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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
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (100 ratings)

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Beautiful Boy cover art

Beautiful Boy

By: David Sheff
Narrated by: Anthony Heald
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Publisher's 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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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Both journalistic and autobiographical

It was both informative and emotional, but the reading by Anthony Heald somehow made it sound fictional

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

A story about an ordinary child whose parent thinks he’s extraordinary

I admire the love this father has for his child. But the child is a normal boy, not some super hero. Couldn’t make it even to half way because I got tired of the authors sense of wonder about his very ordinary child.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very well narrated and possibly helpful to some

A honest story and very well narrated story possibly helpful for people experiencing similar issues

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

So sad but so good

What a beautiful book. Such a sad story but I didn’t want it to end. Cried many times listening, heartbreaking but beautiful.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Enlightening

If you can get past the sometimes irritating narrators voice this is a great read. So raw and from a parents perspective, the ups and downs of having a son with an addiction. A good read and some great lessons in there as well.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Living a life with an addict..

100% account of a parent with a child that has an addiction. Each and every word was my life for 2.5 years..Made it real that so many of us go through the exact same circumstances..

Worth every second.. We are not alone..

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

Couldn’t get into it.

I really wanted to love this book. All the reviews make it out to be so good but I struggled to stay focused on the words. I also think I prefer books like these to be read by the author. I wasn’t connecting to this narrator. Seemed too jolly.. I dunno ...

Just wasn’t for me I guess.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great

an accurate account of parenting and substance use well written and funny in parts too

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful, moving and honest

Like many people I was drawn to this book after watching the movie. I loved the movie but the book that inspired it is better. David Sheff writes so beautifully and sensitively, and through Anthony Heald's excellent reading I felt a connection to David and Nic and Jasper and Daisy and Karen and Vicki - even the dogs. Such a beautiful family full of love for each other and for Nic - beautiful, sensitive Nic. By the end I wanted to embrace them all.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

very good

loved it, couldn't put it down. quite sad and super emotional but definitely worth it

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