Book Review: Loose Girl by Kerry Cohen

It seems that lately I have been in my biography & memoir reading/listening phase.  Recent memoir reads include Beautiful Boy, Tweak and Live Through This — each with its own unique twist on family & life, but one underlying tone is that they all involved divorced which led to some form of addiction.

Loose Girl by Kerry Cohen is not the exception to the above statement; however, it is sad tale of a life that was in search of one thing – LOVE – that seemed ever allusive, but drew her deeper into insecurity and doubt over what that really looked like.

Kerry tells the story of a girl that at age eleven was experimenting with experiences with boys that should best be left for marriage.  Sometimes you wonder why she is so open with her body, quickly opening herself up to be hurt, touched, groped and in some cases borderline raped.  As I listened to these experiences, I wondered why the rebellious streak that was so evident, really needed to be there.

She tells of her parents being divorced and how her father attached himself to each girlfriend with a longing to be with them, but shredding commitment.  Her father would also sit with her friends and smoke dope or drink with her and her friends – so much for the role model.

Her accounts of her mother were of abandonment, and a sister who was very reclusive and eventually who married and then divorced.  Alas, she comes to a realization point and begins to shun the idea of openly releasing her body to the first guy she sees at the bar.  She longs for a real relationship, one based on love that would span time.  Occasionally through her journey, she happened upon a longer relationship, but eventually would push them away for various reasons.  In the end, she did marry and settle down, but only after a long journey of giving herself away in many different ways.

This book was a fascinating listen and I wonder how many more girls are like Kerry, just wanting attention and love and seeking it in all the wrong places.  It is a rough and coarse book with vivid descriptions, in some cases, of her experiences.  I think it is a good read or listen because it can provide valuable insight into the ideology of girls that struggle with these issues.  Enjoy the read, it was worth picking it up.

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.