Beautiful Boy David Sheff Analysis

THE MONSTER OF ADDICTION summary for Beautiful Boy David Sheff’s 2008 memoir Beautiful Boy is about his journey through his son, Nic’s, addiction. Through this treacherous time Mr. Sheff confronts his denial, accepts that the addiction will continue if he does not take action, and then learns that Nic can only be cured from the monster of addiction if he allows it. Nic started to dabble with pot at age 11 right around the time of when his biological mother, Vicki, and his father, David, agree to get a divorce. Although Nic was a vibrant 11 years old who had a bright head on his shoulder he was struggling to cope with the division of his parents as well as David’s decision to remarry. His father as well as his mother knew this so they allowed him to have a therapist. This is why David was not

David allowed his denial to control him and neglected to take action; which led Nic to try meth since pot no longer affected him. When Nic started to sneak in late disappear for days at one time he knew that it was time for an intervention for himself and Nic. Once Mr. Sheff was able to accept that his son was doing meth he started to do extensive research on the drug meth, families who experienced it with their children, treatments, and rehab clinics. At age nineteen Nic is in and out of rehab centers and David does not know what to do he is at lost for words. He is not capable of understanding how can one be so close to death and not want help. This is when David learns that he cannot help Nic unless Nic wants help. David was physically hurt , and emotionally confused. He explains how physically hurt he was because of the late night worry parties he had to endure because of Nic not coming home. Emotionally he was confused because he did not know if he should feel angry, sad, or hopeful. Toward the end of the book Nic decides