Writing "Tweak"/"Beautiful Boy"

[Epitome]

[size=1]Nic and David Sheff are two people that have lived and experienced things that most people will never even think of in life. I myself, have experienced some of those things which made these two books a great read for me.

Some background on the books: Nick Sheff found himself drunk for the first time at the age of 11 years old. By the age of 12 he was smoking pot daily, and at the age of 18 had his first experience with crystal methamphetamine. From there, his life as well as his fathers, David Sheff, went on a physical and emotional roller coaster for the next 5-6 years.

"Tweak," written by Nic, is a memoir of his experience with becoming, being, and recovering from his addictions and alcoholism. It discloses many of the events he has been through as well as many of the struggles he experienced to finally begin a program of recovery, which has now kept him sober for almost two and a half years. He discusses people he met, ways he tried to use and live a healthy lifestyle, his experience through rehabs, using drugs such as meth, heroine, cocaine, and so on, his relationships with family, friends, lovers; when it comes down to it, it discusses everything an addict or alcoholics mind thinks and how he acts on those thoughts.

Me being also a recovering heroine addict, this book was a great read for me. I related to alot of the thoughts and actions that Nic has had or done, and alot of the experiences that he had, such as being in rehabs. I also related to the hurt that he felt, which is why we continued to use, and the hurt that others had due to his using. This book is definitely something I think everyone should read.

"Beautiful Boy." written by his father, David, is also a memoir of what a parent goes through when it comes to having a son or daughter that is an alcoholic or addict. I don't really want to go into this book too much because it was such a realization for me of how much I was killing my parents, friends, and other family members, every word of it is worth the read, and I don't really want to spoil much. All I really want to say is that this book, saved my life. Literally.

My father first introduced me to "Beautiful Boy," when he first got done reading it. He, knowing of my drug use, suggested I read it, and then I would know how it feels to be in his shoes. After I finished with that book, I really did want to stop hurting myself and others that I care about. I was already scheduled to go into a rehab when I had found out that his son had also wrote a memoir. I read that and I related to everything, but found hope in that people do recover from this disease.

So, I was just curious if anyone has read either or both of these books and wanted to get their thoughts on it. They sure as hell saved my life. For anyone who has the disease of alcoholism or addiction, please read it if you have not already. They might have the same impact on you that they had on me.[/size]

[Rachmaninoff]

I myself have not read either book though I have heard of them. A few people I know who have gone down the path of later needing rehabilitation speak just as highly about the books as you do. I've thought about picking them up and checking them out just out of curiosity.

Anyway, the way you've done the title of the thread results in it displaying oddly [it looks like this "Tweak&quo...] on the main page of OB. Perhaps you might want to let Allamorph edit the title to Tweak and Beautiful Boy to correct that?