic had to relive everything he did and put it down on paper. Some of what I read admittedly shocked me. I can't imagine what goes inside an addict's mind. The book was so honest; at times I ached for him. Other times I wanted to strangle him for what he was doing to himself and his family. I hate to say that I didn't think his clean and sober status was going to last very long. It was as if it was too good to be true. At the end of the book, we learn that Nic is now clean and dealing with his demons on an everyday basis. I expect that this is not going to be an easy road for him or for his family.
  
  Everybody participates in addictive behavior in some way or another. Some people believe that people get involved in addictive behaviors because they are reckless, self-absorbed, and have no self-control. For the most part, I stand in the camp that believes that drug and alcohol addictions are diseases. You may choose to get treatment, but once an addict always an addict. Nic is never going to escape the addict label even if he does remain clean the rest of his life.
  
  Nic's father, David Sheff, also has written a book about meth addiction. Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Meth Addiction looks at Nic's addiction through the eyes of a parent. Mary Pipher, a psychologist and the renowned author of the book Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls, says on the jacket of David Sheff's book: "When one of us tells the truth, he makes it easier for all of us to open our hearts to our pain and that of others." Good reason to read Nic's book and his father's. Pick up your copies today.
  
  Reviewed by: coollibrarianchick
  
  
• tragic and moving
  By A2MVEONCFOTJKV on 2008-03-02
  i bought this book on a whim, and i have to say it moved me. i felt nicks pain, having been there myself more than 10 years ago, i understood his "disjointness" completely. utterly. it made me cry at the end, and i pray he keeps fighting for himself and his sobriety. it weird to have gone through it, and then read someone elses accounts, it seems so bad, and then "oh, i did that." ripped my heart out. i will hold onto this one for my own kids to read.
  i am really interested now in reading his fathers book, interesting to see all of this through the eyes of a parent. good read.
  
  
• What a selfish author
  By A3LB0L3CL24CJR on 2008-07-14
  OK, I read it (groan). He painted some lovely characters but didn't resolve them, I was left thinking it was all about him, and I gather meth recovery is selfish(from his book).
  I only wish he would go back to college, study modern history and sociology, and really learn how to write. I feel a bit ripped off for buying and reading the book, I was not enlightened at all, nor did I warm to him. I am lying awake still thinking it was a huge name dropping exercise ... "Mum and Dad were journalists, I was so talented, I went to Europe, I was so smart I got into the best colleges blah blah blah and then I screwed myself up". There was no backdrop to any of it, he doesn't even seem to realise that people his age going off to war because they haven't had the opportunities he had and know no better ... when he does feel out of touch with the world he needs to hook up with movie reviews... WHAT!? I am bored with his empty sexual prowess. Then he wept on the beach in Hawaii... (admitted to having a prozac moment). There is a much bigger world than his introspective journey. I sound bitter, but I found the book really narrow and stunted.
  
  
• insight into daughter's addiction
  By A4GI03VTVLXIL on 2008-03-16
  Excellent book, very well-written. It provided much insight into my daughter's recovering addiction, and I greatly appreciate the honesty. Some questions I could not ask were answered in the book. It is very graphic, however, be fore-warned; but it is worth reading.
  
  
• The burden of bipolar
  By A2TOPNOYV52Q8K on 2008-04-04
  I thought I'd never make it through the first half of this book, an endless iteration of 'we bought some meth, we shot it up, we walked around, we slept, then we bought some meth.' Having read parts of his dad's book, I could not foot this meth-using, dull automaton with the bright and beautiful son.
  
  The insights, however, revealed in the last half of the book as to why such a bright young man would choose this life were worth the hours spent wandering with him through the streets of San Francisco. What a tragedy that the loving parents, the psychologists, the teachers in Nic's life missed the dark side of his wildly creative and brilliant mind. What a lesson for other parents, health care professionals, and those who swing between the manic highs and gut-punching lows of bipolar illness. Thanks to Nic for sharing the intimate details of his journey so that others might understand their own.
  
  
• Excellent, honest, authentic
  By A3HJY0RCR4JRYX on 2008-04-06
  I have never written a review, but feel compelled to after finishing this book. I read it all day and was surprised to see I finished it in such a short time. I think that this is a beautifully written book that is honest, raw and authentic. I am so moved by the vulnerablity and strength that Nic Sheff has and how it translated to paper. I am really amazed and highly recommend this book to anyone even remotely interested in addiction. I cried when reading this book because of Nic's writing and descriptions. This book will have a special place on my shelf. Thank you, Nic.
  
  
• Disappointing
  By A231DIA1Y9U6NR on 2008-04-16
  About: Nic Sheff writes a first-person account of his drug addiction that was seen through his father's eyes in David Sheff's Beautiful Boy.
  
  Pros: It's engaging to read about a guy who makes poor decision after poor decision.
  
  Cons: He says he is competitive with his dad, but in comparing their books, Nic pales in comparison to his father. The writing is unspectacular with a rapid fire pace. The sheer amount of people introduced early on is confusing and overwhelming. A therapist notes that Nic seems detached from his experience and the book feels as if is written in the same way. Sheff will mention something (such as a large arm infection he gets) and will never mention it again. This book was a major letdown after reading his father's account.
  
  
  
• Somewhat slow and boring
  By A2ZP4O5912BU9J on 2008-05-19
  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.
  
  
  
• Great Book!
  By A1PYJWP720IOXC on 2008-03-27
  I read "Beautiful Boy" prior to reading "Tweak" and thought that it brought everything full circle. This book gave an honest and (sometimes) horrific view of the cycle of addiction and the depths of depravity one could find themselves having to sink to; all in the name of the next high.
  
  I found myself cheering for him when he was clean and sober and cringing when I knew that the devil was knocking at his door (again).
  
  I think that he should be applauded for being so open and honest about who he is, what he's done, and how...because ultimately he is letting people into his life and opening himself up to judgement, criticism and scorn from others...all of which he has seemed to struggle with throughout his life but is still willing to confront head on for the sake of helping someone else.
  
  I also think that this book is a great lesson to parents everywhere to teach your children more about drug use and to listen and look for signs of loneliness, isolation and inadequacy. It seems as though Nic was crying out for help long before he got it.
  
  I loved this book for it's raw truth, and hope that he continues to build on loving himself first, now, and always.
  
  
• Indiana Mom
  By A38EWZPRQSVOM0 on 2008-03-31
  As the mother of a daughter four years into recovery from a crack addiction, I read "Beautiful Boy" first and identified so deeply with David Sheff's compulsion to save his son and his terror, grief and final acceptance that he couldn't. Been there, done that and he captured the experience perfectly. (And for you critics - my daughter was raised in a stable, middle-class home with her birth parents and attended church all her life. Addiction happens everywhere.)
  
  Then I read "Tweak" for Nic Sheff's perspective on his addiction and it was eye-opening. When it is your child, she becomes the entire focus of your world, trying to "fix" her. But for the addict, family is on the periphery of their existence. Maybe that isn't so profound an insight as it seems to me, but it was a lightbulb moment in the way I process the memories.
  
  Thanks to both David and Nic Sheff. I wish them only the best of lives going forward.
  
  
• Less Helpful Then Frey's "A Million Little Pieces"
  By A2F3TB019LU664 on 2008-04-25
  Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines While perhaps entertaining for the armchair voyeur, Tweak is inherently unhelpful to those suffering from addiction, or to their families and support systems. What Tweak does provide is insight as to how many millions of chemically dependent people are so poorly served by traditional group treatment programs; programs that all but ignore the physiological components of addiction and rely instead on folklore and punitive, authoritarian measures to address a complex problem. Perhaps one of the causes of long addiction term is addiction treatment itself.
  
  For those suburban armchair quarterbacks that "understand" urban issues by reading the newspaper, this may be an interesting tome. But the amateurish writing style proves the brilliant writing capabilities of James Frey who did a much better job of creating a pseudo-fictional insiders view of the life of an addict.
  
  
  
  
• Very readable!
  By A3U294ZE14VGAR on 2008-04-28
  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.
  
  
  
  
• 3.5 Stars
  By A3PYX71BOS84E9 on 2008-07-31
  I should preface this by saying my sister is a recovering Meth and Heroin Addict. The stark contrast between what is available for treatment when you have parents with money and insurance is astounding but not surprising. I would have killed to have the resources to get my sister into the types of treatment that Nic had access to. In the end, it may or may not have made any difference because addiction is one of the few personal journeys that one takes with everyone they love in the front seat powerless to alter the direction.
  
  Dealing with my sister's addiction and our addiction to her I truly believe that people will treat you as badly as you allow them and they will get away with what they can. I wonder if Nic always felt like he had a safety net knowing his parents had the insurance and financial means to afford his rehab once he had reached a bottom he was not comfortable with. Not saying this to minimize the complete and utter despondency that is synonymous with addiction but perhaps a different perspective when it comes to addiction and socioeconomic status.
  
  Tweak begins at a fast and engaging pace for about the first 100 or so pages. During the first of Nic's description of his sobriety the book begins to lag and become repetitive and I start to wish there was a "Name-Dropper Anonymous" that Nic could attend and breathed a sigh of relief when his treatment facility suggested he spend the time not focusing on who he knows. During some points of the book he describes his situation with brutal honesty and at other points he glosses over situations that would have added an extra layer of depth and understanding to the book.
  
  The lowest part of Nic's addiction appears to be at a point before his books started. I felt like to truly understand how low he had reached in his addiction it was important to read more about this period in his life as it affected him so greatly in the book and was only mentioned in an almost passing way. We read about the aftermath of his time as a prostitute but again the details of this time period were glossed over again lessening the impact of the book.
  
  I was surprised to see who Nic decided to dedicate his book to. Perhaps, I am jaded after reading "Beautiful Boy" and dealing with the utter despair that a family member feels when an addict in the family is knocking on death's door with an uncontrolled and desperate vigor and you tying to do anything to slow their nose dive into hell and realizing there is nothing you can do but watch. The choice of dedication also left me with the feeling that we were missing more pieces of the puzzle to Nic's story.
  
  I would absolutely recommend this book and his father's "Beautiful Boy" to anyone dealing with an addict in the family even with the books imperfections it is an insightful read and gives a sometimes powerful glimpse into the mind of addiction but also leaves a lot of unanswered holes and questions about Nic's life as an addict.
  
  
• Thank you for sharing, Nic
  By AIV9XURXAV3CS on 2008-03-13
  Incredible. Inspiring. Could not put down. Nic we can do this. You never have to live that way again. feelings won't kill you but the disease will keep feeling. Keep writing. You have a gift. like I tell my sponsee use it for GOOD. And keep passing it on it can save another addicts life.
  
  
• Tweak---Unbelievably An Eye Opener
  By A32MT0NRRMKYXG on 2008-04-09
  I commend the author Nic for his honesty and bravery in writing this book. It was so intense and terrifying. I caught myself being so thankful that my children did not get anywhere close to this point although they did do drugs. I was terrified for Nic. I couldn't believe he is alive today and hope to God he knows how fortunate he is to be alive. I guess in a way, it was to real. I hope it helps a lot of people. We don't understand addiction as we should and what comes with it on all sides. This book was an eye opener as was Nic's fathers book "Beautiful Boy". Both books should be read. Excellent, easily read, you can't put it down once you start it and just maybe it might save a life, who knows. Thank you Nic!
  
  
• Very intersting!
  By A2H8M2CA7425RX on 2008-04-09
  This is a fascinating novel written by a young man trying to survive a life of addiction. It starts suddenly and late, but gives enough flashbacks that by the end of it you are totally with him and wishing he could see the things you see. Very interesting. I have also read "Beautiful Boy," written by Nic's father, and I recommend that you read "Tweak" first, then "Beautiful Boy".
  
  
• dude
  By A2AAMI3F1VJVNO on 2008-04-13
  As soon as I opened this book I couldn't put it down. Brillantly written. I am so glad I bought it.
  
  
• Good stuff
  By A3RSN8MA4S6PBU on 2008-05-11
  My ex was addicted to Meth, and always said, "You'll never understand until you try it". This book allows me so see life through an addicts eyes, but not having to use the drug myself.
  
  
• Strikes a chord for its honesty
  By A2F6N60Z96CAJI on 2008-05-13
  Written with a first-person on-the-scene journalistic style that allows its author/protagonist an eerie degree of detachment, Nic Sheff's TWEAK is the dark counterpoint to BEAUTIFUL BOY, written by his father, David Sheff. The elder writer's grief-filled memoir glows dimly like a distant planet of despair, while the son's account of the same events burns like an angry Mars.
  
  Nic Sheff was an attractive, almost androgynous young man of great brilliance who felt empty and false inside until he began using methamphetamine. Then he became alive and whole. "It was like, I don't know, like everything else faded out." He changed from a youthful contender for the prizes of life --- a promising career as a writer, a hint of leadership, a quiet kindness that everyone noticed when he was a child --- to a street scavenger with no future at all.
  
  At many junctures in Nic's tale, the reader wonders how he stays alive another day and what motivates him to get up and keep his body barely functioning long enough to torture himself once again by injecting meth, heroin, crack, or whatever he could get into his collapsing veins. He comes close to losing one arm to a horrific infection that smelled of death. He nurses a girlfriend through an overdose, saving her life by having the good sense to dial 911 --- but he doesn't draw any parallels between what happened to her and what could have happened to him. He loses every good job he ever has. He steals from his father, mother, stepmother and all their friends. He even robs his kid brother. He prostitutes himself, hanging out on the brutal margins of the gay bar scene, enduring any degradation for the magical few minutes that a high affords him.
  
  Nic drifts downward, only occasionally straightening out under the vigilance of a treatment program. The book opens when he has just completed 18 sober months, and has a job and money in the bank. He runs into an old friend named Lauren and together they plunge headlong downhill, in a very short time using up every penny he has saved to feed their habit. He even gets "work" as a drug dealer, seeing it as a pretty easy gig. He winds up having a meal in a mission church he had volunteered at in grade school. "I know I felt sorry for them --- men and women wrapped in blankets on the hard concrete...I never in my life imagined being one of them."
  
  After Lauren comes Zelda, rumored to be the real-life Lala Zappa, niece of the rock innovator Frank Zappa. It emerges in later therapy that Nic gravitates towards famous people and that Zelda reminded him of his mother. Zelda (called "Z" in his father's book) is just the sort of self-destructive, sexually insatiable, untrammeled addict who could help Nic in his non-existent career as a writer, and drag him into a pit of madness, danger and death. That she both loved and controlled him is evidenced by the many vignettes of their shared daily doom. When, skeletal and starving, he passes out while helping her move furniture into a van so the two of them could have a yard sale of her memorabilia to feed their addictions, "I wake up to Zelda shooting me up with some coke." They sleep through the day of the yard sale.
  
  The exhausting cycle of rob, score, get high, rob, score, get high is finally broken when Nic gets caught breaking into his mother's place. His father gives him a choice: treatment or jail. He chooses treatment, and this time it works. Nic does not moralize or suggest that he has now chosen a better way of life. His simple statement, "Using just has no place in my life now and I can't see that ever changing," does not go very far, though it may strike a chord for its honesty. Maybe someone who has been as far down and as lost as Nic can't say more.
  
  Nic and David are close these days. They were always meant to be, but Nic's addiction took away a lot of years they could have shared. Nic is working on living quietly and becoming authentic and true to himself, while David is getting back to work as a writer. They have been involved in some publicity tours that allow them to highlight the drug problem in America. They're both more steady and clear. Maybe it's the relief of knowing that tomorrow will be a decent day, and the tomorrow after that.
  
  --- Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott
  
  
• mediocre self-fest
  By A1J2E7CBMOLNKX on 2008-05-16
  I read Beautiful Boy and was looking forward to reading Tweak. This book we quite disappointing. While there are a few moments of insight that held my attention, for the most part this is just a person sounding like "Boo Hoo" poor me, then boasting themselves. I was expecting more honestly and humility. Also the term, "You know?" was directed toward the reader and left hanging so often that the removal of this term alone might have shaved the space of a chapter from the book. All in all, I wouldn't recommend it.
  
  

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