Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #116185 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780758212658
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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From the Publisher
"This cautionary tale makes you both want and fear crystal meth, as Patrick Moore tells of the ecstatic erotic liberation the drug can bring, and then of the agonizing paranoia, anxiety, loneliness, and self-destructiveness that accompany addiction. But this is also a celebration of recovery, the narrative of one life in which horror didn't claim the ultimate triumph. Elegantly constructed, with a complex narrative structure that drives the reader forward, Tweaked is elegiac, searingly honest, and impossible to put down." --Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression and winner of the 2001 National Book Award for Nonfiction

"Observant, funny, and harrowing, Tweaked is an eye-opening, fasten-your-seatbelts ride in and out of the depths of meth madness." --Michael Musto, The Village Voice

"Tweaked is a spine-chilling journey into the absurd and tragic realities of drug and alcohol abuse and the painstakingly slow but spiritually redemptive path to recovery. At a time when much of the gay media has been slow to report the horrors caused by crystal methamphetamine addiction, Patrick Moore honestly and bravely bares his soul to show the world what is happening to people because of this drug. Most of all, this skillfully-written memoir leaves the reader with the greatest asset known for survival – hope." --Rich Merritt, author of Secrets of a Gay Marine Porn Star

" Don’t let the title fool you: Tweaked is so much more than a crystal memoir. It’s an immersion into a gritty, rarely seen L.A., a recollection of a sleazy downtown New York that no longer exists, an extended visit with an unforgettable, spitfire grandma in Iowa, and—most of all—a penetrating look inward at the lies we tell ourselves, no matter where we are. Patrick Moore writes with humor, grace and precision. His tender-hearted memoir is a book for anyone who’s ever found himself in the wrong place, in a messed up state of mind, but with just enough clarity—and hope—to know that the only way out is to tell the truth." --K.M. Soehnlein, author of The World of Normal Boys and You Can Say You Knew Me When

"Like a cat chronicling its nine lives, Patrick Moore describes in Tweaked each one of his harrowing brushes with mortality. In this eye-opening look at the often misunderstood world of crystal meth addiction, Moore will win you over with his audacity, honesty, and poignancy. Anyone who's ever considered trying crystal should read this book first -- it's not preachy or moralistic, but it might save your life." --Tom Dolby, author of The Trouble Boy

"Patrick Moore does something extraordinary in this engaging, haunting memoir--he makes the reader understand his simultaneous love affair with and fear of the dark world of addiction and obsession. Even those who have never entered the universe he writes about will come to understand how it seduces so many, calling to the searching and welcoming them with poisoned kisses. Moore takes one of the greatest challenges facing gay men and reveals the human side of a destructive force all too often hidden behind the facade of perfect bodies and sexual fantasy. He offers no answers and asks for no sympathy. He simply tells his story and, through it, the stories of so many others who have had their lives changed forever by Tina's sparkling lies. Impossible to put down and harder to forget, his story lingers long after the last page, asking the reader to question the roles that longing, hope, and fear play in our lives." --Michael Thomas Ford, author of Last Summer and Full Circle

"Tweaked is a page-turning, harrowing and ultimately uplifting memoir. Few have been able to speak with such lucidly about the crystal-meth addiction that has gripped so many gay men. Patrick Moore writes in a remarkably open and at times highly entertaining manner – laughing out loud at the sheer preposterousness of the world that had engulfed him, even as he vividly takes us on a trip through his personal house of horrors and, eventually, to his escape. He does an enormous service by offering the story of his successful battle against Tina as roadmap for others to follow." --Michelangelo Signorile, author of Hitting Hard

Customer Reviews

Well-written, engaging, educational, but not much about meth addiction
I enjoyed this book---it certainly kept me turning pages throughout, and I finished it almost in one sitting. However, I would agree with some of the other reviewers in that the book seems to be more about Moore's sex addiction than his meth addiction. The book chronicles Moore's sexual escapades in 1980s New York and 1990s Los Angeles; it seems Moore just used meth and a host of other drugs to lubricate his sexual excesses. The only section of the book that exposes meth's dark underbelly is when he goes out to visit a "cooker" who lives in the California desert and cooks the drug in a trailer. I think a more apt title for the book would be "SCREWED" rather than TWEAKED due to its highly sexual content, but this book is worth a read nonetheless, especially if the ins and outs of pre-gentrification New York's sexual underground of the 80s and early 90s interests you.

Fascinating in Ways I Didn't Expect
As someone who has heard a lot about crystal meth but who has no experience with it, I turned to this book to develop an understanding of why crystal meth has affected gay men and influenced HIV transmission as much as it has. I did learn a lot from this book, though I thought I would learn more about how crystal meth affects the body and mind, how it clouds and mind and encourages unsafe sex, and there was not as much of that in this book. Though there were many scenes showing the damaging effects of crystal, and Moore did not seem to hold back in any way describing the negatives of his life on crystal. This is a good book worth the time.

An X-Rated account of life as a promiscuous gay drug user
"Biker's Coffee, Chicken Feed, Crank, Glass, Go-Fast, Ice, Stove Top, Trash and Yellow Barn," that is, Crystal Meth, is what I expected this book to be about. But Tweaked is more about the details of Patrick Moore's seemingly infinite gay unprotected sexual exploits while using a variety of drugs than it is about meth addiction, although it's probably hard to separate the two. The writing itself is excellent, but Gay Sex on Drugs might have been a more appropriate title, and its X-Rated theme will be interesting to few mainstream readers.

The details about meth, meth-use and meth-users, few and far between, are by far the most interesting parts. Unfortunately, the struggles of a sober gay man, the relationship between a man and his grandma, and details about an unimaginable variety of different drugs, did not hold my attention. I kept waiting for the parts about meth. It would be more appropriate divided up as a series of articles in a magazine for gay men. If you are an average Jane like me, you'll skip this one in favor of a future, (hopefully mainstream) novel. Although admittedly full of lies and half-truths, James Frey's R-Rated quirkily-written but fast-paced account of alcohol abuse and recovery, A Million Little Pieces, is a better choice.