A love letter to Los Angeles, the mysterious year 2000, and the life of a kid desperate to shine.

Sebastian Tillinger is determined to survive Y2K and grow up before New Year’s Eve, 1999. He might get married to the first woman he ever loved, just to prove he’s a man. He’s getting high and coming down faster than he can decide if he feels good—or jaded. He’s taking action and making choices, even if they are the wrong ones.

Things will be different, Sebastian promises himself, in the year 2000. Assuming the world doesn’t end, he’s only one job away from hitting the big stage. All he has to do is stay sober enough to show up to his auditions.

Through the haze of marijuana smoke clouding his youthful vision, Sebastian brings to life the tightrope between art and industry, celebrity parents and a childhood of obscurity, adventure and danger. How the Ferris Wheel Was Broken is a serious memoir with a dash of humor and a desperate quest to just make sense of life.