It pulses with the unconditional love of a father in a way that makes me admire him and the guts it took to tell this story. David sheff books list of books by author david sheff. What was difficult for me was that the nic in my mind was the nic that david sheff paints for us in beautiful boy. The following version of this book was used to create this study guide. David sheff detailed the struggle of dealing with his son nics methamphetamine addiction in his 2008 memoirs. Whether nic will recover remains an open question at the book s end, which offers a glimmer of hope, but no promises and no easy answers. Beautiful boy is a punishing tale of addiction the.
Beautiful boy is nics story, but from the perspective of his father, david. At the end of the beautiful boy book, he noted nic had been sober for a year, and. When nic sheff watches his struggle with addiction and family angst portrayed in the poignant new movie beautiful boy, it immediately brings tears to his eyes. Beautiful boy may have inherited its name from david sheff s memoir, but the film is also based on nic sheff s own retelling of his addiction, a book titled tweak. The book starts with loving vignettes about nic as a childsensitive, artistic, smartand events that sheff shared with the younger nic, such as attending the nirvana concert. What the beautiful boy movie left out and families. The following is an extract taken from the epilogue of david sheff s bestselling book about his sons addiction and his own recovery as a family member. Beautiful boy by david sheff 1086 words 123 help me. Beautiful boy by david sheff nook book ebook barnes.
David is a concerned father, and furthermore, david is showing signs of being addicted to his son s safety and wellbeing. He tells us how brilliant nic is, that nic has a great imagination and that all of his teachers think that he is a very smart and intelligent boy. Following its publication, sheff met countless people struggling to prevent drug use and abuse and survive addictiontheir own or a loved ones. Nic sheffs own memoir, tweak, was published simultaneously with beautiful boy.
The movie is based in part on david sheffs book beautiful boy. The preliminary version of beautiful boy was a tough 2005 article in the new york times magazine, my addicted son. See all books authored by david sheff, including beautiful boy. A fathers journey through his sons addiction, was written by david sheff, and the second, tweak. Wed like to express a big thank you to david sheff for giving us permission to reprint these words. Achingly honest, it chronicles the betrayal, pain, and terrifying question marks that haunt the loved ones of an addict. David sheff from as early as grade school, the world seemed to be on nic sheff s string. Nic sheff on beautiful boy, addiction, family, hope and love. Those are the wrenching questions that haunted every moment of david sheff s journey through his sons drug addiction. A fathers journey through his sons addiction is a best selling book written by a famous journalist david sheff. A fathers journey through his sons addiction is a touching 2008 memoir from journalist david sheff. A fathers journey through his sons meth addiction, and clean, and more on. Sheff writes about experiences where his son goes missing for days on end, and all he can do is worry is a worry.
Im a big fan of david sheff s book beautiful boy and was excited to finally come up for air after the holidays and watch the movie. Read david sheff s afterword for beautiful boy more about nic sheff s struggle. This book may do a better job at capturing the attention of readers who are parents themselves or have a family member or friend who suffers from addiction. Those are the wrenching questions that haunted david sheff s journey through his son nics addiction to drugs and tentative steps toward recovery. His father weeps in a way that i have not wept since i was a young boy. Even though he feels immensely frustrated with, hurt by, and at times hopeless about his son, david always preserves some notion of nic as that beautiful boy that he loves. The article won a special award from the american psychological association for outstanding contribution to the understanding of addiction. Sheff and his wife vicki are overjoyed when they have their son, nic. After the book was published in 2008, starbucks company chose beautiful boy to be one of the books that can be. In this book i think that david sheff lays down a great visual into the life of his son nic.
Growing up on methamphetamines, comes the ultimate resource for learning about the realities of drugs and alcohol for middlegrade listeners. Having having only read the latter, would it surprise you to learn that nic, during the height of his drug abuse. From david sheff, author of beautiful boy, and nic sheff, author of tweak. His many articles and interviews have appeared in the new york times, rolling stone, playboy, wired, fortune, and. An extract from david sheffs beautiful boy the following is an extract taken from the epilogue of david sheff s bestselling book about his sons addiction and his own recovery as a family member. Published in 2008, david sheffs memoir, beautiful boy, explores his experiences of coming to terms with his sons addiction to methamphetamine. For the first three years, they live a happy, contented life, providing nic with everything he needs. This 54page guide for beautiful boy by david sheff includes detailed chapter summaries and analysis covering 25 chapters, as well as several more indepth sections of. David sheff knows all too well what must be endured with faith, and his extraordinary book describes it better than anything else ive read. A fathers journey through his sons meth addiction by david sheff. Beautiful boy is based on a book by the reallife david.
The book was based on his article, my addicted son, which appeared in the new york times magazine. Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides for challenging works of literature. Van groeningen and his cowriter, luke davies, have interwoven the memoirs in. Mary pipher, author of reviving ophelia what had happened to my beautiful boy. Beautiful boy is based on a book two books, actually. This book is a memoir written by writer and journalist david sheff. Beautiful boy is a memoir written by david sheff about his experiences as he tried to save his teenage son from drug addiction. His writing has appeared in the new york times, the new york times magazine, rolling stone, playboy, wired, and many other publications. Beautiful boy a fathers journey through his sons meth addiction by. There are reasons to hope that david sheff s beautiful boy will be exceptional.
Throughout his battle, his father, david, stood by his side. Beautiful boy has been out for a while now, but as you will see, this epilogue stands the test of time. After dinner, nic asks if he can borrow the car to go to an aa meeting. An extract from david sheffs beautiful boy allies in. I had not heard about this book until i went to the movies a few weeks ago and saw the trailer for the upcoming film. Nic steals an old family car and disappears for almost two weeks. Bright and athletic, he excelled in any setting and appeared destined for. Those of us who love an addict or are addicts ourselves will find beautiful boy a revelation. Beautiful boy was an incredibly informative reading experience for me personally.
A fathers journey through his sons addiction film tiein by sheff, david isbn. Sheff interviewed john lennon and yoko ono in september 1980, roughly three months before lennons murder. Before nic became addicted to crystal meth, he was a charming boy, joyous and funny, a varsity athlete and honor student adored by his two younger siblings. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. For one thing, it is one of the rare books selected for sale by starbucks. Read online beautiful boy pdf by david sheff for free.
In david sheff s next book, a caged bird sings beautiful boy author david sheff focuses on a new kind of sufferingand redemption. The book title comes from the 1980 john lennon song beautiful boy darling boy. A fathers journey through his sons addiction paperback january 6, 2009. His drug of choice this book covers the time frame from when nic was a baby to an addicted, young adult. In his memoir beautiful boy, author david sheff poignantly describes the insidious development of his sons addiction, from alcohol and marijuana to, later, methamphetamines, cocaine, and heroin. The title of the book alone holds a key hint to a major theme.
Oh, this is the night, its a beautiful night, and we call it bella notte. While painfully candid, beautiful boy is equally optimistic and powerful. Nic sheff spent the better part of a decade in and out of rehab, fighting to overcome a crystal meth addiction. In 2009, sheff was included in time magazine s time 100, the worlds most influential people, and beautiful boy was named the best nonfiction book of the year by entertainment weekly.