Beautiful Boy (tie-In): A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction Paperback – September 4, 2018

Everyone should read this book, it will change your idea of addiction and allow you to navigate the addiction many of us face in our lives. This is the kind of book you can re-read every year and pick up something new that sticks out to you. His writing is incredible, and the vulnerability is heartbreaking and beautiful. 1000/10 would recommend.

"Fortunately I have a son, my beautiful boy. Unfortunately he is a drug addict.Fortunately he is in recovery. Unfortunately he relapses.Fortunately he is in recovery again. Unfortunately he relapses.Fortunately he is in recovery again. Unfortunately he relapses.Fortunately he is not dead.”In Beautiful Boy, David Sheff recounts his son’s struggles with addiction. Nic’s drug of choice is Methamphetamine, well known for being one, if not the hardest drug to stay in recovery for. Sheff talks about his difficulty coping with his son’s addiction, rehab stays, and subsequent relapses.Sheff’s story is heartbreaking, and gut wrenching. He is very real about his emotions. From his shame of having an addict for a son to the happiness he feels from thinking about Nic before his addiction changed him. He speaks often about how he wants to feel hope that each trip to rehab will be the one that keeps him clean, but how it would be easier for him if he just gave up and save himself from the heart ache.I appreciate that Sheff does not hide his emotions, nor does he hide his own drug use when he was younger. While some may leave out this fact he is frank about it, even adding in that at one point Nic asked if he wanted to smoke Marijuana with him and he agreed desperate to have something that he could use to connect with his son. He laments a few times that he wishes that he never did. While Sheff did drugs when he was younger he was blindsided when he found out Nic was also doing them. He says that parents tend to ignore the signs of addiction in their children, hoping that it’s not true and he and his wife are no exception to this.He wishes that he could do more for his son. Nic is in and out of rehab. He worries constantly about his son’s well being. It is not just Nic who suffers, his family does as well. Sheff struggles with explaining Nics illness with his younger children, unsure of how much to tell them. This is something that I never thought about, how much do you tell small children when their older sibling has an addiction. I don't know if Sheff handled this correctly but it seemed okay to me to explain that he is ill, but try to keep them away from the effects that the drugs have on him. His choice to lie by omission must have been a difficult choice for him to make.Sheff’s honestly makes for a heartbreaking story. A great read, especially for those who know someone struggling with addiction. I am grateful for his ability to share his experiences without sounding disconnected and bland. I had fears of this but it did end up reading like the memoir it is.“Fortunately there is a beautiful boy. Unfortunately he has a terrible disease.Fortunately there is love and joy. Unfortunately there is pain and misery.Fortunately the story is not over."

I read Beautiful Boy alongside Nic Sheff's (David's son) memoir Tweak: Growing up on Methamphetamines. They are perfect companions for one another, providing a valuable insight into two sides of the same addictions. David's love for his son is visceral. His descriptions of his own addiction to Nic's addictions are utterly relatable as the loved one of an addict and are honestly portrayed. I felt so deeply for this wounded family, wanted badly for them to heal. I hope that Nic has found lasting health and all have found peace. I am glad that he never gave up on Nic.The style is technically journalistic with clear prose and the occasional clever metaphor.I took off one star because of the heavy AA overtones and the implications that AA is necessary for recovery in all cases (or even at all). It wouldn't have bothered me if AA was only featured as something his family experienced, but he remarks several times that it seems like AA is the only possible valid working treatment for addiction in general - the only chance an addict has is to work the steps. This may have been the case for his family and son, and more power to them, but someone as well-researched as David Sheff clearly is should have been alarmed by the lack of clinical studies and success rates of AA. I don't feel like a memoir is the appropriate place to prescribe treatment for a wider societal problem. It requires way more explanation than there is room for. Overall, this did not affect my reading experience too greatly. A day after finishing the book I am still reeling from it.