2010, Book 1: Beautiful Boy

I absolutely tore through David Sheff's Beautiful Boy. It was an absolutely wonderful read. I love to read about addiction. I am the product of two addicted parent. I lived 11 years alone with my severely addicted mother. After she got clean, I was right in the middle of her new sobriety and her AA life. I have met all of her friends, who have both stayed clean and relapsed. And now, as an adult, I have experienced my own peers becoming addicts. Reading about addiction always hits home for me. This time, however, was a little different. This was the first time that I have read about addiction from the perspective of the addict's parent or loved one.

Beautiful Boy is about a man named David and his son, Nic. Nic begins using drugs in his early teens and by the time he goes to college, he is a full blown meth addict. David Sheff tells his story in an amazing way. He includes his own experiences and feelings as well as including research based facts on addiction and crystal meth. In reading this book I learned a lot about meth addiction, which I found very frightening as I have never known much about meth except for street facts.

From hearing about Nic as a child to hearing about him as he wrestles with the meth monster, I began to feel like a member of the family. I began to feel like Nic was my friend and that I was experiencing his addiction first hand. I recognized his behaviors as things I have experienced with other friends and family. I recognized his story as one that I have heard before a thousand times. I recognized Nic as someone I loved and cared about. But most of all I recognized David Sheff as myself.

I remember, as a child, wanting to help my mom. I remember thinking that certain things might cause her to change. And now, as an adult, I know that it would not have helped. I know that letting go was the best thing anyone could have done for her. However, I had to struggle with all of the emotions just like David Sheff did. I had to wrestle with guilt, anger, and sadness. Every addict's family has to find their own path to recovery and healing and reading about David's path in Beautiful Boy was exhilarating and enlightening. By the time I was done I was wishing his family the best and feeling significantly invested in Nic's success in recovery. This is a great book, I would recommend it to almost anyone.