Beautiful Boy: (Tie-In): A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction Paperback – 4 Sept. 2018

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!

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.

Great book

Really well written and heart wrenching! I can see why it was made into a movie, a must read for all

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.

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.

it was descent read

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