Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey through His Son's Addiction

Absolutely Stunning.. Beautifully Written.

Being a Substance Abuse Intervention Minor I am constantly interested in seeing how families deal with addictions and this book provides such an amazing insight. I've actually read both Beautiful Boy and Tweak and I would recommend either to anyone interested in addiction.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Eye Opening

This was truly a perspective changing novel. My brother was a heroin addict when we were younger, and I did not effectively deal with the pain and self-blame that experience created in me. Hearing how David Sheff dealt with the issue surrounding his own son's meth addiction changed the way I perceived myself, as well as my role in my brother's addiction and recovery. The amount of research Sheff incorporated in this novel provided the evidence I needed to start looking at that time period in my own life and the life of my family as a whole in a completely different way. I always believed addiction is a disease that steals the one's we love and transforms them into people they never wanted to be. This novel showed that I was right in some ways and wrong in others. Any one who has dealt with addiction, whether crystal meth or others, will find this memoir enlightening and therapeutic.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Beautiful Boy

Very informational for parents of teenagers. Very well written and devastatingly real.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

I will recommend this book.

David Sheff did not miss a single experience of having a drug addicted child. He seconds guesses himself constantly, reads about it, asks questions, researches new and old treatment, loses sleep, deprives himself of other loved ones, sets aside his life over and over again, is depressed, makes himself physically sick and the sinking feeling he would get when the phone rings and the feelings of hopelessness in getting help. He cannot turn to God. As a parent of a drug addicted son myself, Mr. Sheff didn't miss a beat. My son passed away 2 years ago and my family and I lived the life Mr. Sheff lived. I will always wonder if I could have done more or what did I miss from the very beginning. I had this book for over a year before I could bring myself to read it and I will give it to people going through this terrible experience.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Beautiful Boy is an amazing book with a personal view on additions.

Beautiful Boy is an amazing (and sad) journey that David Sheff describes about his son Nic and his addiction with Methamphetamines. This book provides a personal parent's point of view of the rollercoaster life that his family and his son endured during his son's drug addiction.
This book was so easy to read and understand coming from a family who has endured drug additions.
I didn't want the story to end when I finished the book. I wondered what happened to him and his son. Have they been able to get through these past years? Is Nic still struggling with addition and recovery? I look forward to reading Nic's book, "Tweak" to see the other side of the story.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Enlightening, Heartbreaking read. Couldn't put it down!

Saw father and son at a conference a year ago and read the book immediately. The book is very educational for professionals and families. It is easy to read and understand the heartbreak of mental illness and substance use disorders. A clinician I know uses the father's book as a part of education for those in therapy. Everyone should read this to truly undersand.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

An incredibly good read.

It was as if David Sheff had been a fly on the wall in my own home, the way he recounts the conversations he had with his son. They were so like the conversations (yelling matches?) I had with my teenaged son. Poignant, heartbreaking, hopeful. All of the above. Plus, the entire time I was reading, John Lennon's beautiful melody floated through my head.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Amazing

I really liked this book alot, i felt as though he was able to capture his love for his son and addiction in a ways that could make anyone understand the difficulty of loving an addict.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Beautiful Boy is an amazing journey

David Sheff and his familys story is heart-wrenching and scary to think of when you realize it's all true and could happen to anyone. Once you pick it up you can not put it down. I laughed at the irony and the silliness of a young father and eventually a single parent. I cried at the loss felt at having to make descisions that went against how a person is taught to raise a child knowing it was the only way to save the child that is loved. This is an amazing journey of a man and father and family.

It took courage and love to write the story and then to have it published and printed for all to read. Every parent should read this book... Especially those who think it could never happen to them.

You must read the son's perspective as well and then wrap your head around the entire experience. These books will move you.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Amazing book!

This book was such an insight into the web of addiction. I work with juvenile offenders who sometimes have addictions of their own, and to be able to read what parents go through provides an idea of how life must be like for those parents. The decisions David had to make as a parent as far as helping his son were nothing short of dedication and devotion as a parent.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Well written!!!

I couldn't put it down, its was sad throughout the book but very well written.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Tweak Struck Harder

I read this as a counterpart to Nick Sheff's book Tweak. After reading such a hard-hitting memoir, Beautiful Boy just didn't have much impact. It does offer another perspective, though.

Author David Sheff does an outstanding job telling the story of

Author David Sheff does an outstanding job telling the story of his son Nic's drug addiction through his eyes. The detail he uses is both powerful and heartbreaking. Reading Beautiful Boy is a wonderful way of getting insight on the other half of the devastation that an addiction has, this time on the addicts family. Most importantly Sheff walks his audience step by step through the emotional journey of his son Nic overcoming an extreme addiction to meth and many other drugs. As the parent David watches his son go from his sweet little "Beautiful Boy" to an unrecognizable drug addict who steals from his eight year old brother. David explains how he becomes addicted to his sons addiction. He gets caught up in the battle of trying to take on his sons battle for him, which to no surprise doesn't end up working. As a father Sheff eventually comes to the realization that he is killing himself trying to save his son, and that the only one who can get Nic well is Nic himself. The book does a great job of telling specific stories of Nic and David's lives, while also including a great deal of research on the topic of drug addiction that David did while Nic was going through spells of recovery and relapse. A unique aspect of this book is that you ultimately have a shot at reading the story seen from both Nic's eyes and from his father's eyes, because they both have a book on the topic. I have not yet read Nic's book Tweak but am interested in reading it the future to get an even broader spectrum of their journey. Overall I highly recommend this book to any type of reader. It is not just for those who share a similar story, or an interest in drug addiction, but for anyone who can relate to a fathers love for his son, or anyone who likes insight on a more hidden part of the world that we live in.

It is ok.

This was a ok book. Started off pretty good but got boring after the middle. Maybe others will like better then I did.

A Beautiful Book and Rewarding Read!

David Sheff¿s novel, Beautiful Boy, focuses on his relationship with his son Nic, a meth addict who is struggling to turn his life around. Sheff takes us through Nic¿s early years and how he coped with the divorce of his parents, a new stepmom and dad, and the birth of his two half-siblings. As a child Nic was always exceedingly clever and creative, he was very involved in high school, partaking in swimming and water polo, in addition to writing for the school newspaper. His future looked bright until he started getting involved with drugs, more than just the occasionally hit of marijuana. Eventually Nic was introduced to meth, the most addictive drug out there and he was hooked. David writes about how he attempts to deal with his son¿s addiction, and the countless recoveries and relapses that go with it. He confesses that, no matter how many people tell him otherwise, he still blames himself for Nic¿s tragic life. The major theme in this novel is the love of a parent can be so strong that it will never allow them to give up on their children, no matter what situations they are faced with. I loved how Sheff included so many of the memorable experiences he has shared with Nic over the years. I think if he hadn¿t I wouldn¿t really be able to sympathize with him about his anxiety over Nic¿s wellbeing because I would see him as just another screw up addict. This way I was able to really start to care for the bright little boy Sheff described and those tender feelings for him remained as he grew up throughout the book. One dislike I had about this novel was that the author included a lot of statistics and numbers in certain parts when he was trying to explain the medical effects of methamphetamine, and this was a little distracting. He also used a lot of medical diction that I had to frequently look up so that was also the slightest bit annoying. This is a very deep read so I wouldn¿t recommend picking it up if you are looking for something happy and light-hearted. But, if you don¿t mind the numerous life lessons and the fact that it¿s saturated in emotion then I think you will find the book to be very touching, eye opening, and above all rewarding. I also recommend reading Tweak, by Nic Sheff, which is Nic¿s own recount of his experiences with hard drugs. I read Tweak first and then Beautiful Boy and it¿s really interesting to see the same story from two very different perspectives. Beautiful Boy is truly a beautiful book and I give it a solid five out of five.

Heartfelt that only a parent can feel

Genuine in nature - I could not put this book down-packed with feelings and research- I admire Sheff for his honesty which every parent can relate to. Sheff' s way of writing has such a flow to it that makes him a top-notch author and one that deserves a 5 star rating. His children know what the word or more correctly role of a father means- my hat is off to you!

WOW A must read for parents particular middle and high school

What an amazing journey of a family struggle dealing with a child with drug and alchol addition. This book is a must read for middle and high school parents if anything for what to watch for or for the knowledge that they are not alone in a horrific journey. This books will have you in tears, will tear at your heart and your guts as this father struggles to try to save his son. An emotional roller coaster ride. The only thing that bothered me about the book was how and where did this middle/high school boy get the kind of $$ needed to buy and support his habit until his stealing began.

Heart rendering story of addiction and hope.

This book was difficult reading in the sense that I was on the same roller coaster ride with Mr. Scheff while he was dealing with his son's drug and alcohol abuse. I am going through much the same with my son and there was a definate connection with the author while he struggles with his son's addiction. This is one of the most enlightening reads regarding the pain and suffering caused by addition.

Great insight into addiction

The wide spread presence of drugs and alcohol makes this not just a family's story but a story for everyone in our society. Substance abuse and addiction is found at all social economic and education levels. This depicts a real story and not the glamorized version we see in news with the young stars like Lindsay Lohan. Anyone who says this could not happen in my family, well I used to say the same thing, until it did.

Must read for Parents

This book was a well written heart wrenching description of life with an addict told from the unique perspective of the father.

I wanted to find a happy ending for the book and found myself often wishing this was just a work of fiction.