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  • Beautiful Boy

  • A Father's Journey through His Son's Meth Addiction
  • By: David Sheff
  • Narrated by: Anthony Heald
  • Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (294 ratings)
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Beautiful Boy cover art

Beautiful Boy

By: David Sheff
Narrated by: Anthony Heald
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Summary

The #1 New York Times best-selling story of addiction and a father’s love: “A brilliant, harrowing, heartbreaking, fascinating story, full of beautiful moments and hard-won wisdom. This book will save a lot of lives and heal a lot of hearts.”—Anne Lamott

Now a Major Motion Picture Starring Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet.

What had happened to my beautiful boy? To our family? What did I do wrong? Those are the wrenching questions that haunted every moment of David Sheff’s journey through his son’s drug addiction. David’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 lied, stole money from his eight-year-old brother, and lived on the streets. With poignant candor, Sheff traces the first warning signs—denial, 3 a.m. phone calls—the attempts at rehabilitation, and, at last, the way past addiction. He shows us that, whatever an addict’s fate, the rest of the family must care for one another too, lest they become addicted to addiction.

Beautiful Boy is a fiercely candid memoir that brings immediacy to the emotional rollercoaster of loving a child who seems beyond help.

You can also hear Sheff's son's perspective in his memoir:
Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines.
©2007 David Sheff (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Sheff does not spare himself or anyone else from keen professional scrutiny any more than he was himself spared the pains and joys of watching a loved one struggling with addiction and recovery....This is an honest, hopeful book, coming at a propitious moment in the meth epidemic." ( Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about Beautiful Boy

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Narration

The narrator was really good but in stories such as this i think the author should also narrate as it comes from the heart and many listeners such as myself did so because i am going through what he did and maybe still is.

I hope Nick manages to fight the demons off

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Diary of an Addict’s Father

Excellent performance from Anthony Heald.

As for the book, I thought of my brother whether he’s recovered or a functioning meths addict. In Malaysia, we called it ‘batu’ as it looks like stone. I guess it’s easier to say to your parents if your brother is using to cut him off completely but as Sheff said, it’s unconditional love parents have for their children.
There are numerous of ideas and reading provided by the author except I felt it that it reads as a research paper that he’s submitted to New York Times. It is personal but it’s not at the same time. I as a reader would love to hear and read more of his feelings and his relationship with his son even more as it brought tears to my eyes when he wrote about his hopelessness, hopefulness, disparity and love towards his son.
Stories about Jasper and Daisy is a great angle as they’re the affected characters. This, too, brought tears to my eyes as I’ve seen children in school, being a teacher, suffering from family members whom are using.
In a nutshell, David Sheff, I adore your courage and love towards your son and getting through it.

Love x

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful, interesting read

I learnt so much from this moving book. An emotive, informative, and interesting read. I loved it!

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4 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not as good as his son book

I have read the son story and liked it a lot so I decided to read the father's point of view. Unfortunatelly the book wasnt as good. I found his son's book much more interesting and involving and, I believe, he is a better writer. However, I could only admire the father for his honesty, insightfulness and self critisism.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Truly beautiful

Like so many others this is also my story. David Sheff captures exactly how it is to have an addict in the family It is a must read for every mother father son daughter lover and friend. Read it learn and give thanks for such eloquence and honesty. It’s also a damn good read.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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gripping and powerful very relatable

did not want to put it down. felt the raw pain of a father struggling to hold onto his son and all the dreams he had for his first born

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent

Heart wrenching - a clear honest portrayal - showing the full spectrum of addictive behaviour from the beginnings to the varying ends - listened to in 3 sittings -

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Hard Hitting

Great narration and story, even if it does get a bit 'self help' and 'facts and figures' in some places.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Not a bad read

I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to put up with the narrator but I got used to him, he wasn’t too bad in the end. The book is quite good- it’s interesting hearing about addiction from a parents perspective and how addicts drag everyone down with them. I did enjoy it but I really struggled with the last couple of hours because I just became fatigued with the endless cycle of relapse recovery, relapse recovery. The father wants to know everything about meth and addiction so he can understand and be fully informed but I must admit it got a bit in depth at times- maybe you need personal experience of addiction to get the most out of the book. Very intelligent, educated and imaginative family- on the whole not a bad book, but wow, that family put up with a hell of a lot at their other kids expenses.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Tedious, Labyrinthine and Lacking Momentum

I really wanted to like this one, but I am finding it so hard to get through. The author goes into so much unnecessary detail and on so many irrelevant tangents that it’s difficult to maintain interest. The first 3 hours of the audiobook feel like an auto-biography of the father himself rather than an account of the son’s struggles. There’s still no sign of the son’s addiction coming to the forefront and I’m not sure I have the interest to keep going.

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