Book Reviews of Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Meth Addiction

This book will haunt me for years to come. The author's fears, dreams, hopes, apathy, and downright horror jump off of the pages and eat away at your heart. I've always believed that if my child ended up like Nic, I would be able to walk away, but now... I just don't know. I could feel this man's pain, feel his love oozing from the text. I think what made it harder is believing that Nic was better again and again and again. I spent the last two or three chapters in and out of tears. Yes, I felt for Nic, but David is who I really wanted to reach out and hug, to offer to do something - anything - to ease his pain.

Oh, there were a few funny parts, and endearing. Nic truly seems like he's a good kid who has just screwed up royally. I am left wondering how Nic is doing TODAY though. I believe the story ended about 18 months ago, so I'm curious... what has happened since then?

It appears that Nic also wrote a book. I'll give it a read. I do hope Nic realizes what an amazing father he has and learns to deal with his demons. Hug your dad, Nic - he did for you what I'm not sure I could for my own children.

This was a wonderful book. It touched me deeply.

i have to say- as an addict who put my parents and loved ones through a similar kind of hell this was a tough read. but i learned so much of the other side of addiction.
i am so glad i read this book.

So good. I just couldnt put it down. It really parallels Tweak. So it is best to read them back to back!

A heartbreaking memoir of addiction and the damage that it inflicts on a family. Perhaps lags a little at times, but in all, very good. I think any parent can feel much empathy for the narrator, and I would imagine it would really hit home for those parents living through the nightmare of an addicted child. It made me very, very grateful to have escaped that particular circle of hell in my own life.

At one point about half way thru I almost put this book down. I was looking for more about the story of what happened than the facts of the addiction. I am happy that I kept reading. What an eye opener for me of how I have been dealing with the addicts in my own life.

Started off somewhat slow but didn't disappoint. I found myself identifying with the author due to my own daughters addiction, knowing someone else felt this way and had the same thoughts was somehow comforting. This story strikes at every parents fears for their child..I highly recommend.

Great story. As a parent, hard to read at times because you feel for him and his son. Waiting to read "Tweaked" the companion book

Good book. It got a little boring in the middle.

This was a very heart wrenching story. I went through many tissues while reading it. In some ways, I wish I hadn't read this book. It makes you realize that a drug addiction can happen to any family no matter how close you are. I have a 4 year old daughter and just pray that she doesn't take this route. I really felt for the whole family in this story. There were definately things that the father did that I thought I would never be able to do, but you just don't know until it happens to you. It really gives you a look into a drug addicts life and family. I also think it gives you signs to look for in your own family. I feel this is something that every parent should read. I am going to read Tweak by Nic Sheff next as I am curious to read the same story from a completely different point of view.

this was a good book for someone like me that has not really had any experience with this sort of addiction very hard to read at times but very heart felt from beginning to end.

A wonderful companion to _Tweaked_, David Sheff's son Nic's own precocious memoir of his addiction to meth and other substances, _Beautiful Boy_ also stands as an amazing memoir in its own right. Sheff depicts the hope and hopelessness of a parents, step-parents, siblings, and extended family coping (and, often, not coping) with the drama and trauma of loving a drug-addicted child, as that child moves from the seemingly manageable ups and downs of adolescence to the dangers of an independent and uncontrollable life of a young adult with a chronic, nearly lethal drug addiction. I was more than once moved to tears by the crystalline clarity and unstinting honesty with which Sheff depicted his pain as a father dealing with this unexpected and almost indescribable pain and how it affected, for ill and for good, his entire family.

This book is an eye opening, sometimes heartbreaking account of how a family deals with a loved one who is a drug addict. It is an excellent book for both those who have been through a similar situation with a family member or friend and those who haven't, as it gives an honest account of the feelings a family struggles with when facing such a daunting challenge.

Such a sad story about a son's addiction and the reality of drug use. A must read for all parents.

And now his son has written a book called "Tweak" giving his perspective. Interesting how the father goes on and on in the book about all the idyllic things that he gave his son or that his son was, and wondered why, despite that, his son was drawn to meth, but said next to nothing about the story of his divorce from his mother's son when the son was 3, although the post-divorce is covered. Maybe he didn't want his ex-wife dragged into the story.