Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction Paperback – 5 Jan. 2009

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!

I've read lots of books about drug addiction and this has got to be one of the best. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to understand what it's like to have an addict in the family.

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 startedA few times but it was certainly moving and compelling.

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

Beautiful Boy unfurls a father’s journey to understanding that the greatest love he can offer his drug-addicted son, and himself, is though letting go of all that he believes is essential to being a father. How do we live with our children’s terrible decisions? How to we love our kids and hate what they do to themselves and to us? How do you love someone unconditionally yet find that they don’t love you the same way? And what if, despite being the best parent you knew how to be, your missteps have contributed to the devastation of those you love the most, those for whom you were entrusted to care?Any parent will find an emotion/reaction/behavior to which they can relate in Beautiful Boy, even if your family is stable. This is a poignant story of a man who never gave up on his son, but had to learn how to love him differently in order to protect himself.I have not seen the movie. How ironic that at ten years old this book presaged the devastation addiction crisis has wrought in the US today.

The author is most certainly a talented writer, very eloquent – I had to reach for the thesaurus a few times. I am aware that a film has been made based on this book, although I have not seen it. However, as a biopic I did not find it particularly captivating. The son had enjoyed a ‘millionaire lifestyle’ courtesy of his long -suffering family; i.e; surfing, private schooling, shrinks, hob-knobbing with famous actors, endless private therapy, a flat in Hollywood etc. The fact that he relapsed again and again and went straight back onto hard drugs, sometimes the day after his expensive rehab had finished, well I just lost any sympathy and started to view him as just another spoilt little rich kid.

I never understood the term ‘a page turner’ until I read this wonderfully written book. A Truly heart wrenching read from start to finish

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.