Book Review: Tweak by Nic Sheff

I read David Sheff‘s book Beautiful Boy about living through his son’s Meth addiction and throughout the read, I realized that it would be great to read the son’s perspective, so I picked up a copy of Tweak by Nic Sheff.

Beautiful Boy was an incredible raw book of a parent’s journey through a child’s addiction, but I wasn’t at all prepared for the mental picture that accompanied the writings of the Nic Sheff.  There is a raw, sort of, unedited perspective that is written with the mindset that the end result will be death, not life.

Tweak picks up about half way through Nic’s meth addiction – after he finds himself cut off from his parents financially, turning tricks to make ends meet so that he can score his next round of blow.  He talks about doing drugs that range from marijuana to meth (his drug of choice) to heroine.  Not only does he have an addiction to drugs, he also has an addiction to alcohol and sex.  This book is written from the perspective of an early 20-something that seems to only care about his needs.

Much like Beautiful Boy, he highlights parts of his life that uses a day format.  He talks about his stints in sobriety, some lasting as long as 18 months before the pull and allure of the drugs drag him deeper and deeper into his addiction.  He lies, cheats, steals and leaves one of his girlfriends at a market for four hours while he goes to steal something from his mother’s house and then subsequently collapses in her garage.

The vividness of his account is extraordinary.  When he goes into a building to score more drugs, you can feel the emotions he felt – your heart rate increases when uncertainty surrounds.  This book is much more raw and unfiltering of his experiences then Beautiful Boy.  This book takes you deep inside his thoughts, his actions, the words that flow from his mouth in a series of explictives.  His candor in sharing these experiences is inviting, but you should be prepared for the experience.

I recommend this book, but I recommend you read Beautiful Boy first and then Tweak, as you will be able to understand the sequence much better this way.  The Today Show did an interview with Nic and David discussing their books and experiences. To date, Nic has been sober for about two years.  That is exciting to hear. Nic was sober for nearly two years before relapsing about five months ago on prescription drugs, and has been sober since.