Tweakerville: Life and Death in Hawaii's Ice World

by Alexei Melnick

esse is 17, eighty-sixed from his honest working-class Hawai i family home, living with the dealer and his crew, running drugs on his moped, useful because he is still legally a juvenile. Partied out, he drops off to sleep and wakes up with a strange girl lying next to him, dead, ODd on crystal methamphetamine, ice. Call the ambulance? No way. That would bring the cops, and the house is loaded with drugs. Gotta get rid of the body. Jesse digs the grave, deep. And he keeps getting pulled deeper into the nightmare universe of crystal meth: tweakers, chronics and ice sluts, bulls and hammers, tattooed gangstas who swing machete and pull trigger. In a crazed and violent world outside the law, Jesse wants to believe in some kind of code of honor. Banished from his own family, he needs to believe in some kind of human connection. But ice is savage it can twist loyalty into treachery and betrayal. Ice rules life, and ice can decree death. This is the story that Jesse is compelled to tell, and Tweakerville is compulsive reading, appalling and enthralling from killer opening to killer ending. A shockingly powerful novel that pulls us into the world of crystal meth. The characters are our neighbors, our cousins, our brothers, the ones who break our hearts. A breathtaking debut.

Genres: Fiction

276 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2010

Reviews

[Mightyko Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book on the Celebrate Reading Festival list this year. A few of my students read it and reported back as "Hilarious. I laughed the whole way through." Just from the cover/blurb of the book I thought that was strange, and upon reading it, I find the comment even stranger. I normally think that reading books about sorrow is good for students, but I think that in this case, maybe it is too difficult for a young adult to read this with the appropriate emotional maturity. Is it the pidgin? I don't know. I'd like to think it's because they are so far removed from the possibility of the world of Ice.

There certainly is some humor in it, but mostly just shock and awful events at every turn. It reminded me a lot of the late Ian Macmillan, which makes sense, since Melnick counts him as a mentor.

I think there are good things about the book: opening up information to an outsider to the problems with addiction, awareness of the society surrounding Ice, etc, and I think that it probably portrays a lot of that accurately. There is certainly a disturbing lightness with which the characters view their situation, and the reader recognizes this as part of the problem.

Rated R for sex/swearing/violence/drug use.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall, Tweakerville is highly recommended reading; so far, I consider it one of my favorite books of the year. It’s an engaging story with well developed characters, a truly unique voice, and entry into a world so meticulously described you can feel your skin crawl and sweat begin to bead as you experience it on the page. I look forward to Alexei Melnick’s future writings.

http://www.hawaiibookblog.com/?p=4321

[Kamakana · Rating 4 out of 5]

In dialect- pidgin- that might be hard to read unless you have been or lived there. vibrant voice. hard view of the drug world in the islands. hard characters. hard life.

[John Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very realistic and well-written; totally takes the reader into this subculture. The story keeps coming at you fast and furious and changes unexpectedly with the chaotic situations which come up in the characters' lives.

Included at the end of the book are twenty questions for the author. He states that he is working on both a prequel and a sequel, and the way he describes them he has them well-outlined, and I intend to read them when and if they come out.

[Bethany Ebert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book messed with me. I read it over a period of several weeks, and by the end I'd grown so attached to the characters that every bad thing that happened felt like it was happening to a close friend. I loved it, but it was painful.

The book is written in such a way where it's evident that Jesse is the main character, but a few other characters (Kapika, Janice, and the Marine guys) are given time to tell their stories as well. I like revolving-point-of-view stories, but it's not everyone's style, so I thought I'd mention it.

I'm not a user, drugs don't appeal to me, but the book described the feeling of a meth high in a way that anyone could understand. It doesn't pass judgment either. The author included a Q&A where they advocated for treatment over imprisonment. They also mentioned plans to write more books. I'm definitely interested in reading more by this author.

[Yoonmee · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the tradition of Hawaii's Chris McKinney and other authors who have ventured into the world of drug users and sellers (think: Trainspotting), Melnick nails it with his story about Jesse. It's raw, honest, gritty, local, doesn't hold back, but also lets the reader view the users and dealers as more than just users and dealers; they are human. The pidgin isn't difficult to understand, if anyone's worried about that. A little common sense, context clues, and the ever helpful glossary in the back of the book will help everyone comprehend the pidgin, even if they're not familiar with it.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is well written and a credit to the author. It is written for a residents of Hawaii and people well acquainted with the culture. He is writing from a local perspective so the none local characters aren't very well developed and are basically stereotypes. It is not a hard read and you won't find it hard to finish. I don't know if it is a very good account of the actual drug culture of Hawaii.

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is our friend Alexei's first published book ever! It is also one of the first novels ever to be written in pidgin - the Hawaiian local dialect. The story weaves together multiple narratives which follow the activities and inevitable outcomes of a group of teenagers and young men involved in the crystal meth and crime scene in Hawaii

[Jerry Peace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone not of the drug world but who thinks they know what's what needs to read this book.