Book Review: Beautiful Boy

-originally published on November 18, 2018-

TW: Addiction

I’m here to admit that I’ve fallen behind. My pledge of 25 books is looking really difficult with less than two months left in 2019. However, I’m still plowing through, I’m going to read as many books as I can before the end of 2018. 

The first step in the right direction: Beautiful Boy. This memoir is written by David Sheff, a journalist who’s son, his beautiful boy, becomes addicted to Meth. This rollercoaster read is not for the faint of heart, and I finished it last night so I am finally out of its clutches. 

Let’s start at the beginning. I chose to read this book because it was becoming a movie. The movie, which was released at the beginning of last month, stars Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet. As a self-proclaimed Timmy super fan, I knew that I had to read this book immediately. 

The book starts off innocently enough, with an overshadowing feeling of what is to come. Sheff starts from the beginning of his son’s life, and his divorce. He sets the stage of Nic’s life right from the start. Sheff’s re-telling is compelling and it’s easy to fall into his gorgeous descriptions of life and his son. .

It then becomes deep-dive into the life of a father who’s son is struggling with addiction. At first, it just seems as though Nic is experimenting, just as David had done as a teenager. Until, Nic stops coming home and goes from smoking pot and cigarettes to doing a cocktail of drugs, including meth. 

From there, the book takes the reader on the same up and down path that the life of the father of an addict would take. I found myself crying myself to sleep over David and Nic’s relationship. I’d get my hopes up for Nic, knowing that this time, he would remain sober. And then, just as it happened for David, he would relapse, going missing for days, only to be found stealing from his parents or his friends. 

This is not to say that my reactions to reading this book could ever equate to what David was and is currently going through. However, the fact that he was able to write a book that gave me similar feelings is commendable. 

I was putting off reading the last 50 pages. I felt like I was tired of crying myself to sleep over the life of someone else. But, I felt like I needed to know how the story ends. I needed to release myself from Nic’s life and David’s torture. So, last night, I braced myself for overwhelming emotion and put my head down and finished the book. 

As hard as it was to read, this book is one on a very short list of books that have ever left me with crazy feelings and changed my life. It’s not an easy read, you aren’t going to feel good about life, you’re going to feel angry at the US government for the Opioid crisis, you’re going to feel devastated. But, I couldn’t recommend it enough. It’s something everyone needs to know about, everyone needs to hear Nic and David’s story. 

Now I just have to find a showing of the film.