Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free. The early chapters of Beautiful Boy are largely spent detailing Nic’s promise and innocence, and David’s early understanding of parenthood and how to navigate it. Nic Sheff spent the better part of a decade in and out of rehab, fighting to overcome a crystal meth addiction. David Sheff doesn't mince words nor does he try to hide behind as he recounts his family's struggles to help son Nic battle a methamphetamine addiction. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. There's a problem loading this menu right now. It's been playing at the theatres since Oct 12th. Beautiful Boy David Sheff 57-page comprehensive study guide Features detailed chapter by chapter summaries and multiple sections of expert analysis ... Sheff’s struggle to overcome his codependent addiction to Nic’s addiction is one of the key themes of the book. Nothing that the addicted son, nor either of his other two children, nor he himself has ever done isn't noteworthy enough to dote on laudatorily as though no kid in the history of humanity has ever done a halfway creative book report or messed around with Garage Band to make a song before, even if it has no narrative or even emotional purpose in furthering the book. Well, the rehab/relapse cycle is, uhhh, cyclical, which means that *you probably shouldn't write an interminable chronological account of it*. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. While Nic’s early childhood is idyllic, the missteps that both David and Nic make in his upbringing have a … How do we live with our children’s terrible decisions? While painfully candid, Beautiful Boy is equally optimistic and powerful.” — Martin Sheen, actor This book is just a do-over of so many others. It was published by Houghton Mifflin on February 26, 2008. He does a good job of capturing the paradoxes of addiction; all these conflicts that just don't add up in any logical way: You have no control... but don't you have influence? Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2017. David Sheff's story is a first: a teenager's addiction from the parent's point of view, a real-time chronicle of the shocking descent into substance abuse and the gradual emergence into hope. Beautiful Boy is about the "millions of treacherous moments" that come with being the parent of an addict, as David puts it in the book. But I really believe it's harmful over-indulgence to so glorify our kids' importance and intelligence. I don't know whether or not you have to be a parent to be moved by it, but I feel his pain. Not my story but close enough. David Sheff knows all too well what must be endured with faith, and his extraordinary book describes it better than anything else I’ve read. I recommend this book to anyone that loves someone, friend or family that lives with addiction. This detailed literature summary also contains Topics for Discussion on Beautiful Boy by David Sheff. Publishers Weekly. The same things that make me consider this book "just okay" (the repetition of themes, the over-dramaticism, the self-absorption) are the same things that make it so realistic and relatable to anyone who's had with an addict in their lives. What I learned from this book? It's recently been adapted into a film starring Timothee Chalamet and Steve Carell. A drug addict will steal your wallet and then help you look for it.”. It is so so good. I found this book annoying and unrevealing (for a memoir) and yet I couldn't put it down. It makes you feel fear and hope. Beautiful Boy is a fiercely candid memoir that brings immediacy to the emotional rollercoaster of loving a child who seems beyond help. I read this after watching the grueling and heartbreaking movie of the same name. The first, Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction, was written by David Sheff, and … I've seldom been quite so thrilled for a book to be finished, not least of all because this author is one of the most hideously self-obsessed and self-congratulatory people I've ever had the displeasure to spend way too much virtual time with. Settled in picturesque Marin County, California, Nic’s parents were the high-flying type. I read this because I saw the author, David Sheff, talking about it on Oprah, and because I have children close in age to his son; although I was fortunate enough to avoid the hell of parenting an addicted kid, I have been there with many of my friends, and with friends of my kids'. Before meth, Sheff's son, Nic, was a varsity athlete, honor student, and award-winning journalist. Let me also add that after the divorce David Sheff regularly took Nick to adult parties and dinner parties, treating him like a "friend." Of course, in order to make the book longer we get lectured on how difficult it is to stop, and all the data and opinions that allow this father to think he was not responsible. I am reading it now and feel like I'm living it with this father. Refresh and try again. I checked this book out of the library after hearing David Sheff and his son Nick interviewed on NPR. I don't know whether or not you have to be a parent to be moved by it, but I feel hi. Nothing that the addicted son, nor either of his other two children, nor he himsel, What I learned from this book? A father's account of his son's addiction to meth (among other things), but there's so much in here that's familiar to anyone who's known someone addicted to anything. When I was released from jail one year ago, I decided to read Tweak. During teen years, the somewhat innocent experimentation/desire to feel differently mindset that teens get involved in can take them on a roller-coaster addiction cycle from which it is hard to break free. Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2018. It pulses with the unconditional love of a father in a way that makes me admire him and the guts it took to tell this story. David Sheff didn't miss a single experience of having a drug-addicted son. Something went wrong. It opens in theaters Friday. Sheff didn't miss a fucking beat. The point Sheff got across was just how hard it is to help someone with addiction, how draining it is. It went on and on and on. 3.5 stars. Let's talk books, shall we? 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. I am reading it now and feel like I'm living it with this father. For the first three years, they live a happy, contented life, providing Nic with everything he needs. So much of his horrifying journey struck a chord or a memory. I feel for all of these ‘beautiful children’ and. Read the other side of Nic Sheff's bestselling memoir, Tweak. What … Now I'm off to listen to the son's account because I crave more torture, apparently. I'm struggling with this review. Well, the rehab/relapse cycle is, uhhh, cyclical, which means that *you probably shouldn't write an interminable chronological account of it*. Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction, Mariner Books; First edition (January 6, 2009), Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2016. He cheats on his wife with her best friend, makes his son at five years old fly by himself, smokes pot with his son and then wonders why he is a drug addict. Beautiful Boy was a book written by David Sheff about his son struggling with addiction. It is the story of a father watching his child destroy himself and the havoc that wreaks on the family he comes from. I want to light this book on fire, then stab out the chunks of my brain that remember this book. I am again filled with sadness for all of them. The father is a great writer, and he did a great job making me feel as if I was going through the experience with him. Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. Sheff and his wife Vicki are overjoyed when they have their son, Nic. Drug and alcohol addiction is an un-biased monster. "It's better to fade away like an old soldier than to burn out, " he said. Gonna be searching for it out there in the stores eg: Walmart, Target and Barnes and Noble. A memoir may be an author's recollection of past events but is David Sheff really that clueless about the effects of his own behavior on his son beyond the obvious? I felt such deep sympathy for both the father and the son, all the while being so frustrated by Nic's perpetual relapses. I understand that drug addiction has its ups and downs, much like this book, and I understand it's a true account, but somewhere near the middle I really didn't care about Nic's story anymore. Beautiful Boy is a non-fiction story about a fight: a desperate father and a doped son embarked in a battle against methamphetamine. I've had this book for a year before I could bring myself to read it. There is hope. "Hurry up and read the book, Beautiful Boy," the email from my mother read. It’s awful of me to say these things, but my initial positive reaction to this book is hampered by the fact that it’s essentially about a severely addicted individual, who grew up in, and has maintained even after sobriety, a life of privilege. We work hard to protect your security and privacy. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. I'm cool, right? It is moving, timely and startlingly beautiful.' After I read Beautiful Boy, I was really freaked out about the accessibility of drugs, and the father made it seem as if everyone in the world will eventually try drugs at least once in their life. In the film, directed by Felix van Groeningen, young Nic is a happy, intuitive squirt … It's a disturbing and challenging read as The Radium Girls was I found. https://www.amazon.com/beautiful-boy-Books/s?k=beautiful+boy&rh=n:283155 burn this book to ashes, then burn the ashes. Oh boy, this was not an easy book to read, but I won't be quick to forget it either. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. This is a book full of numerous examples of how over-idealization of a son by his father can cause as many problems as insufficient attention paid to the child. It’s shitty of me to say these things, but my initial positive reaction to this book is hampered by the fact that it’s essentially about a severely addicted individual, who grew up in, and has maintained even after sobriety, a life of. A tough read, an easy read. I liked this book a lot better than Tweak. The point Sheff got across was just how hard it is to help someone with addiction, how draining it is on every level to watch someone you love more than anything descend gain and again into the darkest places and to feel your hopes rise and then die again as well. Also the impact on his family immediate and scattered and his heartbreak as he seems to understand and wonder if it is his fault. Tweak was relatable to me, and so was We All Fall Down. Beautiful Boy is an important book. Beautiful Boy Report Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction is a best selling book written by a famous journalist David Sheff. 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