World Famous Comics: Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines
Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines
By: Nic Sheff Publisher: Ginee Seo Books Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Ginee Seo Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 336 Publication Date: February 19, 2008 Reading Level: Young Adult
Product Description: 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.
It had potential but poorly written 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.
Eye opening and frightening I ordered this book along with the father's when I saw them on Oprah. I have shared them with my son who is only 21 and has been in prison for almost 2 yrs because of drug addiction. Because of these books he has opened up and we can honestly talk about how to set goals to stay clean once he is released. Just like the book sometimes you find out things that you can never imagine your precious child has gone through to get that high.
What a selfish author 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.
Honest and Hopeful This book was so honest and left me with hope. I thought he was a strong writer and I can not wait for his next work.
Fascinating trip down a very dark street I read this book after reading "Beautiful Boy" and was eager to see what the other side of the story looked like. What Nic was experiencing was even more dreadful than his father imagined. Unlike other reviewers, I think Nic offers some insights, maybe tentative ones, into why he becomes an addict. As a former high school teacher and the teacher of a college class in young adult literature, I have to comment on the publication of this book by a young readers press. The book if legitimately and accurately full of drugs, sex, and very graphic language. I would suggest that school librarians be especially cautious before shelving this title. I defend the right of students to read this book and I think a lot will find this book interesting, but I am not sure it is written for them. I agree with other reviewers that the liveliest writing is in the drug use section. What more mature readers may see as appaling, younger readers might view as intriguing and inviting. As others have noted, Nic does seem to come out all right in the end. It may be a real challenge to make rehab as interesting as life on the street. I think this book would provide one valuable perspective for anyone who has to deal with those who are in the grips of addiction.
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