Tweak

Wow, this book took my breath away. It was terrifying, inspirational, insane, unbelievable, and heartbreaking. I've never had the urge to do hard drugs and this book firmly cemented my belief.

I'm an anxious reader as it is and I always get nervous when a character does something I know they shouldn't do or that they'll get in trouble for later (you could say I get waaay too invested in my stories) and this book had me hyperventilating. I was practically yelling at the book, "Don't do it Nic! Don't relapse! That's a horrible idea! What are you thinking??"

This memoir is haunting and heartbreaking but you really have to admire the guts Nic has in sharing his brutal story about addiction. He spiraled out of control multiple times and he show more leaves nothing out. He was using dirty needles, prostituting himself, stealing from his family, doing every type of drug imaginable and he lays it all out for the reader. It took a lot of failed attempts but he finally got clean, testament to, no matter how bad your life is you can turn it around.

A truly great (but terrifying) book. show less

Read Beautiful Boy, then read this book! BB explores the point of view of the father of a bright, talented boy who spirals into heavy drug use. His anguish is palatable, and it filled me with dread.

Nic Sheff, the son/drug user is an even better writer than his father. I wish I knew how much of this was written when he was actually using, and how much is written in hindsight! You understand the lure of the drugs, the shame he feels and shudder at the hold the drugs have, and will continue to have on him forever.

The most interesting thing is seeing the differences between the father's perspective and the son's reality. A true cautionary tale!

This book is being marketed primarily as a youth selection, which is unfortunate, since every show more parent should read it! show less

This is a compelling and disturbing book about the repeated patterns of an addictive mindset, as Nic Sheff reflects on four years of struggle with drug addiction. Nic writes openly and courageously of his worst betrayals of people who love him, of the lowest points in his life. To his credit, he filters out the finger-pointing that seems so common in memoirs these days.

The main character's narrative voice evolves to match each phase of his addiction--something that's hard enough to do in fiction. In a memoir, it's brilliant. Many would be tempted to color their description of events with the wisdom of hindsight. Instead, we watch Nic shutting out everyone in his life as if we were there with him, knowing that he's blundering his way show more into disaster and knowing that he cannot see it. The effects of this are powerful. I've never read a book with a more open ending. He wrote the book during a positive time of his life, but will he weather the notoriety that comes with being a sought-after , published author, or will this success lead him into the same patterns he needed to escape in order to survive and, eventually, recover? Nic makes it possible for us to imagine either ending, and therein lies the power of this book in portraying the depths of addiction. show less

Actual: 4.5. This memoir is raw and heartbreaking. I understand why people feel like Nic is insufferable in his Zelda phase, but he’s writing with his perspective and character from that exact time. He shows us who he was, and how the drugs brought out the worst in him.

I could have done without the mean descriptions of fat people, but nonetheless a gripping read.

I’ve never heard of the movie called Beautiful Boy which is apparently based on this book so I cannot day which works better, although I do see a lot of reviews comparing the two. I enjoyed the book though, especially the way the two sides were shown from Nic and his father.
Having dealt with this addiction personally in my life with friends, it is not an easy thing to give up no matter how hard you want to stop. There is definitely a high chance of relapse if you are able to stop. That being said, I see a lot of reviews mention that the writing in this book is not great. That maybe so but the fact that someone was able to put their fight and struggle into written words to try and help others says a lot to me about the people involved show more and I commend them for being so honest. show less

This book was radical. I wasn't expecting much, perhaps a copycat of A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. This was much better. It was much more authentic, both in the vignettes of hardcore drug use, life on the street, and in drug rehab. It's kind of like Jay McInerney's Less than Zero meets Trainspotting. I loved hearing the gory details about arm abcesses and psychotic breaks and washing in broken glass and all kinds of related items. The pace increases nicely as the book progresses. A bonfire of broken relationships, self-absorption, crime, sex--all driven by drug use where the progression is fast and obvious.

I don't like Nic Sheff. But he is okay with me not liking him. In fact, throughout this entire memoir, I believe he is pracitally daring me to hate his superficial, self-absorbed, rentable ass. Showing us all his past faults is part of the theraputic nature of memoir writing, I guess, and I don't actually resent him for that. God knows he's entitled to his therapy. And actually... I don't think I resent him all that much. He knows his problems. He's very intelligent, and able to look at himself and others honestly. But dammit, he likes bands I don't like and probably dresses like a hipster and has rich parents. So that's the level of dislike. Superficial. Hopefully having a book published (or two, I think, by now) will help aleviate show more Sheff's fear of being normal/boring.

I speak fluent california-ese (if you haven't noticed) so the slangy writing style didn't bother me at all. It was kind of a slog reading a whole book with characters you want to punch all the time and their totally unglamourous sex having and drug taking. And honestly I only read this book because I am obsessed with Breaking Bad, and I am actually not interested in meth as a drug or addicts or recovery (I like breaking bad for the humor and crime and general OTTness... drugs themselves become an abstract entity by the time of Jesse's rehab in the beginning of season 3). So it was like, reading a book on electrical wiring or baseball for me. show less