Tweak

Growing Up on Methamphetamines

By: Nic Sheff

Narrated by: Paul Michael Garcia

Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Nic Sheff was drunk for the first time at age 11. 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 writing 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 of a person at odds with his past, with his family, with his substances, and with himself.

You can also hear Nic's father's perspective in his memoir: Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey through His Son's Meth Addiction.

©2007 Nic Sheff (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Garcia delivers a strong and commanding reading that perfectly expresses the rawness of Sheff's most personal recollections….Endlessly memorable." (AudioFile Magazine)

"Garcia becomes Sheff, offering a gritty and raw performance that demonstrates just how dire the circumstances surrounding Sheff's existence really were." (Publishers Weekly)

Encouraging

I'm a step mom and daughter of an addict. It was helpful to hear it from Nic's perspective. It's made me more compassionate of the drug user.

I am going through my house with my family .

I am sure there are some people. I am glad they are a good person .

Soul Touching Book

Wow! Such a beautifully written book. It’s such a touching story and definitely a tear jerker. 1000% recommend this book to any and everyone!

Drugs - the most frustrating issue in our society

I read this after I read Nic's father's book Beautiful Boy by David Scheff. This book was a good accounting, from an addict's perspective of life as an addict. At times I wanted to reach through my headphones and strangle this young author and just yell STOP! Don't do that to your family. Having read his father's account of the agony the family went through and then to read the account of the relative lack of agony the addict went through (sorry, my perspective as a parent) totally by choice was very frustrating. Drugs account for multi-generational problems in our society and if rehab has such a low percentage of success (10-20%???) then what are we to do? For years we have heard that enforcement isn't the answer, treatment is the answer .... But after reading these two books it's obvious that treatment is elusive.

Terrible editing

The reader has clearly edited lines stuck into the story that sound nothing like the original recording. It becomes so obvious and frequent that it's laughable.

excellent narrative

Nic Sheff tells his story with compelling narrative. I'm not an addict (not meth anyway) and I don't have kids on meth, but I really enjoyed listening to this story.

Shocking story

I was required to read this for a class. this isn't typically my cup of tea, but the story was shockingly inspiring in a few ways. it was also very eye opening to addiction and the role the disease plays in the lives of so many people.

love it

a very good presentation of an addicts life. the good and the bad... without glorifying.

insight

there are times in this memoir that I felt like I had to stop and could not go on hearing the same thing, same excuses, same outcome. But I encourage listers to stay with it. The ending is powerful. It gives me hope that Nik will be successful in his sobriety. This story will help me be a better counselor. It is real, raw, sad, inspiring.

Tweak

This is one of the best books I have ever listened to on audible!!! The narrator reads magnificent. The story line is great!! Well written!!!!