Beautiful Boy: A Heartbreaking Story of a Father’s Love, Addiction, and the Fight to Save His Son

..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.

Excellent book! I highly recommend reading this for the story and the facts about this horrific addiction!!

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.

"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."

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.

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?"

Todo súper bien