Customer Reviews
Half of a Whole 
2008-04-30
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.
Very readable! 
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.
Less Helpful Then Frey's "A Million Little Pieces" 
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.
Bravo! 2008-04-24
This is an extremely well-written and engaging memoir of a drug-addicted boy. I read this in conjuction with "Beautiful Boy" written by the father of said boy and while I enjoyed them both, "Tweak" kept me up nights reading until I finished the book. Nic Sheff really lets the reader inside his head and brings us along on the devastating ride of addiction, and the difficult road of recovery. Read them both!
Great Insight into an addict. 2008-04-24
I was pleased with the book, Nic Sheff is very honest about the reality of drug use. It seems like he writes like how he talks.
Good stuff 2008-05-11
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.
Tweak 2008-05-11
I enjoyed this book. At times I was reading in horror at the devistation that was happening to this young man. i am a mother who lost her son to drugs and I felt that this book really gave me another view of the disease. Thank you Nick for this insite into what was going on in my sons life. I now have a better understanding.
Recommend 2008-05-06
The book helped me to learn more about the thinking of a hardcore addict. I learned a couple of things that my son hadn't already taught me -- the hard way. I liked Nic's open, honest, and direct style. What also makes for interesting reading is that Nic has identified some of his demons. The reader can identify a few more.
Excellent recommendation for addiction by Jeremy 2008-05-06
This is a great book for anyone battling addictions or methamphetamines. It is a sad but compelling book about the downward spiral about methamphetamines use at an early age and the consequences of heavy use up until adulthood. I can't argue with the author's point at all.
Companion book to "Beautiful Boy" is just as devastating 
2008-05-03
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.
