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Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction | 
 enlarge | Author: David Sheff
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co
Category: Book
List Price: $24.00
Buy New: $7.98
You Save: $16.02 (67%)
New (63) Used (63) Collectible (3) from $5.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  118 reviews
Sales Rank: 464
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 326
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 6 x 1.2
ISBN: 0618683356
Dewey Decimal Number: 362.299
EAN: 9780618683352
ASIN: 0618683356
Publication Date: February 26, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best of the Month, February 2008: From as early as grade school, the world seemed to be on Nic Sheff's string. Bright and athletic, he excelled in any setting and appeared destined for greatness. Yet as childhood exuberance faded into teenage angst, the precocious boy found himself going down a much different path. Seduced by the illicit world of drugs and alcohol, he quickly found himself caught in the clutches of addiction. Beautiful Boy is Nic's story, but from the perspective of his father, David. Achingly honest, it chronicles the betrayal, pain, and terrifying question marks that haunt the loved ones of an addict. Many respond to addiction with a painful oath of silence, but David Sheff opens up personal wounds to reinforce that it is a disease, and must be treated as such. Most importantly, his journey provides those in similar situations with a commodity that they can never lose: hope --Dave Callanan
Product Description
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. Before meth, Sheff s son Nic was a varsity athlete, honor student, and award-winning journalist. After meth, he was a trembling wraith who stole money from his eight-year-old brother and lived on the streets. With haunting candor, Sheff traces the first subtle warning signs, the denial (by both child and parents), the three A.M. phone calls (is it Nic? the police? the hospital?), the attempts at rehab, and, at last, the way past addiction. He shows us that, whatever an addict s fate, the rest of the family must care for each other too, lest they become addicted to addiction. Meth is the fastest-growing drug in the United States, as well as the most addictive and the most dangerous wreaking permanent brain damage faster than any other readily available drug. It has invaded every region and demographic in America. This book is the first that treats meth and its impact in depth. But it is not just about meth. Nic s addiction has wrought the same damage that any addiction will wreak. His story, and his father s, are those of any family that contains an addict and one in three American families does.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 113 more reviews...
 Honest, emotive, and informative October 6, 2008
Honest, emotive, and informative, these are the three qualities that define David Sheff's Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction. As a young adult, I find this to be an excellent book not only for its vivid and eloquent writing style, but also because it engages the reader in the emotional journey that the author embarks on when learning about, trying to "cure," and coming to understand the long-lasting effects of his son's meth addiction. Most importantly, Sheff's story allowed me to see the world through the eyes of a parent for the first time: as a result, I have been given a first-hand illustration of a parent's unconditional love and support for his or her children.
The narratives of Sheff's sleepless nights in which he waited for Nic -his son- to come home, Sheff's futile attempts to find Nic in the streets of San Francisco, and the mutually destructive reality of drugs are the most heart-breaking, emotionally-driven, and tangible accounts of the book. In addition, Sheff's inner battle between his sense of guilt, frustration, impotence, and uncertainty provides the reader with a parent's attempt to uncover the reasons for which his son turned to drug consumption. The constant objective and subjective turmoil present in this book provides a humanistic touch to the struggles of Sheff, allowing his narrative to transcend his book's pages and reflect the lives of millions of people throughout the world.
This book does not only describe a teenager's/young adult's addiction to methamphetamines -among other drugs-, but a father's race against his son's addiction, against the inability to help his son overcome his addiction, and against the unwanted effects Nic's addiction was having on Sheff's personal life (marriage, job, health, finances, etc.). In other words, this book presents the reader with the idea that that a person's addiction -in this case Nic- expands to infect all of those around him or her, especially those to whom s/he is closest.
I would strongly recommend this book to any parent, but especially to those parents who are experiencing or have experienced the hardships of addiction. Likewise, this book can serve as a source of information for young adults, teenagers, and the general public, since it speaks of the devastating physical and emotional effects of addiction from a first-hand perspective.
 A MUST READ For EVERY Parent October 6, 2008
This was an amazing, heartwrenching true story about a father who is dealing with his son's addiction to meth. I loved this book and feel that it is a MUST READ for every parent in America.
David Sheff was able to write the most tragic story of his life beautifully. I could feel every emotion that he went through. And boy did I learn some things. He researched the drug while living through this story and shares his research with the readers. If for no other reason that what you can learn about this drug through this book, it should be read by everyone.
Read it! Read it! Read it!
Great book October 2, 2008
This book is very good, I'm using it for a substance abuse class I am taking and it is very helpful in understanding substance abuse. The book came in perfect condition and came on time with the shipping time I chose.
Beautiful Boy by David Sheff September 25, 2008
Excellent book, very well written and really hits home. Reading this book and going through addiction with our son for so many years, its nice to know we, as parents, are not alone. Hopefully, 4th time is rehab is the charm for our "beautiful boy".
A beautiful boy August 31, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The author is wonderfully expresses his pain about his loving son. I also have a daughter the same age whose drug of choice is heroin. The book opened my eyes to go to Hazeleden to joint the parents program and to go to Al-Anon.
In short I thank the author so much for being an inspiration to me.
Robert Sterling
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