"Tweak: Growing Up On Methamphetamines" by Nic Sheff

336 pages

Nic Sheff's substance abuse began when he was eleven, when he got drunk for the first time. For the rest of his teenage years and early twenties, he would regularly smoke pot, do cocaine and Ecstasy, and develop addictions to crystal meth and heroin. Through it all, he thought he could always stop and live a clean life if he wanted to. Then, after a violent relapse, Nic finally realized that he was out of control and decided to get help. Though that was the turning point, Nic learned that recovery was far from simple--in fact, it turned out to be the most difficult thing he'd ever done.

This is an extremely compelling, heartbreaking memoir. Nic spares none of the gory details, which can be sickening but are also very interesting. He's honest about why the drugs appealed to him at first and how they helped him escape from his problems but ultimately ruined his life. Throughout his struggle, Nic learns (and shares with us readers) how to deal with the parts of himself and his life that he was unhappy with, a process that was absolutely crucial to his recovery. Though I can't relate to Nic's drug use, there are a lot of other parts of his story that I do understand. He writes about feeling lonely and isolated, without the skills to cope with things like most people. As he puts it, it's like everyone in the world got some sort of how-to manual that he never received. I can definitely relate to that, in my "Ahhhh, I suck at life!" moments. I think everyone has felt like that at some point--though maybe some of us more than others ;). Overall, definitely a book worth reading.