Beautiful Boy: (Tie-In): A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction

I highly recommend this book. This is an excellent and very informative book to read, especially for a parent who is experiencing a similar experience. The statistics provided within the book are also helpful too but it's the emotion and very heartfelt personal content of a father going above and beyond to help his son that makes this book an extremely good but also at times, heartbreaking read. Huge amounts of credit to the author.

The last book as medically detailed and sad as this I read was The Radium Girls ... This story of a talented, golden child, athletic, clever, dearly loved but addicted, told from his father's perspective is compelling searching and moving in the extreme. I recently did an online university course called understanding drugs and addiction and I am glad I did as this helped me with the medical implications and details threaded through this book which are explained and explored in Great detail and depth as David Sheff seeks to understand what is happening to his much loved son, mentally physically and emotionally. Also the impact on his family immediate and scattered and his heartbreak as he seems to understand and wonder if it is his fault. Lots of questions, lots of disturbing statistics and scenes. It is multi layered and graphic and disturbing and not an easy book to read. No quick fixes, no answers, no miracles on this journey, but hope and love in a world that often reads as idyllic a place for children to be reared but pernicious drugs easily accessed hover as temptation in paradise. It's a disturbing and challenging read as The Radium Girls was I found. I am not sure if I exactly enjoyed reading it, I stopped and started A few times but it was certainly moving and compelling.

An incredibly sad, harrowing and depressing book to read, but also an absolutely essential read. This is a very honest and raw account of the manner in which lives are turned upside down, ruined to some extent, and the depths of despair that accompany this when a member of the family becomes a drug addict with no reasoning. I have some awareness of drugs, but not to this extent and it both scared and educated me. Thank you David for being so honest and truthful and for having the strength to look at yourself so bravely and share with us all. I have no doubt that the prayers were what was needed and I am so heartened that soul played a huge role in how the story unfolded and continues to unfold. There is hope.

a really great book about addiction and a father-son relationship & the lengths a father will go to help his son. I was rooting for nick the whole time and felt every frustration and anxiety his father had. Superbly written. Nick’s dad clearly has done his research on addiction and included not only his personal experience with his son but also some facts and statistics about drug addiction, relapsing etc. Will treasure this book!

It gets pretty technical and heartbreaking at times

Good but a very sad book

This book is excellently written and does not descend into self pity. The author's background as a journalist is apparent, but his emotions, and that of his family, are raw and honest. He keeps his son at the centre, but looks at the wider influences of his drug taking and how it impacts upon the relationships between family members. This is not a self-help book, as he has no answers, nor a tale of redemption. Readers should not expect to be told how to deal with drug use, nor expect a happy ending. If I had one criticism, it is that the author talks about drug use as an illness, or disease, as opposed to a choice. Therefore, there are elements where his son's drug use is rationalised as being beyond his control however, a central message is that drugs do do not discriminate.

This is a fascinating account of how his son Nicholas Sheff's drug addiction affected the whole family. He was close to his Dad until the drugs took over and nearly destroyed him. The Dad was left tearing his hair out to put it mildly. To be read in conjunction with Tweak and watch the Timothee Chalamet movie 🎥if you can. Very well written

Storia molto toccante.Libro arrivato puntuale ed in perfette condizioni unica pecca che è in inglese

Le récit d'un voyage au bout de l'enfer pour un père et son fils qui ne peut pas vous laisser intact, une fois celui-ci achevé. Je vous le conseille grandement

Written by the father, this is a very confronting read about a son who became addicted to strong drugs at a fairly early age; his parents loved him through all the tough times and he tried very hard to wean himself off the drugs by various means, sometimes managing to stay clean for a couple of years however, in the end his father had to acknowledge his son was beyond help as he enjoyed the "highs" the drugs gave him. I was in awe of his father's patience and could well understand why, in the end he had just to stand back and love him regardless.

..unless addiction is involved. Sheff captures that mixture of hope and despair living in each parent whose child has gone into the dark, deep hole of addiction. His book is full of joy and tragedy. Love and relief, ambiguity and disgust and dislike. And guilt, so much guilt. Guilt for feeling all the love and hope and despair. In this book Sheff touches on pretty much everything parents feel (or at least this parent) when their child goes over to the dark side. Very well written, spellbinding in its own way, the reader will have a hard time staying neutral to the players in this personal tragedy. Sheff admits that for years people have given well-meaning advice and criticism. You should have done this. Why on earth did you do that. Until and unless you've had to deal with HIS issues, there is no right or wrong. Sheff did the best he could at the time with the information he had, at that static moment in time. No parent can say they haven't done the same thing. And who knows if the result would have been the same after all? Siblings, family, partners and friends have their own experiences with their addict, but a parent is a bit different. As Sheff points out, we are the soft place for them to fall, the most influential people in their lives until we send them off into the world and their tiny circle widens to include day care workers, teachers, coaches and friends. As parents we hand them over, so to speak, and our sphere of influence diminishes as the years go by- as it should. The mistake Sheff made, and he freely admits it, is that he was under the impression that he had armed his child with the tools he needed to succeed, and when that seemed to fail, Sheff began to question what exactly he had done to contribute to that failure. It is common if not universal among the parents of addicted children to blame their parenting. Other people will also look first to the home environment. Sheff takes a long hard look at himself and his parenting, and still has a hard time forgiving himself for mistakes he made. But who doesn't make mistakes? Conversely, does that mean parents get to take the credit for every good thing their child does? Is it right for a parent to take credit for the successes or failures of their child? And failure and success are rather subjective anyhow. Sheff does not really address this, although he tries hard to forgive himself, which he should. I really hope he has succeeded. What struck a deep note with me was how accurately he describes the sea change in parenting expectations... one day you are thrilled to see an A in spelling and almost the next you wake up grateful that the police haven't knocked on your door telling you that your child is dead. I have not read Nic Sheff's book yet, I want to leave a little break between the two. But I highly recommend this book for anyone who has ever been touched by addiction of any kind. It won't do a thing to prevent addiction but it may give you a gleam of insight into the silent and desperate life of the friend, co-worker or relative who has a child in trouble.

Escrita fluida, extremamente pessoal e sincera. Inglês acessível para quem já tá começando a ler obras no original. Adiciona-se ao fim do livro um posfácio interessante sobre o panorama da droga pelo mundo, exclusivo desta edição britânica, além de um capítulo inteiro (bem grandinho, por sinal) do Tweak, livro do Nic Sheff, contando sua versão da história. Leitura que complementa o filme... para as telas, não foi adaptado nem 50% do livro. Aqui, o pai tem muito mais a contar, vivenciar e dividir conosco sua angústia e culpa. "how can you help someone who doesn't want to be helped?"