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Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines By Nic Sheff ( Ginee Seo Books )
Release Date: 2008-02-19
Average Customer Rating:
List Price: $16.99
Price: $11.55
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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.
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A great first novel!
Sheff has created a one of a kind dark memoir of his own life. The book starts off like any drug affiliated book: dark, despair and pain. Drug addiction can be a life-long struggle, Sheff has illustrated the horrors of addiction. Like any addiction, it's only fun for a season but this particular book takes you through a decade of use and sorrow. The only draw-back is the conclusion has not yet been written, which gives this reader hope that Sheff has come to terms with his past. A must read for anyone in the struggle of addiction.
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 great book ( nelharake )
This is one of a kind book. It is the kind where you really cannot read too long , but you cannot stay away from reading too long either.
It shows you the scary reality of our young generation who can easily get hooked to bad lifestyle and refuses to know how or when to get out of it. It is an amazing book
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terrific
this book was honest and heartbreaking. A true account into all the complications of addiction.
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Great inside view into the life of addiction!
I don't know of anybody that has battled with addiction so I got this book to help my understand. I heard about it on a local radio station when the author stopped in for a visit. This book really gives you an ides of what a person might do to feel their additions...It's unbelieveable but the author survived it all! Great read!
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3.5 Stars ( sara99708 )
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.
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